' 1 - ",-,. , , ,. II I
The Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
.11 , ,
i mmmmmmmtmt .
The Peril to Us in Japan's Blood Relationship to Mexico
Professor Guglielmo Ferrero, the Distinguished
Italian Historian, Points Out the Significance
of the Mikado's Repeated Claims to Kin
ship with the Aboriginal American Races.
PROFESSOR. QUQLIBL.MO FERRERO, the
first ot tiring Roman historians, has
written a remarkable article calling at
tentlon to the plans ot the Japanese to secure
a foothold In Mexico and South America. He
declares that the Japanese will use their sup
posed relationship to the aboriginal races ot
Mexico and Spanlsh-Amorlcan countries as a
pretext for establishing their influence In
them.
At the same time Protossor Ferrero dis
cusses the disastrous commercial depression
prevailing In America and Europe, which Is
partly, a result ot the present shocking state
of clrll war and anarchy In Mexico.
In calling attention to Japanese ambitions In
this direction Professor Ferrero emphasizes a
By Professor Guglielmo Ferrero
The Distinguished Italian Historian, Author of "The Greatness and Decline of Rome."
FEW persons have paid sufficient attention
to the dispatches recently rocolvcd from
Japan which doscribo tho enthuslastto
reception given In tho capital ot the empire to
tho special envoy from Mexico.
This event, to my mind, has a deep and far
reaching significance What reason can two
States so far npart and so extornally dlftoront
havo to exchango warm marks of sympathy T
Many of my readers, in Europo at loast, will
perhaps be still moro astonished to learn that
a few years ago the Emporor of Japan sent to
Porflrlo Diaz, then President of tho Moxican
Republic, a dispatch in which ho hailed Dlas
as tho head ot a sister Stato of Japan that is
to say, a country poopled by tho eame raco.
This declaration will appear to many people
absurd. Most pooplo In Europo Imagine that
both tho Americas aro entlroly populated by
tho descendants of Europeans who havo Immi
grated there during the past four conturlos.
ThlB belief Is only partly truo. Tho popula
tions which woro living In America at tho time
of the discovery havo not entirely disappeared.
Undoubtedly tho wild Indians, of whom wo
hear in our romances, are bocomlng extinct
in the United States, end the most flourishing
and prosperous part of the Argentine Repub
lic Is almost entirely pooplod by tho descend
ants of Europeans. But ovon In the Argentine
we find a large lament ot tho ancient popula
tion, which becomes more and more numerous
as we go inland from the Atlantic seaboard.
In Chill the laboring classes aro very largely
composed ot descendants ot the ancient abor
I gin o. The latter aro also very numerous in
several States ot Brazil, and it is very import
ant to remember that they form a groat ma
jority ot tho population ot Mexico, where tho
descendants of Europeans have hitherto con
stituted a kind of dominating aristocracy.
To what race do those populations belong
which have reolstod with so much vigor Euro
peaa conquest and Immigration T It is not noo
easary to bo a learned anthropologist to find
In thom a certain resemblanco to the Japanese.
I shall never forgot tho impression produced
on mo at Uspallata, in tho Andes Mountains,
by the men wiio came to take tho mail from
tho Argentine Republic across this colossal
mountain rango into Chill. At that time tho
trains were not able to go boyond Uspallata
during the Winter. "Aro thoso men Japan
ese T" I asked ono of the persons who accom
panied mo, "They may be Japanese." was the
answer, "tor thoro aro a considerable number
ot them In Chill, but they aro Just as likely to
be Chileans."
A Frenchman who had resided for a long
time at Valparaiso,' In Chill, told tno aa Inter
esting episode bearing on this subject. There
was at the lawn tonnia club to which his fam
ily belonged a Janitor whom everybody thought
to bo a Chilean ot aboriginal stock. One day
they found that tho Janitor could speak not
only Spanish, but French and English as well.
The Europeans In the club woro surprised that
a man ot supposed Indian blood should possess
all these accompllbhments, and they asked him
whero he had learned thom all. Then they
found tor the first time that ho was really a
Japanese,
Many scientists have sought to give scien
tific certainty to tho impression produced by
similarity of features between the American
and Japanese races, The scientists ot tho
Unltod States havo been very active in seeking
to prove thlB relationship, which may prove
so embarrassing to their country. Several
American anthropologists havo endoavored to
prove that America, before the discovery, was
peopled by the same raco that is found to-day
in Japan and in China. The most various and
subtle arguments hare been constructed with
this object. I recall a long conversation on
this subject with Senor Rodrlguex, tho late
distinguished director ot the great Botanical
Garden at Rio de Janeiro, In Brazil. This dis
tinguished scientist believed he had found
among the American aborigines traces ot re
Have
By Q. K. CHESTERTON.
IT may seem scarcely worth whllo to renew
criticism on the professors ot eugenics,
whose attempt li already petering out In
gasping polysyllables. And the first point to
emphasize is that the weakness ot the eugenlo
sect is an Intellectual weakness. They do,
Indeed, go against a man's moral conscience
and almost against his physical instincts. But
that Is not tho main thing about them; one
might say that tho trade ot spy went against
the moral conscience, or the life ot the ascetlo
against the physical instincts. The main
point about; them 1b that, unlike the spy or the
oscetls, they are incapable of connected
thought, Tho spy may bo doing a mean thing,
hut he knows why he is doing it The ascetic
may ho insane in what he gives up, out ho
knows what he l trying to get. But the ex
cuse ct the eugenlst la never clear, even as
an excuse, Tho sacrifice of the cugeniit has
dancer to rJi TTnltaA mat rh.i -.. .
paper has already pointed out, but he speaks
with no sympathy of American efforts to ex
elude Asiatics forever from this continent. He
appears rather to regard the Japanese claim
of relationship with tho early American races
as a legitimate ground for interfering in the af
fairs of Spanish-American countries, and his
article may well bo regarded as a warning of
the attitude that European powers will take in
this matter. These powers will encourage the
Japanese ambitions in order to furthor their
own interests.
Ono conclusion to be drawn from these facts
Is that the United States must possess a navy
adoquato to maintain tho absolute integrity of
the Monroe Dootrlno against European and
Asiatics aggression in both North and South
America.
ligious rites and symbols which aro to-day.
found npwhero olso but In China. Ho outlined
a hypothesis explaining how tho same raco had
been ablo to occupy countries separated by an
Iramcnso ocean at a period when navigation
must havo been still very primitive. Tho re
somblance between tho architecture ot the
anciont civilised races of Mexico and that ot
Japan has often been pointed out.
I havo not tho ability to pass Judgmont on
theso theories. In anthropology, as In history,
thore are many questions that may be dis
cussed otcrnally, for It seems that they can
never bo subject to any decisive proof. Ameri
can anthropology cortalnly belongs to this
class of quoatlons. It Is vory probablo that we
shall never bo ablo to demonstrate In a deflnlto
manner, excluding nil possibility of doubt and
objection, that tho Japancso and tho aboriginal
rocos of America aro descendants of tho same
ancestors. But wo must remember that politi
cal intorosts would not allow tho cautious scru
ples of sclonco to Intorforo with tholr plans.
If a scientific hypothesis Is usoful to politicians
they -will employ it with scientific certainty.
Tho boldness with which political parties in
Europo havo mado uso of tho most uncertain
scientific and historical hypothesos will appear
ono day as ono of tho most characteristic phe
nomena of our epoch. Now Japan is becoming
rapidly Europennlzod from this point of view.
Tholr writers aro beginning to insist on this
community ot raco, truo or eupposod, to draw
tho conclusion that Amorica, bolng largoly poo
pled by tho same raco, is ono ot the territories
over wnloh Japan possossos historical and
ethnological rights.
Without doubt wo should not tako these doo
trlnoa too tragically- or bollovo that Japan is
going to turn tho ambltton ot lto aggressive
imperialism Immediately toward America.
Japan has for tho momont many other jrob
lems to boIvo more urgent and loss romote.
Wo must not, however; sea in tho idea ot race
community with tho American natives moroly
another Blgn ot tho strange unrest which Is
fermenting moro or less among all nations In
our ago. Theso Japaneso theories have a cor
tain practical boarlng. Bvorybody knows that
tho Japaneso aro not disposed to lot Euro
peans profit alone by tho prodigious develop
ment of tho two Amorlcas, For a long tlmo
they havo been endoavorlng to establish thom
solves as settlers along tho whole Pacific coast
of America from Chill to California.
Tho difficulties which thoy have encoun
terod, ospoclally in California and tho United
8tatos, aro well known. Tho Unitod States
has adopted toward the yollow raoo a policy
of resistance and exclusion against which
Japan la struggling energetically, especially
slnco her last war. On Bavoral occasions after
the Russian-Japanese war the Federal Govern
ment at Washington had to consider protests
mado by tho Japanese Government against
laws passed by tho Stnto ot California. The
Washington Gqvernment found itself in tho
embarrassing position ot being responsible for
the acta of a Stato which it could not prdvont
or change,
The practical importance ot theso ethno
logical theories, however vague and uncertain
they may appear, must bo considered from the
point ot view of this controversy between the
two governments, which may one day become
grave. Reports havo boen current recontly
that Japan and Mexico were planning an alii
anco and that Mexico would open to Japanese
immigration certain territories upon its fron
tier. It would be difficult to say how much
truth there was In these reports, but, truo or
false, they aro none the less signs ot an un
mistakablo political tendency. Japan certainly
would not disdain to make use of anUiropo
logical doctrines to open to Its immigrants the
gates of this vast and rich continent whero
Europeans aro amassing bo much wealth and
to establish close relations of friendship bo
Eugenists No Sense
no meaning oven aa a sacrifice. Tho otrong
standing paradox ot their position a their
peculiar power In government and their pe
culiar weakness in discussion.
Here is an example. An evening paper baa
reported the opinions ot Mrs. Gotto. an emi
nent eugenlst and secretary to one ot the
eugenlo societies.
Mrs. Gotto claims to havo shown that divorce
should bo granted for "insanity, Inebriety or
general degeneracy." What Is general degen
eracy? If It means going from bad to worse,
that sentence Is an excellent instance ot it
For It begins with "insanity," which, however
mysterious and horrible, has been dealt with
moro or less by legal definitions and isolated
moro or less by medical testa. It goes on to
"Inebriety," which might mean anything from
once being drunk to never being sober. And
it ends tip with a total mental smash and
sllenoe, In the phrase, "general degeneracy."
In the old popular sense, degeneracy meant
Tho Great Ruined Temple at Tlaxln, Yucatan, Showing Its Characteristic
w-ijuiivsu una wnincso
Vlctorlano Huerta, of Mexico, Who Is Mostly Indian, and Admiral Togo, of Japan,
Nolo the Striking Resemblance Between Their Features. The Average Mexican
Peon of Indian Blood Can Scarcely Bo Distinguished from a Japancso Laborer.
tween States which may ono day bo In conflict
with tho United States. Tho future is ob-
scuro; tho laws passed against the yellow
races by soveral States of the Union may some
day glvo rise to lnsolublo difficulties. It this
day should como, it would be very useful to
Japan to havo friends among the neighbors of
the great adversary.
It is very probablo thai tho honors and fes
tivities showered on tho spoclal envoy of
Moxlco are part of tho curious American policy
of Japan. Whatever may bo tho outcome ot
the Mexican crisis, tho distrust and fear
aroused for a long tlmo among tho Moxican
people toward tho Unltod States will certainly
bo Increased. On tho other hand, Japan has
nover considered, oxcopt as provisory, tho
solutions given by tho Unltod States to the
questions created by American legislation
against the yellow raco. It Is, thoroforo, not
surprising to find twovStntoa which seem to
have vory few points of contact drawing to
gether, but It is still moro curious to see an
thropology and ethnology, two oxact and arls
tocratlo sciences ot old Europo, employed as
the modiura ot this alliance
The situation In Mexico is closely related to
the grave economic crisis which has boen dis
turbing America and Europo for several
months. Tho disorders In Mexico cut off a con
sldorablo source of tho wealth on which tho
world doponds, and threaten to havo more
sorlous offocts in future,
Industrial activity Is diminishing ovorywhere.
Money Is scarce and dear in Europe. The
budgets of European countries all show more
or loss, serious deficits. The ministers of
finance aro in tho greatest ombarrassment.
Thoy aro obliged to face growing expenses
without bolng ablo to count on the growth of
revenue, which has holped thom out of dlfflcul
ties for the last fifteen years.
Ib thlB a temporary crisis liko that which
dlsturbod Europo and Amorica toward tho end
ot 1907 or the beginning ot a longe'r crisis, the
return' of one of thoso great periods of famine
that have occurred In past history? According
to tho pessimists, the symptoms which point
to a trouble doeper than that of 1907 are very
numerous. On tho other hand, the optimists
declare that Europo and America have accumu
lated in the last fifteen' years groat reserves ot
wealth, and that consequently we can taco
with calm difficulties which would have terri
fied even the strongest countries fifty years
of the Ridiculous?
that a man is not as good as his father; In
that sense I am a degenerate. In a more
modern and subtle sense It generally means
that a person is not Intellectually adequate to
do the Job he is doing; In that sense the
eugenists are degenerate. But It even a de
generate bo go shadowy and baffling a being,
what sort of being Is a general degenerate?
And who Is going to be publloly disgraced and
deprived ot his children for being anything so
idiotically vaguo? Mrs. Qotto, In answer to
a question, asserted that the opposition which
eugenics had to encounter was "mostly abuse."
I do not object to this; for It is indeed a pretty
fair description ot the form taken by the irri
tation ot those who like thinking at the elo
quence of those who won't think. I do some
times feel, after reading a page or two ot this
psuedo-sclentlfio rubbish, that nothing but good
hearty abuse would meet the case. But I
wonder whether it has ever occurred to Mrs.
Hi. by tha tar Company. Great Britain Xllchts
-f-goaa onape.
ago. However this may be, one thing 13 much
less uncertain than theso contradictory fore
casts. This Is that it wo are about to enter
Into a prolonged period ot oconomlo oppression
wo must also oxpoct gravo political and social
troubles.
I onco heard a noted European statesman
who had boon several times Minister of Finance
in his country, remark Jocularly that political
succoss was only a question ot being In office
when business Is good. In prosperous years,
when tho nations can Increase tholr expendi
tures without Increasing the taxes, all prob
lems arc easy to settle. Thoso who have tho
luck to be In power during ono of theso periods
aro considered groat statesmen. But when the
budgets show a deficit all questions become
difficult or Insoluble, and ovon a now Rlcholleu
would run the risk ot proving a failure.
Theso reflections contain in tholr Ironical
exaggeration an olomont of truth. The contin
ual and rapid increase of wealth has become,
for our civilized nations, a necessary element
of moral and political equilibrium. This Is tho
most marked characteristic and also the great
weakness of our ago. If tho men of the middle
agos returned to tho world, they would under
stand nothing ot tho spectaclo which would be
unrolled before their eyes. They would see
In every country a wealth which would seem
to them fabulous In comparison to tho misery
ot their ago; and thoy would not be able to
explain tho almost universal discontent of our
times. "Why," they would ask, "should people
ask for anything more when the good things of
tho world aro already so abundant? Are these
men Insatiable?"
Modern men have Indeed become insatiable.
That is the great moral revolution which has
taken place in Europo and America during the
last 150 years. All preceding civilized nations
endeavored to attain a -well-ordered social lite
by teaching men to limit their wants and to
content themselves with what fate had given
them. In our day, on the other hand, (he hops
and deslro of Improving one's condition have
become In all social classes tho great motive
force ot action. Men would not work with so
much energy, such fovorlsh baste and uch
uninterrupted Industry, It everybody, from the
richest banker to tho humblest workman, did
not hope to enjoy to-morrow some luxury which
he cannot afford to-day. An uninterrupted Im
provement ot material conditions Is to-day the
reward desired by tho greatest number, the
Asks G. K. Chesterton
Gotto that describing any man she doesn't
like as "generally degenerate" Is mere abuse.
Heaven knows; perhaps she thinks it's some
thing scientific.
There is anotner peculiar point about
eugenics. The test of any constructive sug
gestion or policy is when 't passes from the
abstract to the concrete. And this is the dan
gerous point, because It is there that laughter
wakes up, like a concealed watch-dog.
But it is a peculiarity ot eugenlstB that they
have no guess or? glimpse ot this Initial ab
surdity, which would stagger the world the
first day on which their notions were put in
practice. For Instance, at a conference, It was
solemnly debated whether the "sense of race
responsibility" could not be taught" In schools;
whether schoolmasters could not Implant In
their pupils the "eugenic Ideal" to "guide
their affections in later years, when they
came to select their partners."
Now let any two-legged motor in this valo
Reserved
Professor Guglielmo Ferrero, the Famous
Roman Historian.
strongest stimulus of general activity, and-for
many men even ono ot tho greatest Joys of ex
s istence.
This stato of mind, which has b'ecome gen
ernl In tho masses, explains very easily th
extreme sensitiveness of our age to financial
panics and economic crises. Theso crises are
very gentle In comparison with tho long periods
of dreadful misery and famine which dark
ened tho history of the past. Nevertheless,
tho nations formerly endured with untiring pa
tience the terrible privations of thevj periods.
Today, If a country see3 Its profit.1 and it3
reserves fall below the average for a few yoars
it becomes a prey to a general alarm, whoso
effects on politics and the state are often .very
grave. 1 am almost tempted to conclude that
sensitiveness to economic crises becomes more
acuto In proportion as tho total wealth in
creases and tho crises themselves uecomo less
rave.
The relation between tho mental and moral'
condition of tie masses and their material sit
uation has nover been as close as in our civili
zation. The modern man does not seem to
have tho strength to resist tho vertigo which
his tremendous material resources produce In
him. He is tho master ot the world. J Tho
treasures of tho earth are laid at hlvfeot. H,
seems that he. has only to storju to pick them
up. No period, has experlenotid so strongly
the temptation to forget all tho other things
of life In a fantastic dream of power and
wealth. This explains tho Immense activity
of our epoch, to which nothing in tho past can
be compared.
But this also explains tho weaknesses ot our
time. It is a very ancient and commonplace
truth that monqy is not everything In life. .If
this principle holds good with regard to indi
viduals, It applies" still moro ctrongly to na
tions. In order that a nation may Hvo and
develop a high civilization, it is noce.isary that
it should sacrifice tho present for the future,
mako expenditures hat wm only bring v.ad van
tages to futuro generations, and In fact to Im
pose privations on Itself. Htimanlty can only
reap if it sows, but In tho Molds of history
many generations must often Hvo and paBS
away between the sowing and the harvest.
Should we have reached so high a degroo ot
civilization and power as we do now if all pre
ceding civilizations had had no thought but to
dovolop as rapidly as possible their material
resourcos7
Obsessed by the idoa of never doing any
thing which may hinder tho rapid accumulation
of wealth, our age is forgetting this basic truth.
It is for this reason that sensitiveness to
economic crises seems to become mora acuto
in proportion as tho total woalth increases.
"Is a salutary reaction from governments
which too groatly neglected tho material In
terests of tho masses, but It may. it It becomes
too strong, push our civilization to the opposite
extreme. To awaken in tho masses and in
thoughtful minds the Importance of this truth
Is one of tho tasks that Imposes Itself on our
generation. We seem to become more clearly
aware of this every day. On every hand wa
hear of efforts to revive religious faith, the
sense of moral solidarity, the sense of historic
tradition and patriotic feeling. What Is the
common anxiety which lnspiros all theso dif
ferent efforts, sometimes contradictory and
nearly always unconnected with one another?
It is to prevent modern society from becoming
entire y Incapable of the sacrifices which are
and always will be necessary to preserve the
heritage of the past and to prepare tho futuro
of civilization.
hnlhrt? m.!lu,pUcJSr of theso elIorts Drovea
how difficult the problem Is. It Is in periods
of crisis above all that the peculiar egoism of
the day shows Itself, and It Is in theso periods
a so that wo may do good by repeating tho
simple ancient truths.
of tears try and turn those words Into a con
Crete picture. I remember my own school.
Picture a number of idle, busy or brooding
boys sltUng at Inky desks; at a taller desk
In front Is sitting an athletic but nervous
young man from Cambridge, blinking at them,
and wondering by what verbal avenue ho shall
approach the topic; the topic being how very
fastidious they ought to be about tho blooming
health and bodily perfections of the girls they
make love to.
What surgeon has removed the risible
muscles from all these people's heads? Havo
they ever seen a schoolboy? I went to a largo
school and saw a good many different sorts,
and I cannot think of one kind ot a boy on
whom tho effect of such a scene would not ba
either crazy, or downright depraving. Tho only
possible results would be either a hot and
torturing embarrassment, or an enormous in
crease In entertaining but Improper conversa
tion. And what sort of noodles are they that
think they can talk to Bchoolglrls about tha
ideal man?
'4
