TROUBLE IN THE JAPANESE ARMY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9150, 24 July 1908, Page 4

TROUBLE IN THE JAPANESE ARMY.

In the opinion of the "Toyo Keizai," the instances of insubordination, which have been so rife recently in the Japanese Army, maybe attributed on the one hand to the diffusion of education amongst the soldiers and the consequent growth of the spirit of individual rights and stlf-respect and, on the other hand, to the fact that, despite the growth of this idea amongst the men, the education or conception of the officers has not quite kept pace with it, so as to suffi ciently appreciate the change and to adopt means to meet the needs of the situation. Respect for individual rights and liberty does not necessarily conflict with discipline in the , Army, inasmuch as the latter is essentiaily base i on the keeping of order among groups of men. Military discipline, to be properly clforced, I however, requires men who are thoroughly conversant with its spirit. An army of educated men cannot be controlled by the same system of discipline as is applied to a force made up of an ignorant rabble. It was not p o very long ago that most of the men enrolled aa conscripts were ignorant and illiterate, and it perhaps not unnatural that the officers treated these men as little better than slaves. The times and conditions have changed, but this is not al ways recognised, and it is noticeable that the treatment of the men by their officars has not improved in propor tion to the progress the former have made in education as well as in their conception of individual rights snJ personal liberty. Herein must lie the true cause of the insubordination in the Army.