I
Premier of
! if f?
TOR
(Copyright, 1909, by Frank O. Carpenter.)
OKIO (Special Correspondence
T I of The Bee.) It Is a
I I great thing to be a mighty
general ana irwa your soiaier
to victory In war. It Is greater
till to be at the head of a
nation during a war and manage Ha fi
nances and government In such a way as
to bring that war. to a successful con
clusion, and greater than all to be able to
take hold of tho government when tho
war In over and direct It along the linos
of prosperity In the arts of peace.
Story of Katnnrn.
All these things form a part of the past
life and the present situation of Marquis
Taro Katsura, who Is now the premier
and also the finance minister of the Japa
nese empire. Born In 187. when James K.
Polk was president of the United States,
and only six yeara before Commodore
Perry made his first expedition to Japan,
he fought, aa a boy, for the emperor In the
civil war which made his majesty the real
rular of the Japanese people. Shortly after
that he waa sent to Germany to study mili
tary science, and when he returned was
made vice minister of the War depart
ment. When the Japan-China trouble broke out
Katsura waa made the commander of a di
vision, and in 1900 he became war minister,
and held that position under several pre
miers. As such, he has had much to do
with bringing the army to Its present ef
ficiency, and when the war with Russia
broke out, he In the meantime having been
elevated to the premiership, waa of the
greatest value to his country, In carrying
on that great struggle. He waa still In
office when peace was declared, but there
waa audi public discontent over the terms
of the peace that he retired, recommend
ing the Marquis SalnnJI as his successor.
Premier of Japnn.
That was In 1906. Now, only three year
later, wa find the great warrior inurquls
again at the head of the government. The
emperor and his leading advisers. Includ
ing the chief statesmen and financiers of
Japan, have decided that the country Is
going too fant and that its business needs
reorganisation. They find that they have
an enormous national debt growing out of
the war, and that the revenues and ex
penditures of the government must be re
formed. As their leader they have picked
out Katsura. and he again holds the pre
miership. There Is no man in the empire
so well fitted for the position. He appre
ciates the military necessities of his coun
try to the full, and he has at the same
time a working knowledge of Its financial
requirements. He has already Inaugurated
a policy of retrenchment, economy and
reform which has raised tho value of the
Japanese bonds In all of the great markets
of the world, and which In time. If carried
out to a conclusion, will probably make the
Japanese one of the creditor nations of
the world.
It waa to talk with Marquis Katsura
about the financial Hltuutlon and Its pros
pects that I called upon him at h!a official
residence this morning. Each of these
hlgii Japanese officials has an official resi
dence In addition to his private home.
That of Marquis Katsura ts back of the
State department and right next the Chi
nese legation. It is a large house, built in
foreign style, and It was in a big parlor,
furnished In red, witn a red carpet and
red walls, that I was received by the
premier. His excellency does not speak
English and Mr. Saasano of the Depart
ment of Foreign Affairs acted aa our in
terpreter. But lt me tell you how the premier
looks. Ha is of medium Japanese height,
which is considerably utider that of the
average American. He is atra.ght and well
formed, having a big round head firmly
set on a pair of broad shoulders. He has
a high forehead, short black hair and a
thin black mustache. His eyes are very
bright, but they grow serious now and then
as ha talks.
'For Peaee, Always Peace."
During the conversation I referred to him
aa a military hero. He replied:
"I do not care to be considered as a man
cf war. I am for pe ce, p ac , a'w ys pa:e.
It la wrung to luck uouii the Japanese as
consumed with military ambition and a lust
for conquest. We are a peaceful nation and
vi have only fought because we have had
to do ao. We did not want the war with
Russia, and we tried in every honorable
way to keep out of It."
"Tour excellency had much to do with
financing that war. You raised about $)0
000,000 duilng the atruggle. That seems to
me a wonderful feat."
"It was not difficult," replied Marquis
Katsura, "and largely so because the world
felt Japan's cause was a Just one. The
other nations realised that our war wa
defensive and that we were forced into it.
Wa pad not expected it and we had
made no more than ordinary military
preparations. Could we have had time
wa might have been in much better shape;
but we had to take our army and navy
aa they were and to arrange for aucb
additional auimuntton and supplies aa were
needed.'
"Where were your bunds chiefly placed?"
"Mostly In I'nlted States and England."
Japan's Financial Condition.
"What la the financial situation of the
empire today?"
it Is not bad," replied the premier.
"This country has abundant resources and
our people are generally wall off. There
Is no great suffering in a business way,
aad the times are no harder here than in
moat other countriea. The curtailment of
business has been largely due to tha wcrld
Japanese
Katsura's
JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES MUTUAL FRIENDSHIP AND MUTUAL
panic which began in the United States
more than a year ago, and which has af
fected every trading nation. The chief
trouble Is not as to our condition, but aa
to our methods of regulating the revenues
and expenditures of the government. Japan
Is abundantly able to pay all its obligations
and to carry out all Its hopes of develop
ment for the future; but It must go slowly
and along different lines from those of our
past administrations. What we expect to
do is to take more tlmp In making national
Improvements and thus spread the cost
over a greater number of years. In the
past wo have been regulating our revenues
by our expenditures, making up the de
ficits. If any, by loans. We shall Issue no
more loans for the present, but shall de
cide what our revenues arc to bn and
regulate our expenditures by them. We
expect also to reduce the national debt at
least $50,000,000 a year."
"Will your new policy curtail the size of
the Japanese army or navy or its plans
for the future?"
"No; the present establishment will be
continued, but we shall economize where
possible, and as to the military works
which have been planned, Including the in
crease of our navy, we shall delay the com
pletion of them so as to spread the pay
ments for them out over more years. For
Instance, we have extended the period of
six years allowed for such works to one
of eleven years. The sum of money thus
postponed amounts to about $100,000,000.
Business Japan.
"Along what lines is Japan to be de
veloped from now on? Will it devote It
aelf to the attainment of military glory,
or to commercial and business prosperity?"
"Most emphatically the .latter. No na
tion can bo prosperous in any other way.
Timely Told Tales
Tillman aa a Woolhnt.
R. TILLMAN understands poll-
I Ing the Ignorance of mankind,"
writes Airreu uenry uewis in
the New York American. "In
Ida rattltsnaks ptlmetto state
of South Carolina there are two
tribes of politics. There are Uie
aristocrats, who live on the rich flat
lands In the eastern or seaboard half of
the state, and there are the "Woolhats"
rude moutain people, these whoso range
is the rough, hilly western half of the
state. Mr. Tillman belongs with the
"Woolhats."
It was aa populist, not democrat, that
Tillman took his seat as governor. Evinc
ing the sturdy sort of his populistlc virtue,
Mr. Tillman plowed up the lawn In front
of the executive mansion, and where his
effete predecessors had raised flowers he
sowed a crop of oats. These heroic feats
In agriculture gave mighty satisfaction to
l.ls faithful "Woolhats," whose lack of
fineness was only equalled by their lack
of common sense.
They tell this story. It serves to exhibit
the humbug side of Mr. Tillman. A rail
way lawyer, Mr. Bpauldlng, came up from
Atlanta to talk with Governor Tillman
concerning outrages, which, for his glory
with the "Woolhats." Mr. Tillman medi
tated against Mr. Spauldlng's clients. The
two were acquainted, and while Qjvernor
Tillman, alive to his own "Woolhat" needs
of politics, In no wise abated his anti-railroad
attitude had a highly pleasant chat.
Mr. Spaulding waa about to leave. Mr.
Tlllmm stood waving him an affable
"adieu."
"Good-bye, Jack," Mr. Tillman was say
ing, when, liko a flash, the beaming smile
waa supplanted by a perfect thunder cloud
of a frown, the friendly voice changed to
a grow'.lng threatening roar.
"No. sir!" Mr. Tillman shouted. "I'll do
nothing of the kind. You railroad lawyera
needn't think you are going to run the
state of South Carolina while Ben Till
man's at the capltol. Get out of my of
fice, sir, and tell your scoundrel railroad
clients that Ben Tillman Is neither to be
bribed or bullied.
Mr. Spaulding made no reply. When he
wheeled to g.- he was not surprised to see a
couple of "Woolhats" peering in the door.
Cleveland's Imagination.
Some have thought Mr. Cleveland a man
witho'it imagination. Hla Princeton life
does not confirm tlilfc. The fact that the
main buslma of his life was practical
statesmanship, and the further fact of his
own unlikent'K8 to the dreamer or zealot
or artist, may be the ground for the criti
cism. But he had hidden depths and imag
inings ft his own. Call it by whatever
name he showed at times something of the
instinct of a seer, writes Andrew F. West
in the Century.
If we concede high imagination to the
man of science, blooding on the deep till
some truth of nuture emerges to his sight.
then it waa a Like brooding on the troubled
flood of human society and government
that enabled him to see and utter truths all
bad felt, no doubt, and yet none but he had
expressed so surely. It Is true he did not
rare for the word "Ideals," and did not keep
hla own on parade, but well in tha back
ground. Yet he said again and again that
a man or a community or a business firm
or a university or, most of all, a free peo
ple, without atandarda of right beyond what
they saw or did, without allegiance to
something unseen above thorn all, would
soon sink below their own level.
There was a touch of another Imagina
tion In him that sometimes sppeared when
he was out of doors. A scene of sylvan
beauty In the springtime, especially when
the apple blossoms were coming Into flower
am; the grecntry, and the songbirds were
Empire Outlines Working: Policy of His Country
Message to the United States
Our aim la to develop our agricultural,
manufacturing and commercial possibilities
to the full."
"What are you doing along agricultural
lines?"
"We are trying to learn how to make
two blades of grasa grow where one haa
grown before. We are studying intensive
farming and by artificial fertilizers are
materially increasing our rice and other
products. We are planting forests and are
bringing under cultivation a great deal
of land which has until now been idle. We
are also educating our farmers, and we
have many experiment stntlons as well as
some agricultural schools."
Foreign Trade and Ship Mnbuldies.
"How about your foreign trade? Is It
increasing?"
"It has been doing so almost steadily
until within the last year. During 1908
the whole world has been spending less
than usual. The hard times have cut
down the purchases of every nation, and
Jioan ha's had to suffer with the rest.
As to tho increase of our trade. In 1877 our
exports were a little more than 23,000,000
yen. Thlity years later they were more
than 4,r, 000,000 yen. In that period they
rose from 31 cents to S4.43 per head. This
Increase of our exports has continued, and
in 18M they reached more than $100,000,000
per year. They have since exceeded twice
that amount in several years, and they will
piobably amount to more than $200,000,000
In 1900. Aa to our Imports, In 1877 they
were almost $14,000,000, and In 1907 they ap
proximately $1),000,000. The Increase In tho.e
thirty years in our foreign trade, including
both exports and imports, aggregates more
than 875,000,000 yen, or almost $140,000,000.
I see no reason why this .Increase should
not go on."
back again, moved him to deep silence. "I
can't find a word for It," he said quietly
on Just such a day, after a flood of aun
shine had burst through a light April
hower. "What makes It so beautiful?
There is no word good enough. 'Ravishing'
comes nearest, I think. Where does it come
from? Do you know what I mean? It Is
too good for us. Do you understand me?
It is something wc don't deserve." Well, If
one of our acknowledged esthetes had said
this to anybody we should not soon hear
tile end of it.
Then another incident. One bright, still
day In September he was fishing on a clear
lake circled by hills covered with the green
forest, and only here and there were the
leaves touched with crimson and gold. It
was too much for him, and he stopped fish
ing. Then he gazed long and tranquilly at
it all, as If spellbound. There was a look
of Joy in his face like that Fenimore Cooper
gives in his novel to the old huntsman
walking through the sunlit woods In calm
communion with something beyond and
ba.ck of what eyes could see. Long after
ward he apoke of It, and with hesitation.
He had felt it all.
Mark Twain and the Indian.
The days when "Sam" Clemens "stuck
type" on the Hannibal Union are recalled
by this anecdote. One morning "Sam"
came into the office very thoughtful, hung
up his coat and went to the frame. He
worked diligently for several hours with
out any copy cn his small cap caae In
front of him. He waa setting up the story
of a wonderful find he and some ot his
comrades found In McDougal's cave the
Sunday before. The narration waa to the
effect that a crowd ot boys, while explor
ing the great cave on Sunday afternoon,
ran acroas a petrified Indian. The citizens
were greatly worked up over the story and
they hired a scientist from Qulncy to look
the dead Indian In the face and report.
The man who came to perform this task
wore gray mutton chop whiskers, a
thoughtful brow, and spectacles of course.
He was an unemotional chap and he looked
letrned and the committee waa sat
isfied ot his ability. By the terms
of his contract he was to write
a complete report, detailing every
possible feature of tha discovery for his
torical preservation. The investigator re
Champion of the
HAMPION pants patcher . of
I 1 the United States " is the
I B. I unique title won during the
1 1 KjtHnn&l Porn y nnnttt,in mt
Ml
Omaha last year by Miss Selma
Fredeen of Aurora, Neb., who
In competition with girls and women from
twenty states, beat them all for neatness.
In addition to the title, the championship'
carries with It $50 in gold. Miss Fredeen
is only 1? years old.
There were over 600 contestants in tho
patching class, but the young Nebraska
girl romped home, ap easy winner, over
women who declared they had been patch
ing pants fur fifty years, and certainly
ought to know more about It than any 17-year-old
girl in the country. But the
Judges decided tbst the girl waa right on
the Job and gave her tha geld and the title.
This Is not the first prise for neat needle
work the little lady has been awarded.
Some time ago. In her home town, she car
ried off a prise as the nicest and neatest
apron maker In the county. She ts as
modest as she Is successful with her needle
and the honors she has won rest lightly
upon her.
THE OMAHA SUNDAY HEE: JANUARY .11, 1909.
HARMONY (SIQNID AND SEALED) KATSUR A."
"Has your foreign trade been much bene
fited by the subsidies which you give your
merchant marine?"
"Yes, we must have shipping, and with
a country like oura it la impossible for us
to build up a merchant marine without sub
sidles. We think It has paid ua to give
them, and they will be continued for some
yeara to come."
Japan for the Japanese.
"Does Japan need foreign capital?"
"If you mean foreign loans, 1 should say
no," replied Marquis Katsura. "It is a
part of my policy to curtail rather than In
crease our foreign indebtedness. We wish
to cut down our national debt and to put
ourselves In the way of gradually paying
It. I would like to see our bonds held more
largely at homo."
"Tell me something about your banks
and Industrials, your excellency. Are such
combinations of capital proving profltablo?"
"Yes. Most of our banks are paying good
dividends, and they have been doing so for
years. It is the same with many of our
factories and with our street car lines and
other such Institutions. We are doing what
we can to encourage combinations of cap
ital, and the bigger the combination the
better it will pleaso us. We believe such
things to be necessary to our home and
foreign trade and to our commercial de
velopment. At present the dividends paid
are very high, but that Is always so in a
new and fast growing country. We have
a high Interest rate. I should like to see
it reduced, but not too much, as when
money is easy to get our people are lluble
to run Into all sorts of speculations, and
that always means panic and financial dis
aster. Military Party.
"Is there not a commercial party devel
About People in Public Life
turned at nightfall, covered with clay, with
clothing torn and skin barked In countless
places by falls of rock. He sought out the
chairman of the committee that employed
him and silently delivered to htm this
statement: "Mileage in looking for dead
Indian, $20; reading story about dead In
dian, $5; bruised shins on the way to dead
Indian, $10. Report: There was no dead
Indian."
A Popnlnr Book.
One can imagine a book which would be
well worth $300,000 to any publisher who
could get hold of the necessary material
for it. This would be a volume containing
Mr. Roosevelt's table talk or some of It
since he first came to the presidency, says
Harry Thurston Peek in the Forum. For
frank indiscretion, absolute bluntness and
the most Irreverent pungency of phrasing,
the table talk of Mr. Roosevelt is extraor
dinarily interesting. No matter who hap
pens to be his guest, the president always
speaks without the slightest reserve, giv
ing his actual opinions of senators, repre
sentatives, public men in general, ambas
sadors, and even foreign potentates, in a
way that makes one's head swim with as
tonishment. One might name at least half a dozen
persons who are by n.i means the especial
Intimates of the president, but to whom,
nevertheless, he has blurted out enough
of this extremely piquant talk to fill a vol
ume. The extraordinary part of it all la
that very few, indeed, ot those to whom
he talks have yet betrayed his confidence.
Of course, they tell other people, but only
those, who like themselves, can keep these
biasing Indiscretions from getting into the
pages of the newspapers.
In a few instances, to be sure, table
guests of President Roosevelt have In
perfect Innocence revealed some of his care
less words; but then he has promptly en
rolled them In the Ananias club and every
thing has gone on as though nothing at all
had happened. Where In Europe there
would be Issued In some gazette an offi
cial dementi, our president gives out a state
ment to the press that the story teller has
uttered what be knew to be "outrageously
and absolutely false."
It is odd that none of the White House
United States
BEI.MA FREDEEN. CHAMPION PANTS
k. i A , I
s.
oping In Japan? t understand that the
military party still controls everything."
"It is true that the most of the officer
of the government and the administration
of affairs are In the hands of what yof
might call the military party," said Mar
quis Katsura. "But the military party of
Japan Is different from that of any other
nation. This Is naturally so from our his
tory. Before the restoration, which marked
what might be called the practical begin
ning of the New Japan, we had a feudal
system consisting of several distinct
classes.. There was the upper class, em
bracing the daimyos and their retainers,
who practically governed the empire, and
there were the common people, consisting
of the farmers and those engaged In man
ufacture and trade. The daimyos and their
retainers went about with swords and they
cut off the heads of such Individuals of
the common class as displeased them.
When the time of the restoration came it
waa this military class that did the fight
ing, that reorganized the government, and
that practically made the Japan of today.
It waa the educated class, and, necessarily,
it waa given the chief of the official posi
tions. Theoretically, all men woie equal,
and the merchant or mechanic had an
equal chance with the othera, but in reality
It was not so, on account of his antece
dents, training and education. This has
been the case until recently, but mem
bers of the other classes are rapidly com
ing into the government, and what you
might call a commercial party is being de
veloped." "But you must not consider the words
military paity in the sense that the of
ficials composing it are all soldiers, and
hence anxious to direct Jittan along mili
tary lines. They are merely the descend
ants of soldiers, educated to civil admin-
servants have carried their master's in
teresting mots to the newspapers, for the
president often talks quite as freely In
their presence as hen he Is alone with
his Invited guests. Some day or other in
the distant future many of these inter
esting and very pungent bits of phrase
and characterization will be carefully col
lected and published, but probably not
until many men now living have died.
A Standard Oil Lawyer.
One hundred thousand dollars a year as
a retainer, and $1,000 a day when he is
actively on the Job, Isn't half bad as a
salary for a 41-year-old lawyer, is it?
That's what Mortis Rosenthal, the Stan
dard Oil attorney, once of Chicago, now of
New Yoik, has to struggle along on, any
way. The Standard Oil, which has made so
many men famous, and not a few in
famous, did not have to serve as a public
ity promoter for Merits Rosenthal, says
Human Life. His ability aa a lawyer of
mark brought him before the public eye
long before his connection with the Oil
truBt, although his brilliant defense of this
corporation during the many law suits,
especially the recent most threatening one,
where John D. Rockefeller and John D.
Archbold were.( subjected to a grueling or
deal of testimony, has certainly augmented
his fame.
Born at Dixon, III., May 4, Xh&i, Morlts
Rosenthal graduated from the Michigan
university in 1888, and after studying law
at Dixon, was admitted to the bar in 1890.
He went to Chicago In 1831 to hang out
Ms shingle, and formed a partnership ot
Moses, Rosenthal & Kennedy, which still
exists, despite the death of Judge Moses
several years ago. Early in his legal
carter, from 1894 to 1897, Mr. Rosenthal
was assistant United States attorney In
Illinois and fought the very trusts he Is
now defending. As a state attorney he
taved Chicago from a hold-up epidemic,
sending twenty or more thugs to the peni
tentiary. He especially represented the
city of Chicago in the traction fight, and
was associate counsel with Jrhn 9. Miller
in administering the internationally famous
Immunity baths to the packers charged
with violation of the Sherman anti-trust
lr ws.
His defense of Inspector Lavln of the
Chicago police departn.ent, charged with
being an accessory to burglary and other
Irregularities, was one of the meat specta
cular and sensational cases in the history
of tho Chicago bar, and he also attained
some note, but little public esteem, by
serving as attorney for the owners of llie
Iroquois theater, and saving them from
prison after tne fire which cost UM lives.
Soon after he became associated with
the Standard OH company, and was one
of the attorneys In the rase in which
Jui'ge Landis a "eased the $-'9,000,000 fine.
Betsldes tlie federal suit to dissolve tho
Standard Oil company and thu $2.000.KA
fine case which Is now pending In the
'iiipreme court. Mr. Rosenthal is also as
K dated at prtscnt In another cuse of na
tional importance, that of the United Kail
ways company of San Francisco.
Eighty Years' Retrospect.
F'fhty years ago In an old hcue of an
old Engrail town, writes Ooldwln Smith in
the Cornell Era. a l.ttle boy wns lying In
bed listening to the Christmas chim-,
rerhaps to the last call ot the watchman
rn tho street, and looking at the servant
lighting the fire with the flint steel and
tlnderbox of the olden time. Since that
morning what changes!
The main storm of the French revolu
tion may be said to have ended at Waterloo-
But there have been a series of after-
MARQUIS TERA KATSURA. JAPAN'S GREAT WARRIOR STATESMAN.
Isiratlon. It In true that many of them are
members of the army, but their aim is the
Adevelopment of Japan along jieoce lines."
Japan and Cores.
The conversation here turned to Oorea,
and I asked Marquis Katsura whether It
was the Intention of the government to
make the Coreans Independent under Japa
nese protection. He replied that It was;
that the Japanese did not want to crowd
out the Coreans, and that they hoped that
Cores would be able to govern Itself with
the advice of Japan. He denied that tha
Japanese are overrunning tha country and
said tha door there Is practically open to
foreign trade.
I asked him If the Japanese expected to
colonize any part mt the country. He re
plied that they did not, and that they
would only attempt to fill up the unoccu
pied spaces and develop the waste lands.
He spoke highly of Marquis Ito's work In
Corea, and he evidently thinks that the
blasts whioh has changed the political
face of all Europe and Is now apparently
extending Itself to the hitherto stagnant
east. We may aet down In some measure
to the same account the overthrow by
civil war of the same power in the United
States.
The Impelling force everywhere has been
democracy, generally triumphant, advanc
ing to rule apparently, even In Russia, and
In England completely possessed of the leg
islative seat ot, real power, the House ot
Commons, though a remnant of aristo
cratic control still retains a precarious ex
lbtence In the House ot Lords.
The United States now. Instead of being
the vanguard ot democracy, might almost
be said to be Its rear guard, the power of
the president and the senate making the
constitution In some respects the most con
servative of the set.
Not less, but rather more, momentous
than the political movement, and fraught
with ultimate change. Is the advance of
science, which In two or three genera
tions has been almost miraculous, and has
carried mechanical invention with It. Me
chanical invention, with steamship, rail and
telegraph. Is bringing the nations Into far
closer communication and making of them
In some respects almost one common
wealth. In one way, unhappily, invention has
been retrograde. It has always been in
creasing the construction of new Instru
ments of war, the Incentive to enmity bo
tween nations or the appeal to violence
and destruction.
The growth of physical science, or the
Increase of its Influence over the mind,
has had the most momentous effects In
another sphere. Those Christmas chimes,
when the child first heard them, spoke to
all hearts alike, both of home and the
church. To not a few they now speak
of the home alone. This change has come
rapidly and startlngly over the intellectual
world.
The child when still a youth heard a
great professor of physical science strug
gling to reconcile geology with Genesis.
Now he reads the work of a religious
writer, such aa Gladstone, struggling to
reconcile Genesis with geology.
Let the evolutionists, however, remem
ber two things: First, that evolution can
not have evolved Itself; second, that un
like brutes, humanity, as w have been
here noting, advances, and we cannot tell
what the c-nd will be, whether It may not
be the flnul ascendency of the splrituul
over the material In man. Man, let the
evolutionists remember, advances and
rises. The beast d'es not.
lirlef Kills Hitrona Man.
Intolerable regret, crumbling u 11 the vital
forces of Ills being, is believed to have
caused the death of Charles Wlngren. who
lived with his wife and seven children la
Inez, tn-ookston ruunty, Minn. Wlngren,
who was only 27 years old. as strong and
healtny until a few weeks ago, when lie
shut and killed a neighbor, his closest
friend, in mistake for a deer. The official
report of Wlngren's death stated he died
of apoplexy, a rare complaint for a young
nan who has lived his whole life in the
healthy open air. Those who knew Win
gren best say he di d of a broken heart.
Wii.gren shot Ms friend when hunting a
few weeks ago, and his remorse was so
keen that, after giving himself up, ho
pleaded guilty to a charge of inan.-lu igluer
as soon as he was biougiit L tnal. li
was sentenced to a term In the reformatory,
but public opinion was so strong that he
was morally innocent that petitions in his
favor poured in, and the pardon board,
taking into consideration the needs of his
family, which was left destitute without
him. released blm on parole a week ago.
V ''' ,-" v-. . '.
country will rapidly Improve under his ad
ministration. Our next subject wss Manchuria, con
cerning which I asked his excellency if
Japin expected to maintain the open door
there. He replied:
"Most assuredly so. We hope that the
trade of Manchuria will be free to nil na
tions. It Is so now. Indeed, the greater
part of the trade there ts In the hands of
nations other than the Japanese. Both the
United States and Oreat Britain do con
siderable business In Manchuria."
"What are the prospects of the Chinese
combining with the Jspanese to furnish
capital for Its development?" I asked.
"They are not good Just now. Both coun
tries are In need of money, and they have
but little for undertakings outside their
own territories. There Is a union , of
Chinese and Japanese capital as to the ex
ploitation of large tracts of forest along
the Yalu river, and this promises to pay
well. As to Manchurlt Itself, It Is an enor
mous territory, with vast tracts of rich
land and great mineral possibilities. The
country has not been carefully prospected,
and no one knows Just what It contains.
It has a large population and tt will
eventually be a valuable market. We are
anxious to see the country develop, and we
want, of course, to get aa much of the
market as possible."
"aarhallen.
"Tell me something about your posses
sions in Saghallen, that part of the island
which the Japanese got from Russia as a
result of the war. Is It of any value?"
"We call that territory by the name ot
Karafuto," said Marquis Katsura, "Wa
have had the country but a short time,
and are not able to say yet Just what It
is worth. The fisheries are considered
valuable, and this la especially so of her
ring and trout. We are experimenting
there along agricultural lines. There Is
considerable land fitted for farming, and
since 1908 agricultural settlers have been
quartered In certain localities and hare
been suprlled with seed and domestlo
animals. We have afso established govern
ment experiment farms, and we find that
we can grow not only barley, wheat and
potatoes, but peas and beans of all kinds.
The Island Is rich in coal and there ts con
siderable alluvial gold. The forests also
are valuable."
Formosa nnd the Philippines.
"How are you getting along with For
mosa? You were once governor general of
that province?"
"Yes, I went there In '1897, at the close of
the military administration, and did some
thing aa to reorganizing the Island. It was
my aim to make It pay its own expenses,
and this policy has been carried on by my
successors, Baron Nogl, the late Viscount
General Kodama and General Sakuma. A
great work was done in the civil adminis
tration by Baron Goto. The island has
now been brought into thorough subjection.
Its finances have been reformed and Its
resources so developed that It la now pay
ing its own way. It Is a valuable territory
and will become more and more so as time
goes on."
"How about the Philippines? Haa Japan
any ambition to posses them?"
"No," said the premier, "Japan Is glad
that the Philippines belong to the United
States, and we believe that It means much
to the peace ot the Orient and to the
peace of the world that it Is so. This
sentiment Is common smong all classes of
our people from the highest to the lowest.
We are glad to have the United States In
the Orient, and we feel that the fact
that Is there Is a great protection to our
trade and to the presenvatlon of the open
door."
Mesage to the Called States.
"What is tho feeling In your country as
to tho United States?"
"It Is of the friendliest nature. We look
upon you as our friend and feel that your
Interests and ours are along tha same
lines toward the presernvatlon of peace.
It means much to the world, as well as
to Japan, that your country and ours
should continue to hove friendly relations.
Any war that would Involve ua would In
volve the whole world, and what we both
want la peace."
With these words the Interview closed.
As I roan to go I asked the premier If he
would nut through me, send a message
to the L'nited States, Just a line giving In
a nutshell what he tliuughl the relations
of the two countries should be. He re
plied thai he would do so, and send it to
me. The mesrsge. In Janar.ese, beautifully
written In his escelluncy's own hand on
a wide atrip of white slU, lies before me.
It is signed with tit" seul of the mar
quis. Translated it reads:
"For Japan and the United 8tate-Mu-tual
Friendship and Mutual Harmony."
FRANK O. CA&PlSNTB&i
r
PATCHSR OF AMERICA.
1
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