Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, NOVEMB. 23, 1920. THE WORLD AND JAPAN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2206, 23 November 1920, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, NOVEMB. 23, 1920. THE WORLD AND JAPAN.

WRITING from Tokio a couple of months ago, a correspondent of the Now York Times expressed the ouin on tha! the most significant and certainly the lea.-i debatable aspect of the present situation in Eastern Asia is to he found in the fact Mint the Japanese arc taking the jila.ee of the Germans as the most thoroughly disliked and distrusted people on the face of the earth. In consequence of this foreign altitude towards Japan, the correspondent fears that trouble is looming ahead.. The central problem of Japanese statesmanship is, how to find profitable employment for the energy and resdurcefulness of a people multiplying at a rate which has already overtaxed the available means of subsistence, and the writ- i

<;i' fears that if the problem has In ho solved in' the face of a hostile world, ii may well doty any peacefnl mode of settlement. He i-harg-es the Japanese with despjcahle and frankly criminal forms of anti-Jap-anese propaganda—the deliberate cultivation of racial animosity for the most sordid personal and political ends, and says they gave countenance to the belief.that they expected, if they did not desire, (he Germans to win. 'They were certainly instant, he says, in pre-empt-ing Asiatic and South American markets (hat the Germans could no longer supply ..and from which other nations were temporarily debarred. But the main accusation against the Japanese' merchants, railroads and shipping companies is that -they took' unfair means of making the most of their temporary advantage. They are charged with deliberately discriminating against the transportation of competing merchandise,'and the evidence is 100 strong to leave any douhl about its validity IhgT there was a systematic effort not only to delay the delivery of British and American imports into Eastern Asia, hut to have them arrive at I heir distillation in a damaged condition. He describes the Japanese as being over-eonlident and self-assertive, their habits frecpienlly assuming very childish forms which offend tjie foreigner very-much. A Janasese characteristic which assumes what is probably its most offensive form is the irritating method of the petty officers of the national and municipal Governments, Inflated self-import-ance is apt (o lie the note of the minor officialdom'of all nations, hut, probably because of a latent assumption of race superiority, its Japanese manifestations arouse special resentment among Americans and Britishers. The writer yavs dial a good deal id! nonsense has been spoken and written about: the subservience of the Government of Japan to militaristic dictation. Deep down in lho Japanese mind is the rooted conviction that the country owes the place it holds among the nations to its capacity for war. But for it.- military and naval victories there would have been no Japan as it exists to-day, and it is a natural corollary from that conclusion Iha 1 there is no Tulure for a Japan which does not possess a great army and a powerful licet. The writer concludes: The problem of Japan is one that calls for sympathetic' which shall exclude the elements id! suspicion and dislike that now dominate the foreign altitude toward il. To persist in an obstinate disbelief of the good faith of Japan, to hold her statesmen as incapable of truth, her merchants as devoid of honesty, and her people as a danger to I heir neighbours, is to make the preservation of the world’s pence impossible. If other nations are to place the lowest possible estimate on the policy of Japan her Government will perforce he compelled to live down to the accepted valuation of (heir methods and motives. Japan is an important part of the fabric of international I‘omily. and without her Trank adhesion to-lhal larger scheme of human Imdherhood which is the hope of humanity il must lie wrecked in its very inception. On the other hand, there must be an Of(iial readiness to admit the Japanese to the .fellowship of nations wit bout demanding a sacrifice of I hoi r dignity or self-respect. Japan is not alone among the allied Dowers in having taken short-sighted views of her own interests and in having used the opportunity of success for purely selfish ends. If she is ready In malic a new start cm a higher plane, as all the declarations of her Government import, it is surely the path of wisdom to credit her with honest intentions and accept her assurance in good faith.