The Duty of Citizenship. 



303 



country on character, and in no country in the world, 

 at the present st:'.ge of civiHsation. does a whole people 

 live so close to nature and spend so much time in com- 

 muning with it. The Japanese people love nature, 

 and they ha\c a love and sense of beauty about all 

 things founded upon this closeness to nature. It 

 would be iille to argue that centuries of intelligent 

 >tudy and admiration of the beauties of nature could 

 fail to affect the character of the people. The sensitive 

 fabrfc of the mind, of the soul, could not fail to have 

 been deeply influenced' by the constant contemplation 

 nf nature which has been going on for centuries. It is 

 indispensable to realise this influence upon the national 

 force, which is apparent everywhere. This love of 

 nature and all that nature gives so bountifully has 

 developed the Japanese along lines of true simplicity 

 and naturalness. Artificiality is not respected and 

 revered as in other countries. Japanese art is simple, 

 with the simplicity of perfection ; the Japanese 

 national characteristic may be said to be a true, a 

 simple love of nature. To them nature means, or, 

 rather, has meant in the past, Japan, and undoubtedly 

 this fact has to be taken into consideration in judging 

 of Japanese patriotism. 



So much lor the nature of patriotism, its principal 

 causes, and the methods by which patriotism is taught 

 and preserved. 



WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED. 



But what has this patriotism of the Japanese done 

 in the way of national improvement, and in what 

 ways has it shown that it is a practical force and not 

 a theoretical fancy ? Time will only allow of a few 

 instances being given from the many which present 

 iliemselves to the student of Japanese progress. 



The Restoration found Japan practically an agricul- 



I'lral country -there were few, if any, industries of 



:inportance. Even the taxes were paid in rice, and 



.rriculturists were ranked far higher than merchants. 



History showed the Japanese, however, that it was 



\ery difTicult to maintain a high standard of national 



reatness when the revenue of the land and the 



prosperity of the people depended absolutely upon 



t he lall of rain or the hours of sunshine. I-'or a small 



^late such a 1 ondition is possible. although not enviable. 



lor a State such as the Japanese were determined to 



:ii.ike [apan. such a foundation was altogether too 



;ii--tabie. liesides this the rapi<l increase of the 



.opulatiun, together with the increased luxury of 



i\ing. showecl the Japanese in a very unmistakable 



.ishion that s'ime adjustment was imperative. The 



nil of Japan is cultivated intensively, anri although 



I was pos>ible to augment to a certain extent the 



■roduction, that wouhl (jnly n-sult in a postponement 



.1 the settlement of the problem. And so the patriotic 



l.ipanese, in their intense love for their countrj- and 



iiide in it-, future, took the bull by the horns and 



lidceeded to build up an industrial fabric to sup|)le- 



iiient the agricullural one. In Kngland is to be seen 



the (ibjeil Ici^nii which taught |apan both what to 



copy and what to avoid. In Kngland the developnient 

 of industries came aJmost insensibly, on no organised 

 plan, and with the industrial growth came agricultural 

 decay. England became an industrial power of 

 hitherto unheard-of importance, but she ceased to be 

 in any degree self-supporting — the produce of the 

 world has to feed her millions. The Japanese realised 

 that the decay of agriculture was by no means the 

 inevitable corollary of industrial growth — in fact, 

 properly organised, the industries should assist agricul- 

 ture, and vice versa. 



DEVELOPING INDUSTRIES. 



Besides the necessity, there was an additional reason 

 to be found in the knowledge that industrial growth 

 would add enormously to the power of the nation, 

 not only in the Far East, but among European nations. 

 It was recognised that industrial and commercial 

 development was a much more sure guarantee of 

 greatness than military power, and that the conquest 

 of markets was more efficacious than the destruction 

 of armies and navies. A difficult thing this, for the 

 Restoration not only found Japan an agricultural 

 country, but also under a feudal system. Such a 

 svstem', wherever it exists, elevates the military classes 

 and abases the merchant and trader. Now, in Japan, 

 there is only one gauge — the extent of benefit which 

 any individual, in whatever profession he may find 

 himself, can bestow upon his country and his nation. 

 The people of Japan plungeil into the national and 

 patriotic duty of developing the industries so success- 

 fully that to-day Japan stands as the greatest industrial 

 nation of Asia. And the Japanese take the same 

 pride in this as they used to take in their military 

 achievements, and as they do in everything which 

 advances the national progress, for Japan seeks the 

 substance not the shadow of empire. 



One of the results of this policy of encouraging 

 industries was to add enormously to Japan's financial 

 strength in the late war. since of the enormous sums 

 spent in malhiel de guerre aI least 75 percent, remained 

 in the country, and, enriching the people, i)ro\ided 

 them with money available for reinvestment in the 

 public bonds. Without the industrial backbone so 

 thoroughly developed Japan's resources would have 

 been far less efficiently organised. Thus patriotism in 

 this instance brought an immediate and substantial 

 reward. 



The Japanese people have succeeded in establishing 

 a sound industrial basis to their country, and have 

 j)rovided, within a remarkably few years, a solution 

 for the problem of rapidl\ -increasing population. 



CREATINi; A MKRCANTU-K MARINli. 



To the Japanese it seemed the most natural and 

 logical corollary to the growth ol their industrial 

 development that they should also provide the 

 merchant vessels to carry the goods. Warned by the 

 example of the United States, they avoided the 

 mistake made by the .\mericans of developing their 

 nidusiries and export trade without having any 



