The Dominion MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1921. JAPAN AND AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 104, 28 January 1924, Page 6

The Dominion MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1921. JAPAN AND AMERICA

On a number of occasions since the Washington treaties w er ® signed there have been promising indications of the development of a friendly understanding between America and Japan. J-he grea earthquake of September, which caused a huge loss of hie and destruction of property in Japan, was in particular an occasion which appeared’to draw the two countries together in close bonds ot sjmP The assistance America was prompt in rendering was received gratefully by the Government and people of Japan, and the nope appeared that the disaster and its sequel might raise the possibility of a further limitation of naval armaments in the Pacific. Unfortunately, however, there are still some, factors of discord between the United States and Japan, though it may be hoped that these are dealt with from an extreme standpoint by the Japanese ex-Minister (Baron Sakatini), who is quoted to-day as declaring that “the seeds of future world-war will be sown if the United States enacts an exclusion law.” The reference, of course, is to a possible prohibition of Japanese immigration into the United States. The people of the British Pacific Dominions, who for a number of reasons keenly desire the maintenance . of good relations between America and Japan, are at the same time well placed to understand the difficulty of settling the issue on which the two countries are divided. This issue has been accentuated by a recent decision of the American Supreme Court upholding the legality of State laws in California and Washington, which prohibit Japanese land-ownership, The ruling of the Court stated in part that Japanese, Chinese, and Malays are not eligible for American citizenship, and are not entitled to lease or own real estate within the boundaries of the United States. 1 According to an American newspaper, one effect of this decision is that between a million and a million and a half acres of the richest agricultural lands in California, now leased to Japanese, must be returned to white owners. Another effect of the ruling of the Supreme Court has been to quicken the demand for the complete exclusion of Asiatic immigrants. Pacific Coast members of Congress, it was stated recently, “propose, to amend the present immigration law with a clause prohibiting the immigration of persons ineligible to citizenship. It seems not unlikely that this policy may have the support of the Administration. Dealing with immigration in his December Message to Congress, President Coolidge said that America must be kept American. » For this purpose (lie added) it is neccs sary to continue a policy of restricted immigration. ... I am convinced that our present economic and social conditions warrant a limitation of those to be admitted. We should find additional safety in a law requiring the immediate registration of all aliens. Those who do not want to be partakers of the American spirit ought not to settle in America. Although it was to exclusion that Baron Sakatini gave prominence in the diatribe reported to-day, the really difficult question appears to centre in the treatment of Japanese already established in America. The two countries are already parties to a “Gentlemen’s Agreement” under which Japan undertakes to prevent the emigration of coolies to the United States. There are, however, something like 120,000 Japanese in the Continental United States, and a similar number in Hawaii. Restrictions on immigration, which might well be in the fullest extent mutual, perhaps do not in themselves raise an insoluble problem. Until the position with regard to Japanese already in the United States is in some way greatly modified, however, anything like a full and frank understanding between the two countries is probably unattainable. It is perhaps as well that Japan is likely to be much too closely concerned for some time to come with internal problems to think of engaging in external adventures. An idea of the seriousness of these internal problems is given in a speech by the Marquis Tokugawa in the Japanese House of Peers. As he is reported to-day, the Marquis asserted that the state of politics threatened to precipitate a revolution because of the excessive representation of the peerage in the Kiyoura Cabinet. That a speech in these terms had “the support of many peers” is in itself a striking sign of the times. Faced as she is by grave political, social, and economic problems, Japan undoubtedly is in some peril of internal upheaval on account of her slow and difficult progress towards a more democratic form of government. The present state of her politics may be summed up as broadly one of deadlock between the upholders of the aristocratic tradition and the advocates of democratic progress! Apart from the problems of reconstruction arising out of the terrible September earthquake, the authorities are charged with having permitted at that time numerous police executions without trial, not only of Koreans, but of Labour leaders and others suspected of agitation. Whether there is to be a full inquiry into these charges is not yet disclosed. It certainly seems likely, however, that any Japanese Government that holds office for a considerable time to come will have its hands more than full in dealing with internal problems and affairs.