THE H.B. TRIBUNE. MONDAY, JULY 12th., 1920. JAPAN’S NECESSITIES.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume X, Issue 177, 12 July 1920, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. MONDAY, JULY 12th., 1920. JAPAN’S NECESSITIES.

The frequently recurring messages that we are receiving with 7 regard to Japanese activities and intentions indicate how important a factor in the settlement of the world’s international affairs is a definition and recognition of the status of the Japanese among the peoples of the earth, and especial'y with regard to their relations with —e peoples of European origin. Th j question has recently been discussed in the columns of the London “Times'* by Mr. J. O. Bland, a man whose —ng experience in the Far East eminently qualifies him to speak with regard to the necessities, sentiments, and aspira tions of the Japanese —einselves. ror upwards of thirty years Mr. Bland was personally’ and intimately associated, in one official or semi-official capacity or another, with Chinese and Japanese affairs, most of that time being spent by him among these peopfe. His qualifications to speak with regard to che naW -al feelings of both are, thus probably as good as those of any liviwg authority not of Eastern race and birth, whatever may’ be said of his opinions as to the future. It is tnerefore well worth whije to attempt a summary of what he has to say, so that the Japanese point of view may be appreciated. He draws attention to the fact that in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5 practically all ... e sympathies of Americans and Englishmen were with Japan, although it was well known that the struggle was in reality for dominant influence in ixorea and Manchuria. The undoubtedly strong revulsion of feeling that has since taken place he considers to bdifticult of explanation on sound, rational grounds, and while admitting conflicts of economic interests th 11 haVe arisen and that necessarily create friction, he thinks that a fuller knowledge of broad facts would go far towards modifying the poular attitude wwhite peoples towards Japan. “No charge, he says, “has been more frequently made against Japan during recent years than that of being irretrievably addicted to militarism; yet anyone who knows anything of the Japanese people atid its history know--also that tlie Charge is unfounded, ami that- J;fpan is no more likely to go t< war for war’s sake than is England oi France.” It will be news io no one tx hear that “the Japanese arc a- brav< and patriotic people, with a spirit ci robust nationalism showing no signs of decay.” It will, however, surprisi not a few to be told that “the- military profession is by no means popular, even in the higher ranks- of society’ and that, “in fact, its prestige is nov so greatly- diminished that it is quite a common thing for a young woman of good family to refuse marriage witl an officer.” This misconception if attributed largely’ to the JapanesGovernment’s attitude towards Chin:. But it is contended that, if critic would only trace the unbroken Conner tion between it and the island nation : imperative economic necessities, they would be compelled to make morallowance than they* do for the appa rent absence of altruism- and idealism in Japanese statecraft. “For a-nation.” writes Mr. Bland, “to ciaim the right of expansion in a spirit of wanton aggression is one thing. To do so unae; the compulsion of a fierce struggle fo’ bare existence, for food and elbowroom, is merely’ to obey the first ia« of nature, as every’ active and selfhelping race has obeyed it since thf beginning of time.” Hie vital factor in Japan’s case is that she must provide food for- a population that already exceeds the limit; which the country’s soil can support even on the- relatively meagre dietary scale that generally obtains, and which is debarred by our exclusion laws iron seeking relief in the least populated regions of the American and Australian continents. The elemental . facts art (1) that, with a birth-rate of 32 pei thousand the population has increasee during recent years at the average rati of about three-quarters of, a million. (2) thsU in the last ten years the in habitants of Japan proper have in creased from 50 to 57 millions, giving an average of 380 persons to the squart mile; (3) that during' this period thf area of land under cultivation has beet increased by’ 5 per cent., and the rice production by 4 per cent., as against an increase of over 13 per cent, n the number of mouths to be led ; (4

that therd is no possibility of increas ing either the area or the productivity of the cultivable soil. 1* truth although the authority we are quoting does not put it this way, Japan is ii much the same position as Grem Britain would bo without her overse: dominions and with Her now immens> manufacturing and export capacity ii its initial stages of development Looking at the problem in this way and forbidden a footing in eithe: America (jfr Australia, the Japanese see before them only- three possible serilutions:—(l) A reduction of the birth-rate; (2) increase of imports'.' foods, to be obtained only in exchange for exports the result of increasee manufactures to be marketed in keei competition with strongly established rivals; and (3) territorial expansioi into the less populated regions of tele Asiatic continent. So long as eilliei of the last two recpurses is available no reduction of the birth-rate is to b>. expected, because birth-control musi involve a radical change of the race mind and social system— and, it ma; be added, the adoption of method: which are now being loudly censured b; the M’dstern nations themselves Japanese statesmanship is thus force to resort to one both of the othei solutions. “Here,” says Mr. Bland, “you have in a nutshell the explanation, if not the justification, of all Japan’s diplomatic, and apparently aggressive activities in the l‘ar East of her feverish eagerness to secure per manent sources of supply oi food airi of the raw materials on which tier industries depend; of her claims t< ‘special interests’ in the undeveloped regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, and Eastern Siberia. In a word, Japan is overcrowded and must overflow, just as Great Britain and other congested countries have overflowed. But then is no New World open to her colonists, and her expansion must therefore t-ak-the line of least resistance —that is to

?ay, into China’s but loosely held dependencies. . . Frcm the Chinese

point of view this is, of course, lamentable, but the struggle for survival between raoes did not end with the Treaty of Versailles, and ‘the principle of self-determination’ counts lor little when it comes to a conflict with a supremely virile nation’s instincts of self-preservation.” In short, Japan must find a safety-valve for the intense internal pressure to which her people are now subjected. The question to be answered is, where is she to be allowed to find it? That the answer to the question is a matter of urgency is grimly indicated by the fact that her annual death-rate has, since the war began, gradually increased until it has now reached an average of 21J per thousand, and that now out of every thousand deaths 260 are those of children under twelve months old.