AMERICA SEEKS WORLD RULE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15222, 21 May 1920, Page 4

AMERICA SEEKS WORLD RULE.

|. JAPANESE STATESMAN'S CRITICISM. TOKIO, March 11.— Count Okuma, former Premier of Japan, m a magazine article which he has just published, turns the tables on those Americans who have been denouncing Japan as the "Prussia of the East" by declaring that America to-day is attempting to fill tho niche from which Germany has been case ahd is "trying to dictate to the world.'' "And the world,'' writes Count Okuma, "at the present moment is not looking with favor upon America." "Judging from the attitude of the United States," says this statement,' "we fear that America will invite calamities of more serious nature than those which Germany provoked.'' It is not Japan which wants to challenge America to a war. "Not a bit," says Count U'kuma. 'But Japan cannot remain siient when her interest m the Orient is threatened and her national existence endangered !" Count Okuma' s article is a general review of American- Japanese relations and of the record of Japanese migration to the United States, "where thousands of tombs m the agricultural districts ol California and m Hawaii mark the burial place of the Japanese - who so greatly contributed to the industrial uplift of Hawaii and of the Pacific' Coast State, and which ought to -silence the anti-Japanese agitators." He- covers, the California school question, when "the Japanese nation rose to protest," and when President Roosevelt sent- the American battleship fleet majestically across the Pacific "demonstrating against Japan." The welcome accorded the American battleships by the people of Japan, the "gentlemen's agreement" and the other steps entered into by Japan to give assurance of her desire to remain at peace did not stop the antiJapanese movement, howeverj and the Japanese m America were "insulted and stoned m broad daylight." But the Japanese Government and its people bore the _ insults and oppression from the American people. . "The time changed. Tlie whole world arrayed itself against the Germany that tried to rule the world with iron and blood. Japan, for the sake of humanity and justice, stood by the Allies and wrested Tsingtao from the Germans; She sent her warships to the Mediterranean and to the South Pacific ocean and Hawaiian waters 'to protect the Allies from the Hun menace. She protected the merchant ships of her Allies and sent her sons' to the Siberian front to fight the Germans and Austrians. "The United States, on the other hand, observed neutrality m the beginning and devoted herself to trade expansion. Only when her trading ships were sunk by ruthless German U-boats did she finally stand up. The United States and Japan made common cause against a common foe. The Ishji-Lan-sing agreement was concluded with the object of guaranteeing peace with China and on the Pacific^ with Japanese warships protecting America's island territory. The friendship of the two countries was probably at its zenith. "But as Germany fell on her knees, the American "feeling toward the Japanese suddenly changed. At the peace table, m Paris, America and China stood together to slander Japan. Vfith the exception of a few, the American newspapers . and magazines vigorously at^ tacked Japan, the yellow journals particularly hurling unbearable'insin-uations' ' "Not only the press but the responsible statesmen m the saored halls of the Senate chamber bdldly denounced Japan. They called Japan •an . aggressive nation j a warlike nation, the Germany of the Orient and ah oppressor. They even went so far as to call. Japan a robber who ought to be punished by force of arms. Their outrageous behavior was that of statesmen who knew no national courtesy. Never m the history of the world have I ' seen an instance where Senators of a country denounced a foreign country more vehemently than did the Senators of the United States m their speeches against Japan. "As a l-esult of her participation m the world war, German rights m the East ought to fall into the hands of Japan. The Sirio-Japahese treaty and the peace conference recognise Japan's right to acquire *Germali rights m TsingtaoJ Tlie world recognises the decision as regards this.

. "Japan -has announced many a time that she would restore to China the for- 1 mer German possessions m Kiaochau and that this restoration will be only a matter of time. But to return Tsingtao to China just on account of ' threatsfrdm the United States would be humili-ating-to Japan/which can and 'will voluntarily solve the question without any outside interference. There is no good reason why the United States should be the only country suspicious of Japan, which the rest of the world trusts and has confidence in.'' Count Okuma denies the charge that Japan is an aggressive nation, but claims that America is, having taken Texas from Mexico and the Philippines, and other islands from Spain, also annexing Hawaii under the name of the Monroe doctrine. "The bombardment of the Shimoseki' -forts by American ships, with the assistance of those of England, France and Holland, and the demand on Japan for an indemnity of 3,000,000 dollars, of which the United States secured one-fourth, is a famous example of an oppression of t_ie weak. I know -'whereof I speak, because I was m the Government's diplomatic, service ever since the Meiji restoration.