The Dominion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1917. JAPAN AND AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 23, 22 October 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1917. JAPAN AND AMERICA

Both in its bearing on the specific ■ problems over which Japan and America have been more or less definitely at issue, and on the large questions opened by the war, the j recent Japanese mission to America seems likely to lead to important results. At first an element of restraint appeared in the welcome- extended to Viscount Iskii and his colleagues by the leading American newspapers. It was suggested that tho Japanese envoys were- largely concerned with tho civic rights of their, countrymen domiciled in the United States and with Japan's . claims to bo granted. a. frco hand in China. Before the mission had been long in tho country, however, tho tone of American comment became much more cordial. Suspicion of Japan's possibly interested motives gave place in many quarters to friendly speculation anent the possibilities ot permanent good relations between the two countries. An explanation of tho change appears in the attitude of tho Japanese visitors, who at onco made it plain that they aimed not merely at removing existing grounds of difference, but at laying the foundations of a friendly understanding calculated to bear the teat of time. In one of tho first statements he made in his official capacity, Viscount Ishii expressed the belief that tho unity of feeling between Japan and the United States as regards the present war "makes it possible for every fair-minded man to bclievo that there are no pending questions between America and Japan which, approached in this spirit, are not susceptiblo of honourable and fair adjustment." But the head of tho Japanese mission did not stop short at this point. In a statement made when tho envoys were formally received o.n arrival at a Pacific port, he declared tbat his message was not only tbat America and Japan would work together and fight together in the common struggle for rights and liberties, but that when the victory of the Allied forces was secure America and Japan should combine in maintaining stable peace.

Wβ cannot either of us (he observed) take rislcs. It becomes tho first duty of Japan and America to guard the Pacific and to ensure safe, continuous intercourse 'between Asia and the United States; to see to it that the ships of the ferocious pirates whose crimes \ipon the high seas can never bo paralleled find no shelter in the -waters of our seas. It is for us together to enforce respect for law and humanity upon the Pacific, from which the German mennco was removed at the commencement of the war.

Viscount Ishii spoke- in the same strain when ho and his colleagues were presented to the United States Senate, an occasion hailed by Senator Satjlsbury as symbolising "complete international fraternity wbich common consciousness of international honour has brought about." Tho alliance born of the war, the Senator declared, knew no colour label. It was an Anglo-French, Slav, Italian, Japanese, American peril to the misdemcanists of tho world.

One result of the advances made by tho Japanese mission is scon in the pronounced stimulus given in America to tho discission, with a view to their satisfactory settlement, of questions open, or in dispute, between tho two countries. In regard to tho treatnient of Japaneseresident in tho United States, it ia pointed out that at present Japanese immigration is restricted by the- "Gentleman's Agreement" bel.ween tho. two nations, wbich Japan has scrupulously observed. Tin , . Haltiinuro Him thinks that for 1,1k? jmrmiinoiifc future it certainly ought not to hi' beyond the resources of American statesmanship to devise a method that will conJapan her demand that her citizens In , , accorded, equal treatment with other aliens and tho immigrants from other countries, and yet roliejo the foars oi Pacific coast

citizens of wholesale Japanese immigration. As regards China several American commentators mention a report that one- of the objects of the mission was lo secure the assent of the United States to a Monroe- Doctrine for Eastern Asia, which would place- Japan in a similar position with regard to China to that which the United States occupies towards the- Latin Republics. America, it is considered, might readily give her consent to such an arrangement. The Richmond Evening Journal observes on the subject:

What if Japan does 6cek (o bo recognised as tho paramount Power in Uio Far East? Have we not our Slonroe Doctrino on this fiido that we jealously guard nnd cherish? Japan, as tho ruling and; most progressive nation in tho Orient, wants to establish a similar unwritten law in the Asiatic territory it dominates. And why not? .If the power is Judiciously exercised it can have no more evil eifeet for the United States than our benevolent guardianship of tho American continent lias tor Europe.

Not the least interesting feature of the discussion raised in America by the- visit of tho Japanese mission is the belief, apparently generally entertained, that Japan is ready to take a larger part in tin: war. Transport difficulties, with tho fact that Russia has amnio reserves r.f men in the theatre in which Japanese troops could with least difficulty bo employed, and that Japan's industrial resources are already at the disposal of Russia, have appeared hitherto as the principal deterrents to Japan's active co-operation in tho land v-ar. Owing chiefly to Russia's military failure- tho ruling conditions_ have appreciably changed, and it is possible that tho war may yet afford scope for tho employment of Japanese armies. In any case improving relations between Japan and tho United States aro to be welcomed, both as they bear on the war and on future peace.