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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 775 



seldom witnessed in international relations — has 

 helped greatly to raise the regard in which 

 America is held by the Japanese. 



Neither is it forgotten how sympathetic Amer- 

 ica was in the late Japan-China war. 



Thus, take it all in all, there is no country 

 which is regarded by the largest mass of the 

 Jajjanese in so friendly and cordial a manner as 

 America. 



It is, therefore, with a sort of incredulity that 

 we receive the news that some sections of the 

 American people are clamoring to have a law 

 passed prohibiting the landing of Japanese in 

 America. It is easily conceivable to the intelli- 

 gent Japanese that there may be some undesirable 

 elements among the lower-class Japanese, who 

 emigrate to the Pacific coast, and if such proves 

 to be the case, after a due investigation by proper 

 authority, the remedy might be easily sought, it 

 appears to us, by coming to a diplomatic under- 

 standing on the matter, and by eliminating the 

 objectionable feature. The Japanese government, 

 would, without doubt, be open to reason. 



But to pass a law condemning the Japanese 

 wholesale, for no other reason than that they are 

 Japanese, would be striking a blow at Japan at 

 her most sensitive point. The unfriendly act 

 would be felt more keenly than almost anything 

 conceivable. An open declaration of war will not 

 be resented as much. 



The reason is not far to seek. Japan has had 

 a long struggle in recovering those rights of an 

 independent state which she was forced to sur- 

 render to foreign nations at the beginning of the 

 intercourse with them, and in obtaining a stand- 

 ing in the civilized world. And if, now that the 

 goal is within the measurable distance, her old 

 friend, who may be said in some sense to be 

 almost responsible for having started her in this 

 career, should turn her back on her, and say she 

 will no longer associate with her on equal terms, 

 the resentment must necessarily be very bitter. 



The entire loss of prestige in Japan may not 

 seem much to the Americans, but are not the 

 signs too evident that in the coming century that 

 part of the world known as the " Far East " is 

 going to be the seat of some stupendous convul- 

 sions from which great nations like America could 

 not keep themselves clear if they would? And, is 

 it not most desirable that in this crisis those 

 countries which have a community of interests 

 should not have misunderstandings with one an- 

 other? It is earnestly to be hoped that the Amer- 

 ican statesmen will estimate those large problems 



at their proper value, and not let them be over- 

 shadowed by partisan considerations. 



For my part, I can not think that the American 

 people will fail in this matter in their sense of 

 justice and fair play toward a weaker neighbor, 

 and such a movement as the present must, it 

 seems to me, pass away like a nightmare. But, 

 if ever a law should be passed directed against 

 the Japanese as Japanese, it will be a sorrowful 

 day personally to me. 



It was my good fortune to pass several years 

 of my younger days in two of the great universi- 

 ties of America, and to be made to feel at home 

 as strangers seldom are. I would rather not say 

 in what affection I hold America, lest I be accused 

 of insincerity, but this much I may say, that some 

 of the best and dearest friends I have in the world 

 are Americans. 



But the day such a law as spoken of should be 

 enacted, I should feel that a veil had been placed 

 between them and myself, and that I could never 

 be the same to them and they to me. May such a 

 thing never come to pass! 



David Starr Jordan 



TEE WESTERN EXCURSION FOLLOWINQ 



THE WINNIPEG MEETING OF THE 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION 



Following the meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion at Winnipeg a party of 180 officers and guests 

 of the association took a most delightful excursion 

 over the Canadian Pacific and Canadian Northern 

 railways westward from Winnipeg. 



The party left Thursday night, September 2, 

 in a train of twelve ears, composed of nine Pull- 

 man sleepers, two dining cars and one baggage car. 



On Friday, September 3, a stop was made at 

 Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, from 11:00 

 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. The citizens of Regina met the 

 party with carriages and automobiles and showed 

 off their young town to the best advantage. 

 Lunch was served in the new city hall, speeches 

 followed, and then a trip was made to see the 

 finely equipped mounted police of this region. 



At 5:30 a stop was made at the young boom 

 town of Moose Jaw, where the party was met 

 by a brass band and led up the main street under 

 an arch composed of the products of the region. 

 Supper was served in the skating rink as there 

 was no other building in the town large enough 

 to seat the three to four hundred citizens and 

 guests. The party then returned to the sleepers 

 and the train pulled out during the night and 

 started across the Great Plains. Up to 4 o'clock 



