JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES 157 



The fur seal question has been uncler discussion for more than 

 twenty years, ever since the wanton killing of females at sea first 

 threatened the destruction of the Bering Sea herds. By the pelagic 

 sealing of Canada the number of breeding seals in the Pribilof herd 

 was reduced from about a million to about 180,000. The entrance of 

 Japan into Bering Sea, for the protection of the herd, disregarding 

 the regulations of the Paris tribunal, inadequate as these were, soon 

 reduced these numbers to about 30,000. Last year, a treaty was con- 

 cluded, Eussia, Japan, Canada and the United States being parties to 

 it, by which the matter was honorably and justly settled and the con- 

 tinuance and restoration of the three herds, American, Eussian and 

 Japanese finally assured. There is not now a single cloud above the 

 official horizon as between the United States and Japan. There have 

 never been any real difficulties and the apparent ones are no greater 

 than must appear wherever great nations border on each other. As 

 the Japanese are fond of saying : The Pacific Ocean unites our nations. 

 It does not separate. 



War talk on either side is foolish and criminal. Japan recognizes 

 the United States as her nearest neighbor among western nations, her 

 best customer and most steadfast friend. Her own ambitions and inter- 

 est lie in the restoration of Korea, the safeguarding of her investments 

 in Manchuria and in the part she must play in the unforetold future 

 of China. For her own affairs she needs every yen she can raise by any 

 means for the next half century. For the future greatness of Japan 

 depends on the return of " the old peace with velvet-sandalled feet/* 

 which made her the nation she is to-day. 



War and war demands have made her, for the time being, relatively 

 weak, she who once was strong in her persistent industry, her unchang- 

 ing good nature, her spirit of progress, her freedom from debt and in 

 the high ambition of her people. Thirteen hundred millions of dollars 

 in war debt is a burden not lightly carried. Through peace, and peace 

 only, Japan will gain her old strength, and none know this better than 

 the men of the wise and patriotic group who now control Japan. 



