Review of Btviews, 1UI13. 



LEADING ARTICLES. 



177 



dominant minority is for the most part 

 entirely groundless. Neither our 

 national polity nor our national charac- 

 teristics would permit such an anachron- 

 ism in the State. Japan could never en- 

 dure the spectacle of a military class 

 impairing her political progress and en- 

 dangering the honour of the constitu- 

 tion. As time goes on cities multiply 

 and increase in population ; and with 

 the progress of commerce and industry 

 prices rise and times are poor for some ; 

 so there is danger of a wide gulf form- 

 ing between the rich and the poor, fac- 

 ing us with problems of poverty and 

 unemployment hitherto unknown in 

 Japan. The labour unrest that for 

 some time has disturbed and disfigured 

 European civilisation may also invade 

 our shores. The future, therefore, is 

 not without its problems for us, re- 

 quiring the utmost consideration. But 

 such questions will hardly ever cause 

 such widespread discomfort and diffi- 

 culty as in Europe ; for Japanese civi- 

 lisation is more disposed to keep order 

 and maintain national dignity. We de- 

 test argument and squabble, and trust 

 to the Throne, the centre of all author- 

 ity. The sacred character of the Im- 

 perial person wields a purifying influ- 

 ence over the restless multitude, calm- 

 ing its irritation and calling for its best 

 side. 



JAPAN v. U.S.A. 



Mr. William Archer discusses in 

 McClure's the question, " Will Japan 

 Ever Fight the United States?" Mr. 

 Archer does not believe in keeping his 

 reader in suspense. With a brief refer- 

 ence to the Yellow Peril, he makes a 

 plunge and settles the matter off- 

 hand : — 



Has America anything to fear from 

 Japane.se ambition:-' Has Japan eitlier the 

 power or tlie will to seek aggrandisement m 

 the North Pacific at the expense of the 

 United States, or to challenge the Monroe 

 Doctrine in Spanish America? 



Briefly, I believe that sho lias no snch will 

 or power; and I shall now try to give reasons 

 for that conclusion. 



The problem of over-population and 

 a restricted land area is one that faces 

 Japan at every turn, and, although 



making every effort towards industrial 

 expansion, that in its turn brings new 

 dangers : — 



But Japan has yet to prove her qualifica- 

 tions for holding her own in the industrial 

 race. Sho ha.s good lalwur and good water- 

 power ; hut her coal is not very good, and the 

 only textile raw material she possesses in any 

 aJbundance is silk. All her cotton she has to 

 import; and why she should hope to compete 

 in cotton-spinning with India and China is 

 not very clear. Admitting, however, that she 

 is capable of great industrial development, 

 and thus of supporting, by means of food- 

 stuffs from abroad, a much larger population 

 than her agriculture and fisheries can 

 nourish, lis that a position to which her 

 statesmen can look forward w-ith equanimity? 

 She would thus become, in the fullest sense 

 of the word, the Britain of the Ea.st — an 

 island realm so over-populated that any 

 enemy who obtained command of the sea 

 could, in a few weeks, starve her into sub- 

 mission. 



Mr. Archer is strongly of opinion 

 that Japan could not finance a war of 

 conquest, but suggests directions in 

 which she is likely to move, but only at 

 the risk of forcing trouble with the 

 States : — - 



vShe might claim the right of unlimited 

 immigration into the United States itself ; 

 or she might attempt to take possession of 

 Hawaii or the Philippines ; or she might en- 

 deavour to gain a footing in Spanish 

 America. The claim to dump her millions 

 upon the Pacific Coast could be enforced only 

 by the actual con(|uest of the United States; 

 even a successful naval war would not enable 

 Japan to force her surplus population upon 

 America ; for nothing but armed occupation 

 could prevent the American people from mak- 

 ing life impossible for Jai)anese immigrants. 



The one incalculable feature in the 

 situation is the intense patriotism of the 

 Japanese nation, which may even force 

 the hands of the Government, precipi- 

 tating a conflict with the U.S.A. Mr. 

 Archer comments: — 



Though tlie United States is practically 

 invuln(>rable to Japan alone, she might quite 

 well prove a most disagreeable factor in a 

 larger international complication. If she 

 fell into a habitually hostile frame of mind, 

 slio would certainly be UMnjittHl to fish in 

 troubled waters and turn to lu>r own advan- 

 tage any embarrassment into which her 

 otherwise una.ssai'lable neighbour might fall. 

 By a policy of conciliation, then, on all 

 points save tho.se which aflfect the vital in- 

 terests of the .American people, the United 

 States should ;»im at securing a friend, rather 

 than a sullenly resentful enemy, on her 

 Pacific flank. 



