Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press., 1924-01-24
QUAKE MAKES
PRINCE POPULAR
People of Japan Applaud Orders
to "Feed Hungry Before
Rebuilding Palace"

Tokyo.-The earthquake was pretty
rough to Hirohito, crown prince regent
and future emperor of Japan.
But 1t made him, If possible, even
more popular with the people than
ever beforehand he had already been
heid In more affection by his subjects
than any Of his predecessors ever were
not even excepting Meiiji the Great,
whose reign saw the beginning and
much of the making of modern Japan
The tt-shin, which Is one way Of
describing an earthquake without
using profanity, busted up the crown
princes wedding and his pet palace,
where he had planned to live with
MS bride, the Princess Nagako Kuni,
and it caused some of the imperial
counseiors to propose that the imperi-
al family remove to Kyoto, the an
cient capital, in South Japan.
Nothing doin'," said Hirohito. OF
course he didn't say it in those words.
But his veto was fiat. 1t was straight,
direct and to the point.
We're going to rebuild Tokyo, as
l get the big idea," said he-or ap-
proximately that, freely translated.
We're planning a bigger, more beau.
tiful Tokyo. And several million peo-
pie are going to live here. They're
not going to run away from Tokyo.
And I'm not--not by a jugful"
Stopped Moving Talk.
SO that was that. And when the
story leaked out-and you could hard
ly expect such a story to stay bottled
up very long-it squelched pretty ef-
fectively the talk Of removing the Jap
anese capital from Tokyo to Kyoto,
or anywhere else.
well, then" said somebody, "per-
haps 1t will be just as well to 90 ahead
with the imperial wedding-the prince
regent and the Princess Nagako were
to have been married in November.
1T wouldn't be right to allow an
earthquake tO-ah--to-ah-sha we
say, interfere with the happiness of
so auspicious an occasion"
This ji-shin has jimmied the hap
pinesS OF an awful lot OF people," oh.
served the regent, "and to me it doesn't
seem fair that my happiness should
be sought when so many are sad
or that the state should spend so much
money on a wedding when all the
money we can raise is needed for re-
lief and reconstruction. There will be
no wedding this fall"
SO, again, that was that.
"Oh, very WELL" came back the
counselOrs. "At least-surely at the
very least-we may be allowed to or
der immediate commencement of the
work Of rebuilding the Kasumagaseki
palaceT
Food Comes First.
NO." said Hirohato. I'VE won't i'm.
mediately commence the work of re-
building the Kasumagaseki palace. As
"a matter Of fact, we won't commence
1t any time soon. Indeed, as l think
1t over, have a hunch that it is 60
ing to be long, long time before we
rebuild that palace-because, first,
we're going to feed the people and
build temporary homes for them, and
then rebuild the city permanently.
And after that is done, If there Is any
spare change left, you might drop
around some afternoon and let me
have the lowest quotations on pal
aces"
To repeat, the words are liberal
ly Americanized version Of the rough
and ready version Of the story that
the people of Japan are applauding.
But the spirit, the Idea behind the
actual official orders, is faithfully pre-.
sented. Earthquake sufferers first;
then I can get married and talk about
a new palace" was the word of the
regent.
/ Yes, the earthquake has done a good
many impossible things And among
its impossibilities was to make crown
prince regent more popular than he
was before among his people.