New-York tribune., 1921-02-23
Fears
" G stW ar d
Trend OF ". S,
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press about the biggest navy in the
world, universal military training and
enormous military establishments gem
orally has been followed with acute
interest in Japan. More particularly
close scrutiny is being given develop
nents with regard to Mexico. l. Amer
G lnIcfVeness Whatever the immediate
mpelilng cause, powerful impetus win
% given Japan for similar action in
China. All arguments as to conditions
n the two countries not being parallel
az be dismissed as hypocrisy. Japan
VIII never credit America with any mu-
tive save that OF expansion.
Some OF the Japanese apprehension,
rs | say, is sincere. More Of it is the
Inevitable product of long propaganda.
adroltly manipulated to turn off all
orelgn criticism, to mako such criti-
clsm only appear the cry of those who
eek to do the same thing. Still more
is it the product Of q unique national
psychology.
inward-turned Of all peoples. He is
astonishingly incapable of seeing other
peoples point Of view. Not all of this
can be attributed to long isolation.
me chinese were isolated even longer.
It is the result more of feudalism and
the nature of his nationalistic educa-
tion. The Japanese is only two gen
erations from feudalism, with it's mar
row and passionate loyalties. And his
education has been thoroughly govern
ment controlled down to the smallest
detail, so as to prolong feudal proc
esses Of thinking. His patriotism is
semi-religious. The foreign critic
therefore is Anti-Christ, the Japanese
critic blasphemer. The Japanese has
two distinct reactions. One is his re-
ACTION as an individual to other in
action: And in all matters that con
cern his country's relation to other
countries he has not yet learned to
disintegrate himself from the group.
Admits Much in Private
A japanese in talking to you pri-
vate!y will acknowledge many things.
He will never do so publicly. Certain
ly he will never do so publicly to his
own people, Ten years ago, after the
first atrocities were committed in
Corea an Englishman, who has lived
in Japan thirty years, went to one of
the foremost berals in Japan, a man
of high official rank. He told him of
the atrocities, gave evidence and
begged him to make them public.
"Such things cannot go on without
reacting on the growth of freedom in
your own country" the Englshman
said.
II know It," was the answer. "But /
can say nothing. If do / shall be
branded as unpatriotic. l shall lose
what influence l have"
1t follows logically then that for-
eigner who says such things must be
anti-Japanese And any foreigner who
in md L
gressions of Japanese militarists In
China and their debauching of a gov
ernment with bribes and their stirring
up Of internal dissensions is not only
anti-J japanese, he is paid Chinese
agent. Not even to an educated Jap
anese would it occur to get the facts to
learn whether the charges were true.
He might admit the wrong after it's
commission, but never viii e it is be-
ing committed. There is something dis
arming about the way japanese tell you
now the Twenty-one Demands were in
defensible. They did not say sos when
the demands were being pressed with
ultimatums. There is not a Japanese
of any influence who would undo that
wrong. The government, though it is
the government of the party that later
denounced the presentation of the de-
mands, is now insisting on the full
payment of the obligations they forced
on China with respect to Shantung.
Many have argued to Japanese that
other countries also do these things,
but that when there are killings at
Amritsar it is not Americans or French
men or Russians who make the expos
ure and demand puni. hment. 1t is
brltons, and no denunciation is sharper
than that made publicly by Britons
themselves When America Ia guilty
OF grave injustice in Hayti and Santo
Domingo it is American publications
that make the exposure, American sem
tlment that demands punishment But
it is never Japanese who do the same il,
Corea or China or Siberia. 1t is al
ways Foreigners, and the Japanese con-
demns the exposure as a hostile act.
Nearly always it is Americans. 1t
was Americans who made the outcry
over the Shantung award after the
peace conference and brought to light
Japan's penetration far beyond the
boundaries OF the territory Germany
had held in the province. 1t was Amer
lean missionaries who made public the
e%cesses in Corea two years ago. 1t is
Americans now living in China who
have spread broadcast the story of
Japan's domineering in Peking. Every
where it is America that seems to
Japan TO loom in its way. And in a
sense it is. BY some accident of cir
cum stance America has become the
protagonist for the West against jap
anese territorial ambitions--I say ae-
cident because actually America has
less material interest In the Far Fast