New-York tribune., 1921-02-26
By Nathaniel PETER

/, by Nathaniel Peter
/! Copyright, 1921 New York Tribune inc.
/, TOXIC, Jan. 23.-The duality of gov
lernment that exists in Japan is we'll
known TO all who have at all studied
ithe Far East. There is a constitut tionsl
lCovernment-a Cabinet, a diet and an
administrative bureaucracy. There is
.slso an inner government, circle of
'pilitary men headed by the Genro-
.tlder Statesmen-with the general
iftaff OF the army as its instrument.
II Of the two the latter is the more
powerful. It's interests are generally
represented i'm the policy of Japan,
its will is generally translated in the
governments action, especially in for
ltign affairs. The two necessarily are
more or less intermingled and their
Interests are not necessarily always
opposed. The permanent civil bureau
cracy, for instance, generally works
in harmony with the military, since it
largely represents the same class.
4, To these two has been added an
other force, the force of organized
capital. big business. Modern indus
trial Japan has only recently begun to
discover itself. Among it's discoveries
are the profitable possibilities of in
Visible government, the extent to which
great business organizations can unite
10 common purpose and work together
to realize 1t.
Il Because this force is new its in
Tuence is underestimate, especially
by foreigners. But it plays a bigger
part than is generally known, in ways
- shall show later, and it must be
Teckoned with in any consideration of
the present-day Japan.
{, Antedates Shogunate Period
! That there is an inner government
is generally understood. What is not
SO we'll understood is that this Is not
the modern empire, but a system that
/ goes centuries back in. Japanese his
story. 1t dates from before the sho-
gunate period, during which the En-
peror was the nominal ruler and the
! Shotgun the actual ruler, sometimes
even the shogun being puppet and
the seat of power elsewhere. For
I. nearly a thousand years there has been
f., a nominal government, and another
y -NIIQChilONltQSSA government, more
. less cloaked and independent of check
or control The present rule by mill
'tarists is only the old system in mod
'ern forms.
I. The import of this is that if the
System were merely transitory it might
.easily pass with the maturing Of opin-
ion and the growth of education
i,Operating throughout the country's
volution and accepted as normal
condition, it is more likely to be pro-
portionately long in passing. To talk
.glibly, as so many do, of Japanese
I .militarism being on its last legs is to
dwell in ignorance.
4, The key to modern Japan is in re-
.cognition of the fact that it is but
tifty years from state of feudalism.
What was in the West slow evolu-
/ 'tion was telescoped here into a few
years, and the spirit, if not the form,
'of feudalism remains.
:. When the shogunate was abolished
! in 1868 and the unifcation of the coun-
fry under the Emperor proclaimed, it
was the daimyo, or feudal mobiles, who
,took hold of reconstruction. They
,flled the Offices Of the new govern
fment and directed its Transformation
fnto a modern state. Their descen4
idants fill them now. If it is remem-
.bered that they were a hereditary
smllltary class, the present aScendency
of militarists, especially since the civil
offices are filled by men Of the same
class, is not difficult to see.
= Ascendancy Is Undoubted
T. Their ascendancy is undoubted. What
decline there has come with time has
Been offset by the prestige of three VIC
torious wars that have made Japan
one of the great world powers. Their
leader is Prince Yamagata, one of the
two surviving members of the Genro
and the head of the army clique, nearly
! all of which is of the Choshu clan. The
navy clique is the Satsuma clan. More
than any other man Prince Yamagata is
the real ruler OF Japan; more than the
Emperor, who is ruler only in a mystic
sense.
!, The Foreign Ministry has its ambas-
isadors and consuls. The military have
rheir own representatives everywhere
even where there are no diplomatic Of
ficers. The Foreign Ministry deliber-
aGes and makes commitments to other
powers. The military act and leave il
to the Foreign Ministry to explain
There you have the reason why Japal
so often seems to violate its treaty OBJ
1igations, 1t has not been insincere il
lmaking them. The men who make them
are not the ones who break them.
N The Emperor has power to declare
war, make peace, sign treaties ant
sanction military movements. Th
military have direct access to the EN-
llperor-and the Japanese imperia
.ihousehold is the richest in the worlt
and makes no accounting of its funds
h The military dictate the nomination c