56o 



The Review of Reviews. 



Usually it takes three 



JAPAN'S POLICY IN FORMOSA. 



The administration of Japan's first colony is 

 the theme of Baron Goto's paper in The Japan 

 Magazine. When a policy of government for 

 the new country had to be drawn up, he says : — 



My contention was that our policy for Formosa 

 should be based on practical knowledge of the condi- 

 tions obtaining in the island, and not on hearsay or 

 imagination. The island had a population of over 

 three million heterogeneous tribes, fierce and turbulent 

 to a degree. Many of the races there were of Chinese 

 origin ; and these, who could in a short time under- 

 stand, any more than anyone can understand China 

 herself? The Chinese are more different from the 

 Japanese than foreigners 

 can well appreciate. In 

 the West it is supposed 

 that the Chinese are in- 

 capable of swift transfor- 

 mation. China is to-day 

 the one topic of inter- 

 national discussion. But 

 the Chinese leave their 

 native land and settle in 

 foreign countries ; and 

 after two or three genera- 

 tions they are no longer 

 Chinese. They have no 

 serious objections to 

 changing their nationality, 

 and even their customs and 

 habits as well as their lan- 

 guage, all undergo a trans- 

 formation. No one can 

 offhand formulate a policy 

 for the government of 

 Chinese races ; one must 

 first know them. As to 

 savages, the problem is 

 still more difficult. Conse- 

 quently I advised the 

 Governor-General to ab- 

 stain from inaugurating 

 a premature policy for 

 Formosa. I held that the 

 governing of Formosa was 

 not at all the same easy 

 matter as the managing of 

 a political party, for which 

 a platform might be 

 planned in conference and 

 publicly adopted without 

 any serious effect upon the 

 world. I knew that the 

 administration of the new 

 territory would be no mere 



song in the matter of man- Baron Goto, the Maker of Nevt^ Formosa 



ipulation. The conditions to be taken into consideration 

 were so numerous that only after close and practical 

 investigation on the spot could any intelligent and useful 

 policy be adopted. It may be interesting to state here 

 how I was led to this way of finding out the wisest 

 policy for Formosa. It came to me from a close study 

 of biology. This science teaches that only by adapting 

 our methods to the natural course of human develop- 

 ment can we reach the desired ends in government, 

 especially in dealing with primitive man. One mav 

 hit upon a successful policy for a political party without 

 reference to the biological history of man; and he 

 might even manage to govern civilised man in an 

 artificial way, though even then a government based 

 on scientific conclusions would probably be safer and 

 better. Some of my colleagues regarded my convictions 

 and opinions as Utopian. They thought that anyone able 



to govern Japan ought to be able to govern torinosa. 

 Thev, in fact, appeared to assume that the conditions 

 prevailing at home and in the new colony were similaj- 

 The presumption was that government that was good 

 enough for civilised man was good enough for man un- 

 civilised My views on biology had taught me better 

 than this. To pacify and harmonise the heterogeneous 

 mass of raw humanity inhabiting Formosa must be the 

 ideal of the new policy; this much I believed and 

 knew • but to announce a cut-and-dned policy I refused 

 before gaining practical experience necessary to move 

 wisely on lines based on biological conditions. 



Time has shown the wisdom of Baron Goto's 

 method : — 



generations to make a 

 colonial policy effective ; 

 but in Formosa Japan has 

 succeeded in making it 

 effective during the first 

 generation, showing that 

 the Yamato race has lost 

 none of the colonising 

 spirit by which they 

 settled on these islands 

 and brought them into the 

 state of high civilisation 

 in which the world found 

 them when foreigners first 

 visited our shores. What- 

 ever defects have marked 

 the administration of 

 Ordinance Number 63 in 

 Formosa may be attri- 

 buted for the most part to 

 my natural frailty person- 

 ally, and to the injured 

 reputation some have been 

 pleased to bestow upon 

 me. At any rate the re- 

 sults have convinced most 

 of our opponents that the 

 end justified the means, 

 and the means were well 

 within the bounds of 

 modern civilisation, a 

 policy of pacification, not 

 extermination ; of illumi- 

 nation, not punishment. 

 As to those who refrain 

 from admiration of 

 Japan's success in the ad- 

 ministration of Formosa 

 on the score of dislike to 

 myself, I have nothing to 

 say. Such possibilities are 

 characteristic of insular 

 people. The results on the 

 whole have met the ap- 

 proval of those best fitted to judge the quality of an ad- 

 ministration. The island is to-day one of the most pros- 

 perous possessions of the Empire. . . . Formosa stands 

 to-day as a monument of the capacity of the Yamato race 

 for genius of government and capacity for colonial ad- 

 ministration. It is the achievement of no one person ; 

 it is the result of the united efforts of a nation. The 

 Spartans were great in war, but failures as colonists. 

 Japan has proved herself to be great in war, and 

 Formosa proves her just hs great in colonisation. Those 

 who regard us as merely a warlike race are asked to 

 contemplate our achievements in Formosa. This is a 

 matter about which we are no longer in the trial stage. 

 The goal has been reached and the laurels won ; the 

 pride and the honour are ours. We are willing to face 

 comparison with the other colonising countries of the 

 world. 



