Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-02-03

daughter of Prince Kuni of the blood
royal, her mother being a great lady
! of the Satsuma clan. No foreigners
witnessed the ceremony. which was
! performed after the ancient, charm
| ing and simple rites. The prince is
itwenty-three years of age, his bride
Itwenty-one. He is a youth of very
, great promise. admirably trained; she
has imbibed the western learning"
: in addition to the traditional eX-
lquisite Sino-Japanese training of
Japanese lady of quality. Japan is
dispositions but the prince is
scarcely to be felicitated on his in
heritance. He has his work cut for
him, for Japan is in violent ferment.
l regret that I lack the informa-
ton to justify comment Oh the issues
| involved i'll the present political cri-
sis in Japan. 1t is d sure-enough
| crisis. For some time past proceed
inss in the lower house of the diet
have lacked of calm and dignity.
On January 81. the debate ,effioresced.
SO to speak. in violent free for-all
fight. Epithets and missiles hurtled
through the air. Though it was the
| lower house, the Dukes" were much
in evidence. The session was ad-
| journed and Immediately thereafter
a far cry from the Yamato spirit of
old Nippon.
| * = x x
| Mexico-The tide of war which a
fortnight ago suddenly turned in
favor of de la Huerta in the past
| week with no less suddenness and
in favor of Obregon.
On the eastern front the Obreeonis-
| tas captured the important strategic
| point of Esperanza and in rapid Sc
quence OriZaba. The rebels on that
| front are reported to be demoraliZed
| and Obregon's forces to be pressing
| rapidly forward toward Vera Cruz.
On the western front. fortune prov
ing tickle even beyond her wont, the
rebels are being shifted hip and
| thigh. The American Omaha and six
| destroyers had just weighed anchor
and started to stream away from
Vera Cruz to join the naval maneu-
verS, when they were ordered back.
! + = * x
United States of AmeriCa.-I.ieut
| Col. PHILIPPE Bunau-EariIla is with us
| again, advocating transformation of
the present Panama lock canal into
| a sea-level canal or Panama straits"
1000 feet wide at bottom and fifty
! feet deep at lowest tide. He esti-
| mates the cost of such a TRANSFORMED
ton at s1,00O,O0O,OO0, but asserts
plausibly enough that the work would
pay for itself through increase of
traffic, and moreover that traffic need
| not be interrupted for an instant
during the transformation. Il is not
uniting that Col. Bunau-Varilla should
! discourse on this subject, for it was
| through him as director general of
| the French New Panama Canal Com
/ pany that in 1904 the franchise and
| all the property of that company were
purchased by our government, and ii
| was he who, as first minister to the
| United States of the infant Republic
! of Panama negotiated on behalf Of
| that republic the Hay-Bunau- Variiia
| treaty. Whether, owing to engineer
/ ing developments the objections to
i the sea-level plan are less formidabI
! than they were in 1904. when they de-
| feated it's adoption. and whether even
! so supposing it We're better to trans
! form the canal into a sea level one
/ than to enlarge it's capacity on the
| present plan. These are engineering
| questions / am not competent to deal
| with. But it is certain the time is in
1 sight when the present width of
channel will not be answerable to the
! demands of traffic.
| The tonnage that passed through
| the canal in 1923 totaled $4,000 W.
| the Sues canal with 100000, being
! beaten at last.