196 D. W. Stevens—Japan. 
Nor should it be forgotten that a great deal of the progress 
which Japan has made in every direction has been due as much 
to private enterprise as to government direction. The railway 
and steamship lines, for example, are almost exclusively under 
the control of private corporations. The government has, of 
necessity, taken the initiative in many things, but oftentimes it 
has been merely to set an example which has been readily and 
aptly followed. 
There is another phase of Japanese development which is well 
worthy of notice. Irefer now to the newspaper press. The Jap- 
anese, like the ancient Athenians, and, may I add, like modern 
Americans, are a people who delight in hearing new things. It 
need hardly be added that the press came to them, as it comes 
so often to us, to supply ‘“‘a long-felt want.” Its development 
has been little short of marvelous, and now it flourishes like the 
green bay tree, from the scholarly periodical, the didactic weekly, 
the political daily, down to the penny dreadful, for whose col- 
umns nothing short of murder and sudden death are fit matter. 
Many able, intelligent and patriotic men are enlisted in the 
ranks of the press in Japan, and they already exercise a potent 
influence upon public opinion and the conduct of public affairs. 
The government has deemed it necessary to establish regulations 
for the control of the press—a system more alien to American 
than to European ideas, but one which experience has shown is 
necessary to the public welfare, and to that proper distinction 
between liberty and license to which a youthful but an energetic 
and a powerful institution lke the press of Japan might on 
occasion be oblivious. 
The inhibitions of the press regulations are plain and precise. 
Their object is clearly stated, the preservation of public peace 
and morals, and restraint from interference with affairs of state 
where secrecy is a necessity, such as diplomatic negotiations and 
the lke. The penalties they provide—suspension, fine, and 
minor imprisonment—are not severe. The heaviest penalty of 
all, the total suspension and confiscation of the paper, has never 
been inflicted. 
In attempting to describe the changes through which Japan 
has passed and the effect which they have had upon the develop- 
ment of the country’s resources and the increase of national 
wealth it has not been possible to omit some mention of the 
political transformation which has been so notable a feature of 
