The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1922-01-13

of religion, and Of the church. Be,
cause / think this to be true | an
doubly happy to be with you here
you who are interested In the work
of God.
Ninety-three years ago there was
held in Brookline, Massachusetts. a
prayer meeting, invoking the assist
ance of the Great Being to let Japan
then a hermit nation enjoying area
dian peace, see the wisdom of opening
her door to America and general for
eign intercourse. A sum of 5000 was
| collected at this and other similar
meetings, and the money was sent to
he American Mission Board for the
purpose Of launching Christian
movement in Japan.
That was ninety-three years ago To-
lay japan has 100000 members of the
Protestant church, as we'll as Chris
tian adherents numbering more than
million.
The American Bible Society at Tok-
70 can never print enough Bibles to
meet the ever increasing demand.
There is no doubt that Christianit!
has already spread its roots wide ant
deep in japanese soil.
The japanese newspapers, mag
zines, and fiction of today bear test!
mony to this statement. The prevail
ing popular conception of mankin,
and humanity, and Of liberty, equal!t!
and fraternity. bay be directly or in
directly traced to Christianity. BE
cause Of these things l have been i'll
terested in watching the activities o
the churches of America through The
Federal Council of Churches in be
half of peace. They have exercised :;
| great influence not only in Americf
but throughout the world. The cam.
paign of education has been special.
effective.
/ hope will not tax your patience
il / take the liberty Of presenting I;
brief survey Of Japan's foreign inle'
course since we opened our doors.
In giving such a survey, we must in
evitably bark back to the American
japanese treaty in 1854, the first fer
eign treaty japan has ever concluded
The first articles Of that histo:i,
treaty says:
There shall be a perfect, permaN
ent and universal peace and sincere
and cordial amity between the United
States of America on the one part, ard
the Empire Of Japan on the other part
and between their peoples respective.
". without exception of persons or
places"
Words fail me when I try to tell
you how highly we prize the spirit
embodied in this article, want all Of
you Americans to cherish that article,
and be proud Of it as we are
When we look back over recent de-
velopments Of Acknowledgements re-
rations, are we the Americans as
well as the Japanese,-sure that we
have no reason to be ashamed Of our
selves in the face of that noble article
Of the first treaty between our two
countries?
The first treaty between Japan and
America was signed by your distin-
guished sailor, Mommodore Matthew
Galbraith Perry If we are not to
tarnish the escutcheons Of our fore
fathers who concluded that monu-
mental instrument, it is our foremost
duty to make the greatest elorts to re
move all causes of misunderstanding"
and disagreement which are likely tc
cast shadow over the bright relatin-
ship between our two nations.
When Japan had just opened her
doors to foreign intercourse sixty
| years dSO Tic representatives VI bu-
ropean governments were inclined to
deal with the Japanese with undue
severity. In. that period, the repre-
sentative Of the United States, Town
send Harris, emphatically disagreed
with his European colleagues and
stood for tolerance and moderation.
l need not recount here the numer-
Gus instances in which America show
ed herself generous and sympathetic
towards Japan, but I feel constrained
to mention just one notable example.
When Townsend Harris was about to
conclude a reaty with japan he I'D
vised our Government to include In
the proposed treaty cclause prohib-
iting the importation of opium, that
pernicious drug which was foisted
upon China by cunning traders and
which has been sending thousands up
on thousands OF Chinese unto their
doom.
You have undoubtedly heard a great
deal about militarism In Japan. But
=