324 



JAPAN. 



JEWS. 



the early seventies under American supervision, 

 lias been extended throughout the empire. Ele- 

 mentary education is compulsory excluding For- 

 mosa, in which the system is especially adapted to 

 the three various races on the island. In 1900, 

 while the number of children of school age (six 

 to fourteen) was nearly 8,000,000, only 4,108,717 

 were in actual attendance, in 28,453 schools 

 taught by 87,855 teachers. Of these, 3,930,843 

 were in the common public and 03,149 in ordinary 

 private schools. In the public middle schools 

 there were 43.223, and in private schools 9,219 

 scholars. In the higher middle schools were 

 4,430, in the imperial universities 2,255, and in 

 the normal schools 8,830 pupils. There are also 

 special schools of almost every description, in- 

 cluding those for art, manual industry, industrial 

 ' trade, the blind and mute, etc., exclusive of those 

 in the military and naval departments. In 1900 

 about 100 students were supported by the Govern- 

 ment in their studies abroad. In the imperial uni- 

 versities in Tokio or Kioto are 18 students from 

 other Asiatic countries; 200 Chinese in the 

 schools, mostly military; 70 Koreans, a majority 

 of whom study law; and 2 Filipinos. 



Politics and Events. On Feb. 3, Mr. Y. 

 Fukuzawa, editor, author, and founder of a uni- 

 versity, described by the natives as " the greatest 

 motive force of Japanese civilization," the sale 

 of whose books.championing Western civilization 

 reached a total of 4,000,000 copies, died, and 

 10,000 persons on foot accompanied his remains 

 to the temple in Tokio, set apart in 1859 as the 

 home of the first American legation in Tokio. 



The Diet reduced the budget by 3,496,891 yen. 

 The House of Peers refused to pass the new taxa- 

 tion bill or to increase the salaries of the judges, 

 and the Emperor was obliged to intervene, acting 

 on his own account, without the signature of the 

 ministers to his decree. The Diet was closed 

 March 29. During the session, of 1,229 petitions 

 received, 871 failed to receive attention. Of 53 

 Government bills, 52 passed. Of the 150 impor- 

 tant measures presented, 92 were passed. After 

 the resignation of the ministers, the Emperor sum- 

 moned Marquis Ito to form a Cabinet. This he 

 did, gathering around him young men of signal 

 ability, most of them educated in the West; but 

 the burden of unsolved financial problems, owing 

 to the carrying out of the enlarged post-bellum 

 program at a time when so many other enter- 

 prises were on foot in the country, made it im- 

 possible to provide the ready money, and this, 

 with other reasons, caused the resignation of the 

 new Ito Cabinet on May 2. The Emperor sum- 

 moned Viscount General Katsura to organize a 

 new ministry, which was installed June 2. 



On June 21, in Tokio City Hall, Mr. Hoshi Toru, 

 late Japanese minister at Washington, was assas- 

 sinated. The assassin was a highly educated 

 C'onservative and teacher of swordsmanship, given 

 to reading Chinese works that justified the re- 

 moval of rulers reputed evil. The murderer was 

 punished by degradation, with hard labor for life. 



A severe earthquake visited Awomori prefec- 

 ture Aug. 10. 



Marquis Sho Tai, formerly King of the Loo- 

 Choo Islands, died in Tokio Aug. 19, in his fifty- 

 seventh year, and with his death ended the last 

 of the dual sovereignties of Asia. 



In September an exhibition of the products of the 

 porcelain districts was successfully held in Tokio. 



Appropriate weather alternate rain and sun- 

 shine, with steady prevalence of damp heat and 

 absence of storm in September, caused the rice- 

 crop to be about 12 per cent, above the average, 

 and the largest since 1892. 



A memorial service in honor of President Mc- 

 Kinley was held in Holy Trinity Cathedral, Tokio, 

 the Mikado sending Prince Kanin as his repre- 

 sentative, he having already ordered by telegram 

 a wreath for the funeral in Canton, Ohio. 



The Emperor's birthday, Nov. 3, was celebrated 

 at the palace with unusual gaiety, the imperial 

 grandson being one hundred and ninety days old. 

 The sixteenth session of the imperial Diet opened 

 Dec. 10, at which the Emperor made the usual 

 speech. The lower house, in its reply, Dec. 11, 

 declared there were indications of a disturbance 

 in the Orient in the near future, and pledged itself 

 to discharge its duties with circumspection. 



JEWS. The year has been without especially 

 eventful incident, but many occurrences of more 

 than passing interest may be chronicled. The 

 situation in Europe was more tranquil than in 

 previous years, apart from conditions in Rou- 

 mania. In Russia, educational privileges have 

 been curtailed, but the authorities have shown 

 more just treatment, while the praise awarded 

 to Jewish soldiers who were included in the Rus- 

 sian army of occupation in China proved gratify- 

 ing. The Dreyfus agitation in France had one 

 good result in leading to the associations bill, 

 which was aimed at reactionary clericals by whose 

 influence Capt. Dreyfus was persecuted. Anti- 

 Semitism, in the person of Max Regis, notorious 

 for his ineffectual attempts at Jew-baiting in Al- 

 geria, was summarily discountenanced. The for- 

 mation of a Hilfsverein among the Jews of Ger- 

 many on a broader basis than its union of con- 

 gregations is a hopeful effort toward confedera- 

 tion, in self-defense as well as for benevolent pur- 

 poses. In Austria-Hungary a marked decline in 

 anti-Semitism w r as proved by the parliamentary 

 elections, and in Vienna the feeling is less acute. 

 Italy appointed Leone Wollemborg to its port- 

 folio of Finance, and the corner-stone of a new 

 synagogue in Rome was laid in the presence of 

 thousands, not far from the spot where once the 

 Jews were exposed to public odium. Roumanian 

 conditions are still unpromising; the Berlin 

 Treaty's guarantees are violated without redress, 

 and thousands of Jews are obliged to emigrate to 

 escape starvation. In Turkey the Sultan con- 

 tinues gracious, and the dedication of a new tem- 

 ple in Constantinople marks the increase in the 

 Jewish community. The Zionist agitation is still 

 prosecuted, with hardly as much enthusiasm as at 

 first save among the most zealous adherents. 

 The proceedings of the congress held toward the 

 end of December are not yet reported, but the 

 movement is being actively propagated, its chief 

 following, however, being in Russia and Rou- 

 mania, and among recent emigrants from those 

 countries. The bicentenary of the London Portu- 

 guese Jewish congregation was marked by the 

 issue of a volume devoted to its history by Dr. 

 Gaster. Some uneasiness was expressed in Par- 

 liament and the press at the increase in Je\vish 

 immigration, but investigation showed that fears 

 were groundless. The words of King Edward in 

 reply to the deputation of English Jews to con- 

 gratulate him on his accession were most signifi- 

 cant : " It will always be my care to maintain and 

 promote the extension of equal liberty to all races 

 and denominations among my subjects." The 

 work of the Jewish Colonization Society was con- 

 tinued in Russia, Palestine, and elsewhere, with 

 special attention to technical, industrial, and agri- 

 cultural pursuits. The colonies in Argentina 

 made genuine advance; those in Palestine varied 

 in their results. In the United States, the Sunday 

 question agitation has not been without its effect 

 on Jewish citizens. Attempts in Massachusetts 



