New-York tribune., 1921-03-01

W Japan. mere saw Toshiiiko Ka-
Eawa, one of the remarkable figures Of
.n's new Japan: Beginning as Chris
tian worker after his graduation fron,
an American college he later startnd u
social settlement--the first. I hcGeve
IN Japan-and went to live in the siums
His wife is gradually losing her sight
RS the result of disease con4rncted
there.
The pressure of facts under hts ewes
has pushed him into radicalism and
more directly effective activity than
the social settlement affords. TO sun
port the settlement he took to translat
ing European and American books on
economic and social reform in his spare
slme and writing radical propaganda
novels, which have 8 big sale. half the
royalties going to the maintenance of
the settlement. | saw him at II o'clock
IN the evening. He had returned from
q day OF lectures, organization meet
lngs and demonstrations in Osaka A
visionary with the energy and drive
OF a zealot, the weapon Of years of
Western education in economies and
philosophy, the fanatic CLEAN in his
eye and perhaps also the fanatic dog
matism in his speech, he Is the most
influential man in the labor ranks of
Osaka and Kobe.
Girls Work In Mines
II have double role hee," he said.
II am guild Socialist myself, but
preach moderation here l have to-.
You see. they discovered democracy.
dlscontent unionisnl, syndicalism, di-
rect action, all at the same time. They
haven't come to distinctions yet. They
are not we'll enough educated They
only see employers getting rich and
they know they are sweated. Condi-
tions down here are awful--twelve
hours day for young girls, in some
places girls even down in mines at
night. They only know the system is
all wrong. They want to change it
right away. Naturally they are easily
persuaded by the first literature they
read. They snatch at new ideas at
first sight.
81 am trying to bring them down TO
realities, though they may think me
backslidcr | don't believe in suf-
frage myself. I have lived in America
and don't see what good it has
brought your people. But am preach
ing it to these people. 1t will educate
them. And I am organizing. organic
ing organizing. They can't do any
thing as mass. 1t is necessary for
somebody to do the thinking and the
propaeandizing, but you have to have
the materials to work with when the
propaganda has been successful"
asked him how widespread this
spirit is 1t is deep. he said, but not
widespread-at least not as class
feeling Probably most Of the popu-
lation is dissatisfied, but it has not yet
got down to tracing causes and think
ing Of remedies. Not over 10 per cent
Of the factory workers are even infor
mally organized.
/ asked him the question that has
been uppernost in my mind and that
concerns Americans most
II want to know whether this revo-
lutionary spirit has any resistance in
it." said. Suppose there is q war
scare, real or artificially created. Sup
pose your government calls on the
people for support in war against
America, say? Win these people be
stampeded ~
Even Socialists MiIitaristic
"Ninety-eight per cent of them" he
answered THAT is the. danger Of all
this American trouble. took what hap
pened in Germany in 1914. They had
been Socialists fer generations. We
here have just discovered such ideas.
We are still under g military hypnotic
spell. We have won three wars in
twenty-five years. Patriotism would
sweep away all other feelings in
twenty-four hours"
| went also to a meeting CT Imperial
University students in Tokio--a group
that goes much about the country lee
turing and issues radical qualifications
when the police censors are unable to
penetrate the masked phrasing.
They live in a small Japanese house
near the university campus. On the
walls re no delicate Japanese prints.
On one side is picture OF Karl Marx
on the other Of Nikoiai Lenine. We sat
in q circle on the floor cuddled against
the charcoal hibachis on q raw, shud-
dering night. There were Just they
and I. The university professor VINO
arranged the meeting stayed away pur-
Dosely that they might speak the more
freely. They were youths, ranging
from eighteen to twenty-five in age,
with a difference n manner and ap-
pearance that easily distinguished them
from type. 1t might have been Russia
before 1914. There were parallels both
N the setting CT danger and the at
nosphere of the talk.
told them that was in Japan to
study the democratic movement and
therefore had come to them.
Calls Democracy a Fraud
eve don't want democracy" said one
Of them shortly. Democracy is
fraud to deceive the proletariat and
make il more easy TO exploit" he went
on with q somewhat practiced air as
of frequent repetition.
w hat do you want them" asked.
'We are all different" he answered.
Some Of US are syndicalists, some are
Marxians, some are even Bolshevik"
What do you do? How do you work
tor these things ?"
I'VE agitate. We are waking up the
people, especially the workers @nd far
mers. We have en- association of work
ers and students together. We argue
also with our fellow students, but they
are nearly all bourgeoisie 1t 10 the
influence OF tia families anc the
stupid professors. We cant do muci,
with them. We write also and trans
late all the revolutionary literature we
IL.