The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-10-04

NV Special l.)-"Japan, which from position of isolation in the Asian seas, has emerged to be- come one of the dominant factors in une Pacic, might be termed the mar rower and less compact Britain of the far east" says a bulletin from the Washington, D. C., headquarters of the National Geographic society
 Like the British Isles, the Japa- nese islands form the fringe of a great continent; both were in the hands of petty kings and grew into q centralized nation; both looked abroad for expansion; and both have conceived of their safety and future prosperity as dependent largely on sea power.
 But there are differences as well island nations Since she began to grow into an empire Great Britain has resolutely turned her back on Europe in so far as territorial acqui- sitions are concerned, and has sent her colonists into the remote parts of the world. Japan, on the other hand, has acquired large blocks of the neighboring continent, but has ex- banded somewhat in other directions also. Great Britain has become the Headquarters of scattered. distant empire. Japan has remained so far the center of her empire with her possessions drawn relatively closely about her.
 ',Though Japan had imperial ambi- tions even in the early centuries, as indicated by the fact that she once conquered Korea, and laid claim in the sixteenth century to Formosa and even the Philippines, the national life, when Commodore Perry opened communications with the west in 1854, was confined to the three main southern islands of Japan proper, shores. Not until the seventies did the government begin development of Yezo, the big island to the north-- the Japanese Scotland. Both Russia and Japan claimed. Sakhalin, the fifth and northernmost, of the large islands of the Japanese group and there were similar double claims to the Kurile group. chain of small vol canic islands, comparable to the Aleutians, which stretch from Yezo northeastward to the tip of Kamchat- ka In 1875 Russia induced Japan to take the Kuriles and relinquish all claims to Sakhalin.
 These expansions to the north were of little value, for the cold, bleak northern lands have never ap- pealed to Japanese colonists. Yezo Is, sparsely settled, and the Kuriles have only a handful of inhabitants. Japan's next step was to the south. In 1879 she annexed the Lu-Chu archipelago, extending from the southernmost of the large Japanese islands southwest ward for 700 miles to Formosa. China laid claim to these small but pleas ant and populus islands, as she did to Formosa, but she finally consented to Japan's annexing them.
 "Japan's victorious war with China in 1895 gave her immediate territo- rial advantage, and in addition great ly heightened her prestige among the nations China ceded the island of\Formosa (now officially known as TaiMan) with it's 13,000 square miles of territory and it's S,5O0.000 inhabi- tants; and the Chinese peninsula of Liaotung, on which battle-scarred Port Arthur is now situated: and ac- knowledged the independence of Korea. Russia, France and Germany forced Japan to relinquish the Lao : tung peninsula, and Russia later Japanese war placed it again in Jap anese hands, and the island empire now holds it under ss-year lease By defeating Russia, Japan further extended her influence both on the mainland of Asia and among the islands. She obtained protectorate over Korea. a sphere of influence in Manchuria. and the cession of the southern half of the island of Sak- halin.
 "As result of the World war. Japan has made further territorial advances north, east, south and west. Her sphere of influence has included eastern Siberia, she has taken over the German lease on Kiaochow in chnas and by rcGving mandate for the three archipelagoes of former