mttmriMEs
?3r FINLEY PETES DUNNE'
HERE'S raw thin' an- Sut..?hin*. th' campaign manager.
I'd like r" be so dashes out. grabs him by th' hand an'
much as a cam- hollers in his ear: 'It's all settled. I've
paten manager." just had a letter fr'm th' Culture Club
said Mr. Dooley. (Colored) iv Red Bank, Xoo Jarsey.
"Its th* most say in' th3t they'll go over in a body to
jovyal emplyemiBt y if ye ll pay their hall rent fr a month
in th' wurrald. This makes it unanimous.'
JSawthin' <'? do but
*
* *
"Y?.?. sir. tli campaign manager is .1
laujtii aii" lie an'
I'OOBt th' money.
ivr> oth< 1 ??ro-vssyon that I know gi'-reat disthributor iv harmless hi-larity.
a ven me < ?n. t!.?: ? ar-re times fr him at tl- < minyit ivry eandydate
>\ in a man will -et h?w his mind. 0,1 ticket who s made a ginooine study
iu th' campaign manage! is always 'v uis own qualifications wud lie at home
been. There ar-re niver !>?> floods in with bis jaw in his hands wondherin'
is sky. but th" burrds ai-r* warblln* in how overwhelmin* th" majority again
h' threes night an' da> an* ? sings .it bim will be 01 seekin' an escape fr'm th'
us wurruk figurin' out fi'tn a sthraw fury iv th' popylace be jumpin' into th"
vmfe It tbrea hundhc 1 an eighty-five rivt-r. Whin all seems lost an' th' sky
:sitors to liiant .? Tomb that 1 lie city iv >s darkest; whin his speeches ar-re ac
? >fkyloosa. loway. will give a hundherd companied be th* low murmur iv pleas
an fory thou-un ma ? ?: i*> f'r his cand} - !,nt convarsation an' th' thramp iv feet
<Iat< marchin* out in disgust; whin th' con
Nawihin" dis?t . s him, an" annythin" ductor that punches his ticket on th*
.art iv a lick over th' head with a brake- thrain looks as though he wud like to
atidle fills him full iv hope. Ivrybody do th* same f'r his face, th' blithe spirit
. s. in th' party gets discouraged fr'm at headquarthers will prove to him in
time to time. A ven th' eandydate whin llv<" minyits that th' risolutions passed
? sees lilmsetf in th' glass in th' mornin' he tir First Prisbyteeryan Church iv
?eiure shavin' must sometimes wondber Passaic callin' on volunteers to 'lynch
If annybody at all will be foolish enough him was merely a ruse Iv his friends to
to hurry through breakfast to vote f'r make th" Methodists enthusyastic; that
;h" likes iv him. He goes down to head- ins supporters ar-re all phiggin' th
nonrthers with a kind iv an idee in his sthraw votes so's to get their mone\
?a<1 that lie may get off th' ticket an' down at fav'rble odds; that th* iditoryals
uive his place to a more showy candy- again him In th' pa-apers ar-re ra-ally
? lar?. As he ?nter th' dure be heats a acrostics an' if ye look at thim light,
wild burst iv cheerin" fr'm th' back room, read: 'Ilnrrah f'r honest ol' Ephraira
"1* Til* ?;|.AD XBW YEAR THIS IS Til' MADDEST, MERRIEST
NIGHT 1-R HIM."
GK-KE AT Ml LTK1IUODS IV SILK XT PATHRITES PUTTIN* ON KAI.SK WHISKERS AV CREEPI.V INTO TIP
POLLIV PLACES."
Biggs!'; that th' opposition iv the,money
powers will bring him thousan's iv labor
votes an" th' opposition iv th' labor lead
ers! makes th' stock exchange solid f'r
him, an" that th' final thing that was
needed to cinch his victhry was th* pub
lication iv th' repoort that he had em
bezzled th* funds iv a foundlings' home.
"Afther this treatment th' candydate
goes home an' begins to check his
thrunks f'r Wash'ngton an' consult with
his wife nbout repaperin' th* East room.
On th' day afther iliction th' campaign
manager doesn't aven wait to be thanked
f'r Ids sarvices, but, like a careful good
fairy, slips away an' niver is heerd iv
again. Whin th' candydate has examined
th* figures carefully h?- borrows th' loan
iv a brick fr'm a frind an' goes down
to headquarthers to expriss in suitable
terms his appreciation iv his rainbow.
All that he finds is a public statement
fr'm Gleeful Gus sayin' that he is grati
fied l>e th magnificent showin' made bo
th' organization. It was more thin he
had anny raison to expict with a candy
date whose face was enough to turn a
sorghum mill into a pickle facthry.
"Ye feel down-hearted tonight, Hin
nissy. Ye don't know whether th' vine
gar cruet iv ye'er choice is goin" to win
or not. No more do I. I'm worrid about
me own candydate. He's got enough
sthraw votes to stuff all th* carpets in
Indvanny. but this close to iliction I'm
not sure that there is sufficient intilli
gince, honesty and courage in this here
wretched counthry to boost him into th'
office. It's needless to say who I mean,
so I won't. But if ye're sad an' want
to be liraced up with a shot iv delirious
hope, go down to' headquarthers. Ye'll
know where they ar-re be th' bursts Iv
songs that comes through th' windows.
Inside ye'll find a man standin' on his
head an' warblin* th' most confident pre
dictions while he accompanies himsilf on
a mandolin that he plays with his feet.
That is th* campaign manager an' in all
th' glad New Year this is th' maddest,
merryest night f'r him.
"At th' pro-grissive headquarthers me
frind George \V. Perkins will overcome
an impedymind in his speech an' tell ye
that afther combin' over th' figures he
is lavin' headquarthers f'r good, as he is
afraid that he will hurt himself laughin',
but anny letters addhressed care iv T.
Rosenfelt, AVash'ngton, D. C.. will reach
him in time. Young Misther M^icComb,
/St. .-m- S9W&.
th' sprite iv dimmycratic headquarthers,
gladdens th* heart iv his followers with
this inspirin' ballad: 'Th' nation has
spoken. All that now remains to be
done is th' useless formality iv addin' up
th' figures. Th' counthry has nobly re
sponded to th' appeals iv that jovyal
prince iv good fellows an' divvle-may
eare wajr, Woodrow Wilson. I ask me
fellow-citizens not to wait fr th' returns
to come in, hut to gather around th'
festive boord this very night, fill their
beakers to th" brim with lime juice an'
dhrink th' health iv th' next Prisidint Iv
th' United States."
* *
"Over at th' raypublican lieadiiuai tiiers
Cheerful Charlie Hilles? an' he's th' boy
I'd like to have wake me?sets chucklin'
to himsilf. Says he: 'Pay no attintion to
what people say that tell ye how they're
goin" to vote. It's th' people who ar?re
afraid to say who they're fr that will
detarmine thi.s iliction. Me long ex
?peeryence in pollyticks has taught me
that. It goes without sayin' that th'
fewer th" number iv people ye hear
boastin' they'll vote fr Willum Haitch
Taft, th' larger his majority will be. Whin
I shut me eyes an' half doze I can see
gr-reat multichoods iv silent pathrites
puttin' on false whiskers an' gum shoes
an' ereepin' into th' pollin' places whin
th* judges ar-re out gettin' a dhrink an'
flllin* th' ballot boxes so full iv Taft bal
lots that they will bust at th' seams. Th'
dignified campaign conducted be th'
Prisidint through bill posters an' news
paper advertisin' placed next to th' wild
ravin's iv Rosenfelt an' th' insipid rantin'
iv th' pro-fissor an' other readin' mat
ther, has borne fruit an' tonight to say
that Tuft's majority is handsome wud be
like makin' th' same complimint to Nia
gara Falls. How do I know? Because a
careful study iv th' most acc'rate sta
tistics will prove it to th' most ignorant.
F'r example: A canvass iv Rill Iiarnes
shows practically no opposition on his
part to th' Prisidint. Complete returns
fr'm Charles P. Taft ar-re most encour
aging
" 'A sthraw vote iv th* cab'net shows
Taft four, Rosenfelt wan an' three f'r
throwin* th' iliction into th' House iv
Riprisintatives. I have compiled other
reli'ble statistics all pointin' in th' same
direction, as, th' hopefulness iv th' Pris
idint's immeejet fam'ly, th' return iv
Andhrew Carnaygie, th' fullness iv th'
moon, a shootin' star that fell last night,
a number iv fav'rable dbreams communi
cated to me be me aunt, an" th' signifi
cant fact that manny iv th' posters we
stuck up on th' finces ar-re stjll there.
What more proof cud a campaign man
ager want?' An' he gives three hearty
cheers an' goes downstairs an' asks th'
man at th' see-gar counther what he's
lieerd about th' campaign.''
*
* *
"Sure, they don't know anny more
about it thin annybody else." said Mr.
Hennessy.
"Iv coorse not," said .Mr. Dooley, "but
wild ye have thiin slop dispersin' th* uni
versal gloom becausc iv that? N'o sir.
they're a band iv hope an' I injye thlm.
What wud a eandydate do without thim?
Think iv bein' a prohybitlon eandydate,
with no campaign manajter an" nawthin'
at all to cheer ye. I bet ye at this minytt,
while I'm talkin'. th' campaign manager
iv th' prohybitlon party has got th' pro
hybition eandydate in a back room an' is
tellln' him that th' Milwaukee brewers'
union is secretly f'r hfm because iv th'
horror they feel f'r th' suds they make.
He's ordheivd a jorum iv Ice wather an'
a plate iv cookies an' is whisperln' to th'
eandydate: 'Alonzo, iv coorse. I don't
want to make anny foolish predictions,
but if I can Judge be th' sthraw vote we
took iv people comin* out iv th' alchollc
ward at th' hospital vieterdah, ye ought
to romp in.'
"It's thryin' on th* candydate's appy
tite th' mornin' afther iliction. but only
wan iv th' candydates iver grabs f'r a
sicond helpin' at tluit meal, annyhow. Th'
best thing ye can do f'r anny man is to
lill him full iv hope an' postpone th* dis
app'intment as long as ye can. Continue
to jab him till th' last minylt, but be
sure ye're out iv his way whin he comes
to.
"So here's a long life to th' glee club
iv campaign managers. They ought to
have a good time durin' th' campaign,
f'r they niver have aftherward. If they
don't ilict their eandydate he's sure to
blame thim, an' if they do ilict him he
wondhers how manny more votes he
wud've got if they hadn't been in his
way. Manny a succissful campaign man
ager, flushed with triumph, has caught
cold waitin' in th' front hall iv th* White
House f'r th' Prisidint to come out an*
say he's sorry but th' job was promised
durin' th" campaign.
* *
"Annyhow. it's on'y a few days uetur*
we'll know which wan iv these Joyon
souls made th' worat guoss. But *h<>
cares?, Ye'er little boys has th' ri?-' i
idee iv th' lliction. They were'out stralln'
bar'ia f'r their bone-lire today. Th?
won't care who's ilicted FrisMint so lot'
as they can dance aroun' th' tire. I tV< i
th' same way mesllf. I'm not wan ?
th' kind that look* on ilicition day a* .
day |v fast an' abstinence No, sir; 'tip
holiday. An iliction f'r lYisldlnt is w.i i
iv th' gr-reat festivals Iv th' poor an
don't cost annythin'. I'm goln' to |tv>
mesilf over to injiyiu' it.
?
% *
"I'm goin' to pr??t up in th* mornin'
sthroll down to th' pollin' place. have ?
few wurruds with th' polipmen, set f
ballot fr'm th' clerk, stay in th' booti
till th' juges wondher jf I've swooned,
make wan assault on th' head iv a *ar
tain colyum with th' stub iv a lead pencil
supplied by a gin'rous govern mint, fold
up th' blanket, carefully, hand it to tli
judge, an' watch to see he don't slip it
into his boot, an' pro out an* arpye an'
fight th' livelong day ontll th' returns
come in. I will thin say to wan an' all:
'It's just as I said It wud be thr< ??
months ago. if ye reinlmber," and dim'
into th" tickin'. An' in th' mornin' I'll
buy me a new hat an' begin life ovet
agin. But I'm not gotn' to feel bad. ro
matther what happens. If th' counthiy
is goin' to th' dlwle I've got to go alont.
too. I can't stop it an* I can't get oP'.
I'm billed through with it a' I've m??l
up me mind to get what pleasure I can
out iv th* worst that can happen."
"D'ye think th' result fv th' iliction will
have anny effect on th' cost iv livin ?"
asked Mr. Hennesay.
"Sure, it will," said Mr. Dooley. "f'r
th' succissful candydate,"
fOopyrlgfcc, 1912, by Holey Pef^r DnnnO
??UK'S GOT E.XOKiH STHRAW VOTES TO STUFF ALL TH* CARPETS IS IADYANNV."
TVTlLLIAM ARCHER, the
Critic and Essayist, Says
the Japanese Child Is Going
to Be Formidable When He
Grows Up, Not Only Because
of His Training, But Because
There Are So Many of Him?
But He Gives Reasons for
Believing That American Chil
dren Have Nothing to Fear
From Their Yellow Cotem
poraries When They Grow
Up?Archer Is Now Travel
ing in Baluchistan and Study
ing Conditions There.
BY WILLIAM ARCHER.
TOKIO. October 9, U'll!.
OM E -me has called
J.pan the "para
dj-"- of c!iildre:?,"
paradls* or
nu. the country of
children it may
well be called. Th
first tning that
strikes the newly
arrived traveler Is
the amazing quiver
fulness of J he coun
try. In city, in rtl
;? iarolet. wherever you ??o, c!nl
. !n to swarm out of the earth or
from ti:ii air. The foreigner
n.'-s i<> teei lik-- a I'ied I'iper ol 11am- -
? ? preternatural is his attraction lor
uul# folk. He cannot stop to make
p'.rrchastt. and muih les.-- to take a pho
'Ciaph, without being surrounded by a
)trd of from twenty to fifty children?
? uhet-Ueaded. close-cropped boys in the
? i t ? ?; i Kimonos. pietty little girls in
i iKht-.-olored. often garish, gowns, with
? ill i :^ht?*r or mori gariah sashes (obi>.
all th-- ptrl.?. moreover, and
i.' i f the boys Are certain to l?e car
- -mailer ?-hildren strapped to their
- i have teen a little girl of ten
'oii.'..nt? along with the heads of two
ur>: infants dangling at her shoulders,
??'hn. tho stranger moves on, the children
." likely come clattering after him on
'h wooden "geta"?a sort of pattens.
?Jom. ime on a country road, a knot of
oo'itni\s will follow in one's tracks for
? ? es- si ent for the most part, but some
' ? ? - l> lying on one's ignorance of their
ir.g <*;;?? to make remarks which arc
" t ,:ng but flattering.
a :ule. of course, ti.e victim's sus
ceptibilities are safely incased In incom
-rehenston. but to those ?ho happen to
' nor,- Tapanese. the rudeness of the chil
A-Ctt ii in fiojue ?uu o? country a.
n^#ous annoyance. "Red-headed barba
rian" is among the mildest of the epithets
they fling at the inoffensive tourist, and
their e'ciftrs. be it noted, are never known
to check thein.
The odd thing about this appearance
of ultra-fecundity is that statistics show
it to be in great measure i'.lusory. If fig
ures are to be trusted the population of
Japan is not increasing any faster than
that of England. The somewhat higher
birth rate is countervailed by a higher
death rate Y^t it is> ee-ta'n ?h*?t ?????>
is undoubted, but 1 have never heard it
explained.
One thing must be said for the Japanese
child?he seldom or never begs. In China
the children are almost as shameless
beggars as< in southern Italy. Once when
I was walking with a !ady through the
labyrinthine al eys of a Chinese city a
stark naked, well-fed urchin of eight or
so beset us for ha if, a mil<*, occasionally
throwing himself in the mud at our feet
and literally howling for alms. My com
!r>ured to the ways of the place,
ILMOST A I.I, THE GIRI.S till) (ERTAIX TO HE TARRYING S.MAIXER
CTIU.DREN STRAPPED TO THEIR HACKS.
ten children in Japan for every one that
is viable in England. This is partly ex
plained by tile tact that the street is
the Japanese nursery, and that the nor
mal Japanese house has no walls in the
daytime. But if the contrast between
Japan and England be partly explicable,
what of the contrast between Japan and
other oriental regions?
Both China and India are notably pro
lific countries, \.t in neither is the child
anything nkc* so much in evidence as
in Japan. The "purdah" of Mohammedan
and high-caste Hindu women has doubt
less som" influence in India. The seclu
sion of the mothers involves, to some ex
tent, that of tiif- children. But there Is
no "purdah" in China. Why, then should
the Chinese child be incomparably less
Uiaii tfitj Japauese? Xhe 'wt
would not allow me to buy him off. and
at last he desisted from pheer exhaustion.
No such experience is possible in Japan.
What, then, is to become of the bare
legged, blue-gowned millions of young
Nippon? E>o they constitute, either po
litically or industrially, the "yellow peril"
of which we hear so much? It must be
admitted that at first sight they seem in
some measure to justify the apprehen
sions with which they are regarded by
many people both in America and Aus
tralia.
For they ait not only numerous; they
are, or promise t.? be. weil educated and
Intelligent. In every Japanese village
the schoolhouse is the largest and mosrt
conspicuous building. On every Japanese
toad the commonest of spectacles Is a
vuivuua of two or three huodred school
boys and schoolgirls marching two and
two on pome nature-studying excursion
or on pilgrimage to some patriotic shrine.
Both boys and gills wear a simple uni
form. For the boys it consists of a peak
ed cap and a voluminous "divided skirt"
of gray-and-white striped cotton; for the
girls it consists simply of an undivided
skirt, generally of a deep plum color.
These winding centipedes of children,
marshaled bv their little teachers, often
scarcely taller than the tallest pupils,
are at once a touching and an impressive
sight. If the kaiser could eee them he
might probably give a simpler but not
less telling form to his vision of the
"yellow peril" in a new allegorical pic
ture. ,
* *
What are the merits of the education
they receive? On this point it is difficult
for one who knows no Japanese to form
an opinion. Though the schoolmasters
are badly underpaid, the elementary
teaching is probably quite good. In spit.:
of the appalling difficulty of learning to
read and write Japanese, with its Chinese
idiogiaphs, helped out by two subsidiary
"syllaharles" of some tlfty characters
apiece, it would seem that practically
the whoie younger generation may fairly
be called literate. Certainly there is no
country where., the written and printed
word is more prominent than in Japan.
Inscriptions and placards, on stone,
wood and paper, meet the eye at every
turn*
Popular newspapers abound and the
book stores of the cities are piled with
cheap magazines and other indications
of a wide reading public. B. H. Cham
berlain, himself a master of Japanese,
goes the length of saying that the rapid
ity with which Japanese schoolboys '.earn
to read and write proves that the most
complicated system of notation presents
little difficulty to a child if only he he
caught young enough. Japanese authori
ties do not quite agree to this. I have
heard a Japanese scholar describe the
national method of writ'ng as "diaboli
cal." There can be little doubt, I think,
that It places a serious i andicap on
education. There was at one time
a strong movement for adopting the
Roman alphabet, but the difficulties seem
to be very great, and the movement has
declined with the general decline in en
thusiasm for things European.
The fact remains that up to the level
of the "three R's" the Japanese child
is probably well educated. He can read,
he can write, and, as for arithmetic, he
can rattle the beads of his abacus with
astonishing deftness. He is grounded In
the official (and very mendacious) his
tory of his country, and he absorbs of
ficial morality from an ethical text
book.
*
* *
The Japanese primary school, from the
lowest standards upward, is furnished
with desks and benches on the European
model. Simple as it seems, the adoptiou
of this western fashion is likely to have
far-reaching consequences. In process
of time it will probably modify the na
tional habit of squatting upon the mat
ted floor, and already doctors aver that
the practice of sitting at school is pro
moting the growth of the rising genera
tion. Before 1 beard tills liiewjr
vanced. I had remarked upon the fact
that if ever one saw in the streets a
persoj} of almost European stature, he
was sure to be a youth of from fifteen
to twenty-five.
As to higher education, one thing may
he said with tolerable confidence, name
ly, that the Japanese system makes for
terr'.hle overpressure. When the boy of
twelve or thirteen has got over the dif
ficulty of mastering the 3,000 idiographs
required for reading even a Japanese
newspaper, he must, if he is to gain ac
cess to the literature or science of the
wvst. face the still greater difficulty of
acquiring at least one European language
have a very narrow l-ange, but within
that range it is always fluent, and often
remarkably good. With the Japanese the
case is just the reverse. Their helpless
struggles for expression often do grave
in lust ice to their real knowledge of th?
language.
The Japanese student, in short, has to
face enormous difficulties in getting at
western thought through the medium of
languages with which his own has no
single point of contact. True, he has not
as a rule to struggle with Greek and
Latin; but in some cases, at any rate,
Chinese takes their place in his curricu
lum. The result is a tragic frequency of
no reason to doubt that Japanese educa
tion. on the whole, makes for national
efficiency within the limits imposed by
the constitution of the Japanese mind
These limits are to be found, so far as
one can gather, in a certain lack of imag
ination and originality, with a corre
sponding tendency to fall into convention
al and traditional habits of thought.
Hence, no doubt, the apparent success
with which a factitious emperor worship
has, since the revolution of 1868, been
imposed upon the nation.
The Japanese are naturally and proper
ly patriotic. Their history down to the
aforesaid revolution had not been ex
"CHILDREN SEEM TO SWi
?usually English. So absolute is the dis
similarity of the mental processes under-"
lying Japanese syntax and that of any
Aryan tongue, that English, French or
German is, to the Japanese, scarcely
less difficult than Japanese is to us. A
proof of this may be found in the fact
that one seldom comes across a Japanese
who speaks English passably well. Many
who have studied English long, and pos
sibly read it with tolerable ease, are
painfully incompetent when it comes to
speaking.
*
* *
No doubt most of us can read languages
that we cannot speak, but that is simply
lack of practice. In the case of many
Japanese, no amount of practice seems to
help. They are congenitally incapable
of framing a thought on the European
model. Here the contrast between Japan
Mid India is very instructive Indians
can always make the most ef whatever
English thex know. Their English ma;
k
RM OUT OF THE EARTII OR MATE1
mental breakdown. Lafcadiu Hearn in
his "Diary of a Teacher" tells of some
pathetic cases within his own experience.
"Nature," he says, "exacts a heavy
school fee, and rigidly collects her debt?
in human life." He lays some of the
blame upon underfeeding; but our vege
tarian friends will probably deny any
necessary relation between beefsteaks
and mental stamina. Be this as it may,
there is no doubt thaf it is often the most
promising and generally the most ambi
tious boys who are stricken down. They
do not always succumb directly to cere
bral troubles: often they destroy them
selves after failing in an examination.
There is a famous waterfall between Nik
ko and Chusenjl \vhlrh is a favorite
place for the suicide of students 1 have
forgotten the exact number of those who
threw themselves over in the course of
one recent season. I think it was iif
teen?certainly not less.
*
* *
With ail iti defects, however, there U
LI ALIKE FROM THIX AIR."
actly glorious, fur it had consisted ol
a long series of internal broils, ending at
last in two centuries and a half of par
alyzing tyranny. But they possessed an
exquisitely beautiful country, which had
never in recorded time been conquered or
even invaded from without; and they had,
moreover, many artistic achievements
whereof to be justly proud. Their nat
ural pay*iotism, then, was artfully com
bined with the ancestor worship which
was their primitive religion and worked
up into a fanatical cult of the imperial
family. Schoolboys are gravely taught
that "the majesty of our imperial house
towers high above everything to be found
in the world and is as durable as heaven
and earth." !>afcadio Hearn records
that, "having asked in various elapses for
written answers to the question '^Vhat is
your dearest wish?' ' he found that about
UU per rent of the replies expressed the
simple desire "to die for his sabred maj
esty our beloved emperor." It is said
that if a schoolhouse caught tire and the
master failed to save the portraits of the
emperor and cmprcse popular feeljng
1
wculd condemn him to commit "hara
kiri."
*
* *
Not long ago a station master by som
small error delayed the progress of an
imperial train in which the late mikad
was traveling. No accident occurred nor
does it appear that there was any danger
of one. hut the .station master incontinent
ly killed himself. The point of the anec
dote, however, lies in the sequel. A pro
fessor in one of the universities incau
tiously expressed the opinion that this
act of expiation was rather excewsiv.
Whereupon he was promptly boycotted
and. I understand, compelled to resign his
jjost. To such extremes is emperor wor
ship carried.
It may seem, then, that all I have saM
goes to show that the Japujiese are a.i
extremely formidable people. They ap
prolific, well ecucated. intelligent an.I
united in a self-sacrificing religion <"
patriotism. They have also given anipb
proof that they fere good fighters, both by
land and sea. Does it not appear thai
other nations, whose coast lines front tin
l'ac-ific may well regard them with dif
quletude?
I do not think so. for various reason.
which must be very briefly stated. In tl ?
first place, the natural resources of th?
Japanese are very scanty. It is in reality*
a poor country, ill-fitted to bear th
strain of a great war. waged at a dis
tance from its own shores. I do not be
lieve that its statesmen are mad enou&
to contemplate aggression upon tl.'
I'nited States or upon any part of ti
British empire, so long as the Hritish ?u>
pire holds together.
If crushing dUtHter wnv overtak
the seu puwer of England, the cumv might.
b<* different: but even then it 1* flifflcul
to conceive that whatever power succeed
ed to the command of th? sea would per
mit tlie conquest of a white man's lan<i
by a yellow race. Secondly, I l?eliev?>
that as education and culture take firm
er hold on the people they will gradually
become less prolific. Already the cost o?
living and the standard of comfort ar->
rising, and as this process goes on th?
nation will tend less and less to outgrov
Its natural boundaries. It may seek t?
widen its outlet in Manchuria, a splendid
country, but that need not greatly dls
turb us Anglo-Saxons.
In the third place, I do not believe tha
that fanatical aspect of Japanese patriot
ism is either healthy or durable. For de
fensive purposes It may be useful?tl.i
war with Russia was really defensive.
But if it were to tempt Japan into as-,
gressive adventures, it might very likelv
receive a "nasty knock" that would shake-,
the people's faith in their "divine" figure
head. The real "yellow peril" would aris?-,
if Japanese energy and cunning were tr?
obtain control of the giant resources of
China, but that Is a contingency on whlcn
It would be premature to spscul&ie.
(Copyright, WU. be Carttft ???A ??
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