New-York tribune., 1921-02-21
Japan Regards
u. s. as Barrier
To Ambitions
Continued from page one)

most TO Americans, to Japanese and to
.ne future. have spent little of that
Lihe with what may be called public
Japan: have seen little OF higher
oH1elaidom beyond paying the need of
IormaI I, interviews with hte Premier,
rorelgn Minister, political leaders and
Iew OF the big business men that a
newspaper man must pay to his train
ing interviews revealing little.
haye been most with younger and
more liberal ministry secretaries-mid-
ule class business men ,intelligentsia.
educators, radical student groups, So
clailsts and worse-with the makers of
Che new thought that will be the main
springs OF the impulses of the future
The one side, the official side, the
pfofessl lonally entertaining side, is the
side foreign visitors generally see @ 7
nave llVed in the Far East too long
ana watched Japan from the vantage
point oil China too long to believe it
representative of anything real. 1t is
1ne Tn other side l was interested in.
Ihat Is the side of Japan that finds
ii0tle expression and less representa-
tlon IN Europe and America. 1t is a
better side, and, as I say, the one that
matters most to the future.
Democratic Trend Genuine
Much has been made of the demo-
cratic movement in Japan-perhaps too
much. 1t has been paraded forth with
certain ostentation, as of one pro-
testing too much his impending re-
iiorm, that has given rise to skepticism
IN those living in the Far East. 1t has
seemed at times a gIoriously colored
smoke screen, behind which Japan
could carry on unwaveringly its i'm
perlallstIc enterprise while the West
erh world stood enchanted by the spec
tacle.
But it indisputably is genuine-what
there is of it. And chat that must = be-
Judged not by Western standards, but
oy Japanese standards. When / first
was IN Japan five years ago the very
word socialism" was taboo in the
press. A few days ago I received an
open postcard in the mail inviting me
10 Socialist meeting-the place
secret, 1T is true. Then membership in
laoor union was punishable Of
tense At dinner at which | was
guest OF honor | heard a geisha make
pun on the word -bou-ta-eie." II
was the crowning glory of a mans
amDltlon to die on the field in the EN-
peror's service. Now l have been told
at a university students meeting that
1t was useless to talk of suffrage and
legal evolution; the revolution must
come.-why not hasten it?
1here is new Japan, unthinkable
five years ago. BY our measure, taking
the country as a whole, it is q quantity
conservative Japan. In the perspective
of Japanese history and tradition it is
wildly revolutionary.
But the new Japan is more imnor-
t1nt
Immediate force. 1t is the hope of
Japan. the hope also of the West, for a
peaceful solution of the problems
raised by the great Asiatic imperial
ism. But it must be a distant hope.
1t is as yet ferment. Uniformed
lnarticulate, leaderless, still a little
exotic and artificial and bearing some
what the impress Of the lunatic fringe,
it can exert small influence on the
policy Of the government for years
probably a generation. 1t is too far
of power are too closely integrated
too vigilant and too Jealous of their
privileges.
The ferment viii work with increas-
ing speed and thoroughness, but while
it is working the course of the Jap
anese government Will remain the
same. I believe there will be con-
tlnued aggression on the Asiatic con-
tinent, especially in China. | believe
the imperialism that has slowly
agGrandized itself at the expense Of
disturbance on the Asiatic continent
will be little ameliorated In the
Japanese militarists, bureaucrats and
imperialist-economic exploiters I be-
lieve there is little hope of change.
Neither in their recent actions in
China nor in their words here have
seen any sign that they recognize
the error of their ways. Their whole
stake, individually and as a class, lies
in their continuing those ways.
That this Imperialism is a menace
to world peace needs no demonstration.
There are only two ways to deal with
the menace. One is to check it from
outside, which can only be by war,
which means America The other is
by the pressure Of democracy from
within, and that will take time--a long
time. That the second is preferable
needs demonstration still less. War
by America, even success sful war, would
only hang the Sick Man of Asia on
American hands. There is no alterna-
tive to waiting. In the meantime
Asia must pay the price, especially
China. That, | believe, puts the Far
Eastern situation in the fewest pos
sible words.
In subsequent articles I shall deal
with various aspects of this situation,
as affected by conditions within Japan
and Ap1ericais 70