BOOKS.
THE FAR EAST UN. VEILED.*
THE Japanese Government has been a loyal and helpful Ally from the beginning of the war. The Japanese Navy rendered invaluable aid in clearing the enemy out of the Pacific, and is now doing ex- cellent work in fighting the enemy submarines in Western seas. The Japanese Army, with British support, rapidly reduced Tsingtau, the fortified German base in China, and is now providing troops to act with British, French, and American forces in Eastern Siberia, where German ex-prisoners and Russian Anarchists are working together in the enemy's interest. These are important and indisputable facts which must preface and govern any discussion of Japanese policy. Nevertheless it has to be admitted that during the war Japanese diplomacy in. China and the attitude of the Japanese Press towards the British Alliance have caused at times more than a passing uneasiness. It seemed as if the Japanese standpoint in Far Eastern politics was more unlike that of Great Britain or America than was commonly supposed, and as if diplomacy had concealed instead of removing some very grave differences of opinion. The great merit of Mr. Coleman's new and most instructive book is that it tells the truth about these matters. We have had in the past few years plenty of pro-Japanese and anti-Japanese books, which are equally useless. Mr. Coleman, an independent American journalist, has tried honestly, and we think with success, to hear all sides, and to present the evidence which he gathered in 1916 from Japanese and Chinese statesmen, from Japanese officials, merchants, manufacturers, and journalists, and from British and American residents. He is frank in his criticism, but he is obviously well disposed to Japan, and his belief in the ability and good faith of the present Premier, Count Terauchi, has been borne out by recent events.
The chief fact to remember about Japan, in Mr. Coleman's view, is that she is not a democratic country. Power lies with the Military Party, and, is exercised by the Emperor on the advice of the Genre, or Elder Statesmen. The present Premier was suddenly appointed in October, 1910, in place of Marquis Okuma ; the retiring Premier's nomination of Viscount Kato, the leader of the majority in the Diet, as his successor was disregarded. Count Terauchi's attitude towards the political parties was thus expressed in a public speech :— " I shall try to the best of my ability to keep an attitude of open- minded impartiality toward them and their conflicting views, and in general so to conduct myself toward them as to give reasonable cam* for satisfaction to His Imperial Majesty on the one hand and to His Majesty's loyal subjects on the other."
Japan has a narrowly restricted franchise, and the masses of her people take no part in politics. The inference from these facts is that we must judge Japan's policy by her official actions, and not by the speeches of irresponsible Japanese politicians or the articles in the Japanese Press. The anti-British Press campaign which raged in Japan in 1915 and 1916, and caused great indignation among British residents in the Far East, need not therefore be taken too seriously. The Japanese Press is too young to have acquired a sense of responsibility, and it. is conscious no doubt of its inability to influence the men in power. Mr. Ozaki, who has many British friends and who was Minister of Justice in the Okuma Cabinet, told Mr. Coleman very candidly that the Ministry let the newspapers rail against us because the matter did not seem to concern the existence of the nation, as Japan had scarcely felt the burden of the war. We have no sympathy with an official censor- ship of opinion, and we are glad, therefore, that the Okuma Ministry let the papers say what they pleased. It is important to know how strongly educated Japanese resent the restrictions imposed on Japanese immigration into America and Australia, and how ardently the commercial classes covet, a monopoly of trade and enterprise in China. But it does not 'follow that the true rulers of Japan share, or will be guided by, these prejudices and these selfish aspirations, as the time has not yet come for "big business," as
• The Far East ravelled. By Frederic Coleman. London : Cassell and Co. Us. Id. net.; Mr. Colontin calls it, to have the last word in determining Japanese foreign policy.
The author devoted much time to the burning question of the "Open Door" in Manchuria, and to the larger problem of Japanese commercial and political penetration into China. As for Manchuria, he satisfied himself that in 1916 Japanese trade was favoured not merely by the privileged position of the South Manchurian Railway Company, but also by special rebates on certain classes of Japanese goods, forwarded by the large shipping companies. He found that China exercised no effective control in Southern Manchuria ; but Japan might retort that that was to no small extent China's own fault. In regard to China, Mr. Coleman's accounts of his interviews with the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, and other prominent men, as well as with Japanese states- men like Baron Hayashi, are most illuminating. In the past two years the domestic situation in China has certainly not improved, and Mr. Coleman's conviction that China will not be able to reform herself without foreign assistance must have been strengthened. On the other hand, Count Terauchi has not followed the somewhat aggressive policy which his predecessor developed in the " Five Group Demands" presented to China in 1915, amounting to little short of a Japanese protectorate. There is every reason to believe that Japan will observe most strictly her recent Agreement with America concerning China. The transformation of America into a military Power of the first order must have impressed the peoples of the Far East no less than it has impressed Europe.
Mr. Coleman deals in very plain terms with the unpopularity of the Japanese as traders. He quotes the Japanese view that our old-established houses in the Far East are jealous of the newcomers, with whom they cannot compete in many branches of China's trade. This is no doubt 'true; but it is also true, he says, that Japanese exporters do not "play the game," and that they make a practice of copying trade-marks and packages so that their inferior wares may pass as British or American productions. He refers to other charges of grave dishonesty and bad faith on the part of merchants. A Japanese friend reminded him that in the old era of Japan,only fifty years ago, the merchant was on the lowest rung of the social ladder, below the artisan, and that it is unreasonable to expect a whole class to change its ideas in so short a time. Further, it is admitted that the great commercial undertakings of Japan are well managed on European lines. But of course one dishonest Japanese trader will prejudice many people against his country. The secret of Japanese competition probably lies elsewhere—in Japan's intimate knowledge of her fellow-Orientals, and in the cheap child labour which is exploited mercilessly and recklessly in the factories. Mr. Coleman visited many works, especially in the textile and enamelled-ware trades, saw the little children at work, and inspected the barracks in which they are lodged and boarded by their employers. A century ago England had reached the etage of the Industrial Revolution at which Japan is to-day. It would be idle to expect that the Japanese manufacturers, with all their talent, could overcome the temptation to get rich quick at the expense of the health of the labouring masses, though the conse- quences of yielding to the temptation are apparent in all Weste: n countries. We can only hope that the rulers of Japan will take the far-sighted and wiser view of this great industrial problem. For in the long run cheap labour is not cheap; the temporary advantage in the market is gained at the price of lasting injury to the nation. We should be sorry to see Japan go along the same old road on which her competitors are trying to retrace their steps. Probably the war will have its effect on the economic situation in Japan as elsewhere. Wages have risen, and the immense prosperity enjoyed by the merchants and manufacturers of Japan during tile past four years will be shared to some extent by the masses of the people. It is curious, meanwhile, to find Mr. Coleman convinced, from his experience in Manchuria, that the Japanese peasant, whether as a farmer or labourer or a factory hand, is far inferior to the Chinese. If China could evolve a class of modern organizers of industry, she would indeed astonish the world.
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