New-York tribune., 1921-02-27

igG al tne n az GGSC, 4 ne eighth qSil
eppsar sn The Tribune tomorrow
TOXIC, Jan. 24.-I said at the begin
ring Of these articles that the two
great facts in contemporary Japan are
bitterness Sgainst America and social
unrest. Following this through, have
outlined the causes of the feeling.
sssinst America. I have taken up i'm
migration and the political issues grow
ing out of Japsn's imperiaiist anbi-
tons on which America has taken it's
stand against Japan.
have discussed those issues and
given the Japanese governments at
titude on them, with interviews setting
forth the opinions of the heads Of the
government, | have attempted to show
Why the nature of the government
makes such an attitude inevitable and
Why those issues cannot be solved until
tie nature Of the government ia
changed by characterization. It re-
mains to discuss the democratic mov..
ment
When Japan was ipvoluntarily openes
up By ths West 1t had to choose be-
tween becoming che spoils Of the na-
lions Of the West or arrning itself with
the Vests weapons. 1t chose the lat
Ter. That in turn left no choice bpt
kndustrialization. It made the choice.
inviting Of its consequences.
Tried to Retain Feudalism
Il tried to adopt industrialism and
retain the placid stability of feudaI-
ISM 1t took the industrial system
and hoped to avoid paying the price
4 social discomfort and demand for re-
construction. 1t entered the world Of
nations, and hoped to keep world cur
rents off its own shores. 1t gave its
ieople universal education in order to
make ITS man power stronger because
intelligent, and expected to keep their
minds untainted Of new ideas. 1t is
lust discovering that it cannot have
the Western cake and eat it too.
For few decades the old feudal 10y
0itles were undminished. The indus
trlal dalmlo were served as faithfully
BY their laborers as the feudal daimio
tad been by their retainers. But the
forces OF industrialism were working
as relenticssly as in the West. Class
DIVISIONS took on an economic as we'll
rs social meaning. A very wealthy
Class developed on the one hand and q
permanently poor class on the other.
middle class of commercial people
1me into being with a consciousness
It's owl, without voice or represen-
Rtion or power to effect it's desires
end with steadily growing disen-
sfantment with the glories OF empire.
The old moldS were being strained more
and more by the new life within.
The progress of Japan in half q CEN
try knows no parallel in history. The
hcauty of japanese life is the flower
iag of fine culture. But progress
has had its price. The temple of beau
" rests on a substructure of utter
Eretchedness. Thirty minutes from
the moat Of the Old World Imperial
Palace are Fukugawa and HOMO, TWEEN
remote from the pretty teahouses,
quaint gardens, august temples and
imposing mansions. The traveller sell
dom sees the slums.
Occupafional Diseases Rife
There is Western congestion in
Eastern squalor. Whole families are
packed in cells OF tiny wood and paper
houses in the dungeons of an Oriental
alley, but three or four feet above
sea level, some times foot under
tdewater, always muggy swamp. Five
Or six live, breed and die in three
mat room, and lodgers are taken in
besides from among the floating labor
population in the nearby factories.
tuberculosis takes as high as one in
taree, according TO some estimates.
Vther occupational diseases are rife.
taild mortality is shocking, though
statistics are inconclusive. Sex pro-
mlscuity is the rule rather than the
exception, and family identity Is lost.
Poverty there was in the old Eastern
siVilizstion, too, and it was grim. There
IS poverty in China yet, and it is the
lowest depth of misery. But in the Old
world poverty there is certain
dignity. In the poverty Of the civiliza-
ton Of machine and factory there are
aegradation and bestiaiity. Thing for
thing. in material goods the modern
poor is better off; in every spiritual
aspect he is lower in the human scale.
Is distinction between natural
poverty and the slum; q distinction
understandable only by one who has
seen both.
The year 1918 ended an epoch in
s,apan as surely as in Europe. 1t was
men Che Japanese people awoke. The
lat years of the war had seen an
Industrial boom beyond the fondest
creams. Into the ranks of the rich
came swarms of narikin new-rich
ihe mounting cost of living made the
comfortable poor and the pooS grovel
Deeper in need. And then the food of
aew ideas let loose over the world by
me war swept into Japan in spite of
me official dikes of suppression. Chang
ing the figures, Japan swoke. So unex-
pected, SO swift was the awakening
nat men who had known it in sleep re-
fused to believe. Its own pillars do not
Credit 1t yet.
The awakening 10 final and certain
asVertheless, as I said In the first OF
aese articles. There is genuine dem
ecratie movment abroad. The word
oemocratic lis used In its most COM
sfenehsive, perhaps loose, sense. The
uemand is not so much for dem ocrat-
= government as FOR social and eco
pemlc reconstruction. AS IN much
~ sapan's modern development, many
ssSges in the evolution Of the West are
oe'ng skipped. The trend of thinking is
soward socialism rather than political
esIocracy, with fringes of direct action
sao even Sovietest sentiment. -.
Masses Are Undiciplined
The violent wrench toward extremes
= noe surprising. The Japanese social
ystem has outgrown its framework.
@ss makers have proyfded for no ex-