The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1932-02-09
Editors Note: This Is the last
of six stories on "Japan's Sky.
rocket Rise"

What will you give the Emperor,
the Lord of Heaven?"
So runs the first question of jap
anese school child's catechism.
And the child Is trained to answer:
"All my possessions, and my life when
he requires it."
In the estimation of the japanese.
the sickly- looking and bespectacled
young man who sits in the palace at
Toxic today is not mere human. He
Is god-"The Son of Heaven and
so were all his ancestors in his heav-
en-born line, which goes back to six
centuries before Christ. They were
kings long before the day of julius
Caesar, and 300 years before Alexan-
der the Great conquered the known
world.
Reverence for the emperor is in
grained in the cradle, grows through
out the years and makes death glor-
ious when it promotes his cause. Wars
are fought for the emperor. In the
war with Russia, soldiers rushed to
battle shouting his name. died with
a smile on lips that gasped it until
the last.
His person is sacred. No ordinary
commoner may touch him-not even
his barber, his dentist or his tailor.
The barber and dentist must wear
silk gloves when working on him, the
tailor does his fitting on another
man Of the same stature. Despite his
enormous power and riches, the aged
Emperor Mutsuhito suffered from
lack Of proper nursing during his last
illness for this reason.
The present Emperor Hirohito,
123rd ruler in the heaven-born line,
has modified things somewhat. When,
as prince-regent, he returned from an
European tour several years ago, he
permitted a rousing public reception
like those often given the Prince of
Wales. Old japanese were horror
stricken; the custom of centuries had
dictated that when a member Of the
royal family passed the people should
stand in reverent silence with head
bowed; that no ordinary mortal
might look down upon the emperor
from above, and to this end the cur
tains on upper-story windows Of
houses must be drawn before he ap-
peared.
Though Japan has had a constitu-
tional government and an elected
diet (congress) since 1890, the en-
peror is still all-powerful. No car Of
Russia ever had more power over his
subjects than Hirohito has today.
The constitution says the emperor
rules by. divine right in accordance
with the laws made by the diet: act
ually, his imperial decree can set
aside or make any law, even declare
war.
He is commander in-chief of both
the army and the navy, he appoints
the cabinet that runs the country,
his royal family draws $2,O00,000 a
year from the taxpayers, has q vast
personal fortune, owns 5000, 900 acres
of land in crowded Japan where land
is worth as high as 81 900 an acre.
It is doubtful II there is soldier In
Japan'S army or sailor in Japan'S
navy who would not be willing to fall
upon a sword, gladly, at a nod from
this bespectacled young man In To-
kio. The gravest sin in the japanese
code Is disloyalty to the throne.
X X X
The Japanese people would no more
think of putting the emperor's pic
ture on money or postage stamps
than we would think Of doing the
same with q picture of Christ. His
picture Is treated reverently and
framed in every school. A few years
ago two school teachers were fined
heavily for drinking sake In room In
which his picture hung.
In case the school catches fire, the
emperor's picture Is the first thing
that must be saved. A favorite story