The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-02-04
Japan s Foreign
 Office Disayows
 Colonel s Words

Tokio-The text of a letter written i to Canadian missionaries in Chien- tao, China, by Colonel Mizumachi, chief of Japanese military mission, which was sent to Chientao to inves- ugate charges made by the mission aries that the Japanese troops had | committed "diabolica1 deeds'' in in discriminatory shooting the Korean Christians in that district and burn | ing their schools. churches and homes l has been received here.
 It says that Colonel Mizuma chi not | only warned the Canadians against giving any assistance to the independ- l ence movement, or anti-Japanese sen- timent in Korea as has already been cabled, but that he informed them 'ftfhat such malicious acts' would be detrimental relations between Great Britain and Japan who are now allied i by treaty.
 The Japanese investigator called the attention of the Canadian mis- sionaries to what he described as "an undeniable fact that there are numerous different peoples in your own dominions who frequently plot rebellion against your government, such as the recent non-co-operation movement in 1ndia.'
 He pointed out to the missionaries that England and Japan were in simi- | lar positions in having racial troubles | and that therefore "it is advantag- eous to us both that we should CO., | operate from our heart of hearts,
 strictly refraining from an words or l action which may cause harm to l either country"
 l In warning the Canadians against | giving assistance to the Korean inde- {! pendence movement, Colonel Mizu-
 machi said that if they did not re-
 frain from doing so, ''the Buddhists
 in Japan would be able to find a legal
 reason for giving anti-British assist
 ance to those behind the non-co-oper- alton movement in India The same thing may be applied to the Irish problem he added.
 The Japanese colonel also referred d
 to English methods of dealing with
 subject peoples by saying that ''the | utmost care has been taken since the comm encement of operations Gin } Chientao) that innocent citizens should not be killed, such as General Dyer did last year at Amritsar, India The Japanese Foreign Office has } since disavowed responsibility for the
 senti ments expressed by the colonel l has declared that it had no knowledge of the latter and that it was the work
 of one man ? Colonel Mizumachi endeavored tc ! show the missionaries the ad- visibility of supporting the atti tude of Japan toward Korea. He told them in the letter that i they refrained from interfering witt
 any political matters, devoted them q selves strictly to religious works an6 o to efforts in cooperation with tho z Japanese authorities to educate tht Koreans to be loyal subjects of Ja . pan he could assure them of the aiC @ of the Japanese government and peo = pie.
 .sThe rise and fall of your worl ~ in and out of Korea depends solel, V upon whether you will co-operat e with the Japanese government o
 not.'' he wrote.
 If The Colonel also undertook to de
 of he s- ernment in Korea, saying: If tn ,r Korean peninsula should ever b r. brought under the influence of an d other power than Japan, it would b z- fthe greatest possible menace to tn .g national defense of Japan. Japa D can never permit Korea to be inde D. pendent.
 d reans had esta blished their base al the Chientao district, and, in leagu e. with Chinese bandits, had been dri1 to ing the 300,000 Korean colonists a. that district to join them. Japal S. he said, had asked the Chinese go' 1e ernment to .contro1 these rogues'' bl IT. the Chinese .'did not do so but, ( no the contrary, maintained secret Ill
 derstanding with them.'
 on The Japanese investigator eNpres en ed regret that churches and schoo ist had been burned but declared tn es: had been used as sinks of iniquit. IT. by the Korean malcontents.
 
 charges that innocent men had be,
 shot down without trial by the Ja
 anese troops, Colonel Mlzumac
 wrote: "We regret that there m
 have been some innocent ones amol these shot but under the circur rg stances. it has been hardly possible a tell inaureents from innocent. It ' unavoida b1e that some innocent m Sl noie:ht have been executed by m
 take This, h owever, of course,
 aeainst-the real will of the Japane or arnov'' Such slow measures as a na- pealing to the established courts or tes courtmartia1 were impra ctica ble. iis- Colonel dec'ared, as many of the ply cused would escape
 .irs Therefore. he added, the Japan, on- troops, "executed these insurgents Re- the spot after simple trial and
 ter undeniabIe evidence had been
 in cured. hacked by the statements it villagers
 the 1-----
 Prohibitiofn Director Charles
 O'Connor left New York for Alb; this to confer with Gov. Miller on s