Evening star., 1925-09-18
A DELICATE JOB
For u. S. Envoy.
By Hamilton Hoh.

President Coolidge is shortly to
! appoint a new Ambassador to Japan,
who will, one ventures to predict,
hardly find his new berth bed of
roses. Let no American think for "A
moment that Japan has forgotten the
way the United States Senate passed
| the anti-Japanese immigration law
last year. The Japanese government
and the japanese people still feel
the deepest resentment toward the
United States because of it. Just
when it looked as though the long Sc
ries or pin pricks on the part of Cal
! ifornia and other Western States
were to be forgotten in the rejoicings
over the success of the Washington
conference on armaments and the
Far East. and a new era of peace on
the Pacific ushered in, Congress
comes along and, ignoring the usual
| International amenities, abrogates
without conference the so-called
"gentlemen's agreement made III
conference. insists on discriminating
race treatment against Japan alone,
refuses TO consider Japan's offer 10
make any reasonable adjustment de-
sired by the United States either by
treaty or by a change in the gen
tlemen's agreement" and. worst of
all from Japan's point of view. ig-
nores Japan's International prestige
and treats her as negligible.
lnasmuch as Japan has never OBJ
jected to our limiting Japanese i'm
| migration. but only to our manner
Of doing II. why has she made such
an ado over what appears TO be,
after all, secondary issue?
How Japan Feels.
To understand Japan and her feel
| ings the American people should
keep clear in mind Japan's Two high
principles or purposes which have
| animated all her national and inter
| national policies since the res tora-
ton" OF '68, when the Emperor was
restored to temporal power on the
ruins OF the shogunate. An under
standing of these two purposes is the
key to Japanese history for the past
| half century-the period in which
! Japan emerged from a feudalism
comparable to Germany, when the
robber barons lived in their Rhine
castles, and entered upon and finally
achieved a civilization that makes
her one of the FIVE great powers of
| the world, measured by any quail
| tative standard. s.
Japan's first and funda mental pur-
pose was security. Her statesmen
saw at the beginning of the new
regime that il Japan did not adopt
Western ideas she would inevitably
| suffer the fate of India and certain
| other peoples and be gobbled up by
the great powers of Christendom.
Accordingly feudalism was broken
up, a constitutional government along
Western lines established, the caste
system abolished. and the door of op-
portunity opened to all the people.
| The mobiles returned their estates to
| the crown, which divided them among
the people. The Samurai--the old
| fighting and literary class-in fulfill
ment of the new Bushido-Iaid down
their arms. An army was created
| with universal manhood service. A
navy was begun-weak at first but
| now the third greatest in the world
and superior to any in Japanese
waters.
Took Over the Dagger.
But Japan did not stop there.
Korea. according TO Marquis Ito, was
the dagger pointed at the heart of
Japan" Japan took the dagger. She
also took over after the Russo-Japa
! nese war the Manchurian Railroad Ind
| made a treaty with China by which
it could not be paralleled. Thus the
land approach to japan and the ap-.
proach to the land approach was
within Japan's hands. Japan was
now safe from land or sea attack
Having insured her self preservation,
Japan's second great purpose followed.
She proposed TO make herself the
equal of any nation in the arts of
peace.
In certain personal qualities of char
acter, the Japanese have no superior
Probably they are not equaled by any
people in personal bravery. courtesy,
patriotism, alertness. estheticism.
thoroughness and self-control In
financial. economic, social and domes-
tic relations. however, they are still
decades behind Europe and America.
Their behind-ha in material
development is undoubtedly due more
to the character of the land they in
habit than to the centuries of iSola-
ton through which they lived before
Commodore Perry and his American
feet opened Japan to the world in
1859.
Japan is a collection of volcanic
islands still trembling with daily
earthquakes. The area of the empire
is about that of the State of California
The arabic land is about the size of
Maryland. Yet chiefly on the rice
grown on this arabic land, plus the
fish of the sea. 100000 people live.
Offensive War Impossible.
Japan could not if she would, and
she would not II she could carry on
a great offensive war far from home
She Will not go to war with us unless
attacked. A rat, of course, will fight
if cornered by a cat. If she fights it
will only be in self-defense. There is
| not the slightest danger of war be-
cause of the SenateS recent boorish.
To-,
| ically. The bulk of her foreign trade
is with us. and she would surely be
| defeated if she left her shores to
fight. Her statesmen are well aware
that America could build 20 battle
ships while Japan was building one.
Japan is not unlike a woman striv.
ing to get into society. She Is super
sensitive about her position. We have
severely snubbed her attempts at so.
cial recognition. She viii neither for
get 1t nor let any opportunity pass to
undo what has been done
1t would seem that there ought to
be enough ability and golden rule
morality in American Statesmanship
to find a way to heal this breach be.
tween Japan and the United States
honorably alike to both countries. If
! the future of the worlds civilization
| is to center on the Pacific, then there
is nothing more important for the
welfare Of mankind than that the two
greatest Pacific powers live together
| in concord and peace.
One hopes that the new Ambassa-
| dor. whoever he may be, will prove
! to be a statesman who can lead the
way. He has an opportunity such as
comes to few men.
| copyright. 1920
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