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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 1904)
2 THE ILLUSTRATED BEE. March 13, 190L Tb Illustrated Be& Published Weekly by The Hee Publishing Company, Hee Hullcling, Omaha, Nib. Price,' 6c Per Copy- Per Year, lii.OO. fcntrrcd nt tbe OrnHlia Pustofllco as Second Class Mull Matter. For Advertising Hat'.s Address Publisher. Communications relating to photographs or articles for pu 1 1 1 ii a I uin should be ad dressed, "Kdltor illustrated IWo. Omaha." Pen and Picture Pointers OWA mombmof congress who Hva In the northern part of the state never hud a tn'ire difficult tusk t tin n that of scNctlng a man to he recommended to President veil uh the .successor of Judge Oliver 1. Hhlrus, retired, an United States district Judge for tho Northern Iowa district. This was not from lack of soluble material offered, but Imk'uuso of the over abundance of rood candidates and the, utterly cual quiUiflnatlons and fitness of those who were aspiring to tho place. Judge Shlras re tired last Novotnbcr, ufter twenty years of labors on the federal bench. I In was a resi dent of Dubucur, and the cast end of tho dlatrict had always been more or li ss favored, so that Imtnedla l ly there wna announced the candidacy of Craig I.. Wright of Sioux City, for th place, and soon thereafter that of rVnator Thonns 1. He i ley of Fort Dodge. Others who en tered the rare were Henry T. Heed of Croseo, Frank F. Dawley of Cedar Hnplds, J. O. I,onguovill of Dubuque, nnd Milton Ilemley of Iowa City. The last ranlldate win offered as a comprorniMc. At the outset Congressman Thonius supported Wright; Congressman Conner and Senator Dollivcr supported Ilealcy; Congressman Klrdsall and Senator Allison supported l.onguevllle; Conicnmniiiii Cousins supported lawley, nnd Congressman Haugvii Htipported Hoed, Tho contest early narrowed down to Wright, llcaley and Heed; and ns tho first two candidacies In some measure con flicted, all that Congressman Hugm l ad to do was to wait until the others were tied when they would me to bis candidate. Klthcr Henley or Wright could have bmn nominated If the strength of the oth r had been thrown to him. Hut hundred of bal lots were takrn without result ami Innu merable caucuseii held. At the finish it was Cungro-wman lilrdsall's vote whlo'i did the business, fur he had bc-!i voting with the ITealey (epl(. and changed to Reed. Jolrlng Alllm-n, Cousins and 1 l inden In de ciding the case. The inenite-s in the, east ern end of the state favored Hood, for orw thing, because he will continue to live In that jirt of the state and may pos sibly move, to Dubuque or Co, sir Rapids, to be near tho seat of the court. The other two plioes for holding court are Kort Dodge anil Kloux City. The fitness of Judge Heed for the place hus not been In question. He nVcs at fresco. Hewiird county, whrre he is In the practice of law, with his run as partner. He ha devoted nil the years of his life to close appllcatkm to tho law. IK is 58 years old nd a native of Vermont, but came to Iowa, With hlH father when he was 10 years o'd. After receiving un education In the public schools he turned to the law. He studied In a local ortlce and is not a law school graduate, but he had commenced early and applied himself diligently, and even ns a young man had come to be recognized as ore of the brightest lawvers In north-astern U.w. He Is a man of hl:th purposo and strict Integrity. His associates ray he Is Hot to tie regarded ns sentimental or sympathetic, and he Is one who has nevrr cured to dabble In any public affairs out side of the strict line of his profession. It Is related of Judge It,! that He was never known to take any active hand In politics and hardly in the local politics of his town and county, and yet be has al wuys been a staunch republican. On one occasion he did consent to be sent to the state legislature, where he served one term. Then he declined to submit to the ordeal any further. He was frequently considered a iKMtsible candidate for Ju! in Ida dls trii t or for memtier of congress, but In re cent years he has made It Known thnt neither of these positions would tempt hlm from his chosen profession. His ambition had lieen for a number of ye-r to go to the federal bench, nnd that was the only thing which would take him from active practice. ,S- Tim political effect of the choosing of Peed Is regr-rdedas highly Important. His selection will have less of a disturbing fea ture than that of any other. AM agree that he Is nualitled. The friends of the other candidates made gallant fights for them and their support was unvlelding Insofar as It will absolutely pledged. Judge Reed rms been absolutely free from anv ennnee tlon whatever wfth nnv ef the fsctlonallsm of the state. He will ga on the bench at once and the fierce content, waved tth earnestness, but rever with bitterness nor personal feellnr. will soon be forgotten by art who participate. ASTIINrSTON, March 12.-(Speclal Correspondence. ) The whole financial world lias Is-en nston- W lshel "t the ability of Japan to " ' supply Its own flivinces for the carrying on of the present struggle.. At the beflnnitiK of the strained relations between the two conflicting powers bankers In both this country and Europe confidently ex pressed the thought that owing to the diffi culty, If not Impossibility, of Japan's rais ing a lnn;o war loan, an extensive or pro tracted struggle between that country and Husila was not at all probable. Japun had but r-cently passed through the throes of financial revonrtructlon, and was hardly yet believed to be firmly established upon the gold basis, lieing In a position where It would take but little to precipitate a finan cial punlc; yet here we see that a war loan recently offered for subscription has been fully subscribed by Japanese business men, while the list for popular subscriptions shows that a very much larger sum could easily have been raised. To establish. lUelf upon a goM rMS-ln In the Orient, surrounded ns Japan was on nil sides by the users and devotees of silver, was no easy task, anj Its accomplishment was only the result of several unsuccessful attempts. It was owlitK to the genius of lis business men, rather than political Htatrsmanship, that Japan did become a successful gold user. Foremost among the former and to whom Japan unquestion ably owes the gold standard is Ha run Klichl Shibusawa, whom the Americans in that country call the Mark Hunna of Japan. In business ability, in genius of fininc.e, in lovu of commerce and trade and adapta bility for the handling of men, he is closely akin to our late Ohio senator, while In personal appearance he resembles him probably as much as an Oriental can re semble an Anglo-Suxoit. Short, stout, with an expression, except that of the eyes, strikingly similar, with a determined mouth, and even In his Btylc of dress he recalls Mr. Hanna. I first saw Haroit Shibusawa at a ban quet given at the Imperial hotel. Tokio, with iX men present, attired In the full dress of official Japan, the frock coat, with black tie and trousers. Although Huron Shibusawa did not preplde and was not one of tho guests of honor, yet when he rose to Ma feet. In responte to many culls, the ap plause which greeted hlm showed his hold upon the people present. This was not a bitrlnrss or political meeting, only a social affair, and yet even nt that time he sig nificantly stated thnt the business men of Japan should look well to their financial condition, for the time might not be far off when toe government would need their as sistance. Tho applause and cheers which greeted this warning were but a manifesta tion of the patriotic spirit which animated all classes in the empire and pave me my brat idea of the possible ability of Japan to pay Its own wv. A few days later I had the pleasure of speaking with Huron Shibusawa In his olUce, where, rn company with n couple of members of the House of Peers, he awaited my call. The formalities of official etiquette Garden I writer In ihm Brooklyn lttf, the - - - e w '- avuvt mm va only board of Manchuria rasuttly and many could not have told f LI? wl ere it was on the map of the world. In the last three years the word has become known everywhere as being something that tha great cabinets of the world were s'udy Ing and considering rerlously. First brought into prominence by the stories of the great Trans-Siberian railway. Interest wns Inrrrnrrd by the Hoxer revolt ending with the relief of Peking by troops of the allied powers. Since then the word has been in reat metropolitan paera on an average of more than once a day. What little Information has leaked out from the land of mystery nnd ancient Importance Is eagerly nbForbed. and yet very little lias been revealed to the world. Only the Rus siuia could do much in the way of enlight enment, and they are silent. In a way the history of Manchuria really began when tho on going bands of ral'roid steel t re up the turf of ages In their steady -nd silent march to the sea; before that chaos and history were synonymous. True, it was the home of nn ancient civlP tatbvi r.nd the word Manchu means pure, nn Ideal suffl"!ent fur any country or p.o ple. Its known historical exlsttnce only covers two centuries. It Is wi dped In be tween China proper and Mongolia on the west and northwest aud Corca and Roseau territory or the Amur nn the enst and north. It la Sof) miles long and TOO mlls wide, with an area of about XKt.QOn square miles. It la divided into three province? Tsitsihar, or northern. Kiriik, cm- raotiai, and I.lao Tung, or southern Manchuria. Take New F.ngland. New Tork, New Jer sey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia. West Virginia. Ohio and Ml hlgan In a lump and you fcave the slxe of Man churia, quite a alsabl country. Boms of The Mark Hanna of were quite strictly observed and It was with great difficulty lhat I succeeded In getting any expression of opinion at all from hlm. We dialled for some minutes nnd while apparently talking freely yet ho adroitly evaded any direct questions, and In this respect closely resembled Senator Hunna, who, while frequently taking his auditor apparently Into his confidence, was In reality concealing from him his real Ideas. Later In the Interview, however, he expressed himself quite clearly and point edly on one or two phases of the financial system of the Orient of Interest to Amer icans. Ho said it was with pleasure that he had noticed the creation by the I'nlted States of a commission to study the finan cial system of China In the hope of estab lishing a uniform system of currency. This, he said, was a step In the right direction, and he hoped America would remodel the coinage and banking laws of the Philip pine islands after Its own. He could see no reason why the I'nlted States would desire separate banking laws for the Philippine Islands nnd he expressed the conviction that the I'nlted States commerce In tho Orient would be nugmentrd. while tho banking nnd commercial houses of other countries would be facilitated with the TTntted States coins current In the Philip pines, rather than a separate coinage. Knowing that Raron Shibusawa was in reality the father of the banking system of Corca I asked whether he thought the banking Institution of China would prefer to have a special banking law enacted for the Philippines rather than to have the ITnltcd States national laws extended over them. He answered by saying that it was his opinion thnt all banking houses and com mercial bodies, as well as general mer chants, dealing with the Philippines Islands would much prefer to have the United States laws, both as to banking and cur rency, extended over those Islands. "We know th.xt the United States banking laws are sound," he said, "while we cannot know, until after trial, whether a special rystem for the Philippines will be success ful." As I had not at that time been to the Philippine Islands. I asked him If he thought there would be any opposition in Philippine commercial circles to the ex tension of the United States banking Taws to Ihe Philippines. "There might." he said, "develop some opposition from the large foreign bonking institutions having branches in Manila, for the reason that those banks derive most of their profit from the fluctuations of ex change, and of the value of the circulating medium. Tt Is to their benefit to continue that condition as long as possible." The bsron concluded this part of the conver sation by saying that these were subjects .',.. n-nnlrl r-rhaps he more properly dis cussed before the commission which he un-i!.-irof' . .run to vblt Japan. The formality which marked the be ginning of our conversation h-d by this time somewhat worn away, and the cer emonial tea, with which all function are commenced, having been drunk, clgarets were lighted and a pleasant little chat Spot of the Far East the mountain tops In the northern rertion lift their bald heads i:,CO0 feet above sea level. It has three rivers of large size, one larger than the Ohio. The population be fore the Russians picked the land for their own was about 13,000,000. and Mukden, th ancient capital, had about 300.000. It will be seen that Manchuria was cast on a large scale, and ought to have attracted atten tion by this fact alone. The northern section Is so mountainous as to be thinly inhabited; the central pa-t possesses fine wheat land and grazing fields; the southern section Is extremely, fertile In spots and Is almost too well watered at certain times of the ytar. Much of this land Is swampy. The land Is adapted for the raising of aH kinds of grain. Indigo, opium, cotton, tobacco, hay and such products. Nearly all the known minerals are to be found, but the mines have not been exploited. Of wild animals there are all those known to tha latitude, and some that are strange to scientists. The northern limits are about the same latitude as Quebec; its southern, Virginia, and tho climate, therefore, varies much. It is extremely cold in the winter and ex tremely hot in the summer. Ice locks all the streams for four months of the year, even in the southern limits. It Is said that the country could support SO.OOO.OoO Inhabitnrts. It has one of the finest purt In the susl at Port Arthur, and when aM the rich latent resources of this em pire are developed It would be a country fully as wealthy and as Important in a commercial sense as, say, Austro-Hungary or v;i Ruruoean Russia itself. It is no wonder that the czar and his officials cast envious glances Manchurlaward. And all over this wido region Russia has spread Its tentacles In the last ten years, so that no one could take it away front IL It has been a peaceful conquest, ai4 Japan on general subjects then followed. Tile thf rm which seemed to most Interest oar Japanese) friends was the building up of closer trade relations between the United States and themselves and the relaxation of all forms of restrictions which tend to hinder freer trade and Intercourse. One of the gentlemen present, a merchant who has also a large JajKincpe house In New York City, related a very unpleasant ex perience while trave'lng on an American boat to Stui Francisco via Honolulu. When that port was reached, In company with an Kngllshman, a German and a Hlndod, ho started ashore to walk about the city, and of the four foreigners he was the only one stopped, and ho was compelled to return to the ship and get the captain to vouch for him before he was allowed to proceed ashore. "Why did they do that?" he asked. "Was It be cause I am a Japanese?" It Is needless to say that this gentleman and his friends In their travels between the United States and Japan, a couple of times each year, patronize the Canadian Pacific lines so as to avoid such inconvenience and hu miliation in attempting to land from Amer ican vessels at American ports. rtaron Shlbusawa's career ha been a re markable one, and he reaches his great est Kwcr and usefulness to Japan In the present ordeal through which the Island empire Is jiusslng. It w;is to hu genius that Japan owes the establishment of her banking laws a quick transition from tho use of rice as a circulating medium to a condition of modern banking operations and the founding of the banks of Corea, through which Japan obtained such a powerful hold upon that country. Lake the late Senator Hanna, there was scarcely a branch of industry and commerce with which he was not connected. I'resldcnt of one. great bank and director and ad viser in three others, president of the Hoard of Directors of four of Japan's greatest railways, chairman of the Hoard of Directors of three different steamship lines, with a net capital of 25,000,000 yen, president or director of twenty-seven in dustrial corporations mining, manufac turing, printing, traction, trust companies, etc. ho is looked to as the financial rock of the empire. Among commercial organ izations which he dominates may be men tioned the Tokio Chamber of Commerce, the Tokio Hankers' association and tha Tokio Clearing House; he is president of all three. Tills triumvirate constitutes In. reality the controlling factors in the com mercial and financial life of Japan. As these associations decide so all the com mercial bodies and banks of the empire follow. Haron Shibusawa Is another one of the brilliant disciples of the "grand old man" of Japan, Marquis Ito. In the irrivate councils of tt-'s great world's statesman, Haron Shibuuawa is looked to In all mat ters requiring skill and address In the financial and business world of Japan, as did our late i .mentod President McKln ley look to his bosom friend and com panion, Marcus A. Hanna. ALONZO II. STRWART. nothing like our own occupation of the Philippines, for which we paid 0,000,000 and then had to conquer by force of srms. All that it has cost Russia has been the expenditure for the railway, tbe new towns and fortifications, and already some of that expense has come back In revenues. It Is as much Russia's today as Siberia itself, and only the Japs have menaced Its title. And no country will be more able to take It away without one of the most terrible conflicts tho world has ever seen The great stretch of territory called Siberia has really not fulfilled the prophe sies of those responsible, for affixing It to tho empire. It is cold and drear and unproductive for the. most pari. The great railway through It promised to be a white elephant and it was vital that the tracks should le pushed on to tho Pacific. Man churia, lay In the way, and Providence could not have provided a better country for the purpose of development into a commercial stronghold. To see Is to act with tha Russ. The great bank that financed the road seemed to have vaults of unexplored depth. As a result, cities with beautiful homes, wonderful publlo buildings and commercial houses sprang into being; temples of worship went op alingside. of such magnificence and gran drur as to astonish even the Slavs, and all this in the course of a few short years, where there had been nothing except no madic Chinamen. And the Russian sol dier, who is a peasant farmer or artisan, paved the way by sheer force of Inherent power. The rty of Harbin U strictly modern, built by Russia at the JuncUon of tbe rail road from Port Arthur ard Vladivostok, and the headquarters of Admiral Alexleff. Rus sian viceroy. United States counsul Henry (Continucr on Pago Fifteen.)