Guilford Collegian

Guilford College Library LH i C6 V, 17 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil http://www.archive.org/details/guilfordcolleg 1 71 9041 905 THE GUILFORD COLLEGIAN. Vol. XVII. October, 1904. No. I THE EVOLUTION OF THE JAPANESE. The nations which figure in the present stage of the world's activities are known as modern nations. In this age of ad- vancement, when, for the most part, civil wars and political strifes have ceased, when popular will holds sway, and educa- tional and industrial, rather than military interests, engage The minds of men, kings and Napoleons no longer fix the desti- nies of nations. Never before did the law of the survival of the fittest hold such sway, and today, in the realms of the political, military, commercial, and industrial worlds, a nation's intellectual condition marks her fitness. Therefore, the peoples which are factors in the world's present progress are intellectual peoples, peoples which by their very thriftiness make themselves felt. To the realization of these facts, the people of Japan were awakened about fifty years ago. In 1854, when Commodore Perry sailed into that Japanese harbor on his mission of friendship, a strange thing happened to the Japanese. Never before had they looked upon a foreign vessel within a harbor of theirs and they at once made prepa- rations for resistance to the invader. So completely were they excluded from the outside world that Commodore Perry spent months in getting access to the proper authorities and in making it understood that his mission to them was one of friendship. It required tact, time, and an indomitable will, but at length, for the first time in history, the walls of preju- dice, seclusion, and ignorance were penetrated and Japan came in contact with another world, which infused new vigor into her veins. He found a people there whose highest ambition was to emu- late the deeds of their fathers, upon whom the only intellectual influence brought to bear was that of Buddhistic religion, 2 GUILFORD COLLEGIAN. Confusian ethics, and Chinese and Japanese arts and literature. All these had been in existence for thousands of years. All foreign ideas and influences were sj'stematically excluded and the complete isolation of Japan was made the supreme policy of the government. A high tide had at last come in the affairs of Japan, and her people were wise enough to take it at its flood. By the signing of the treaty with the United States, the barriers to foreign intercourse were torn away. Ports were opened to the world. Foreign ideas and institutions entered in. Modern men took the helm of progress and the little nation began sailing on her way to success. This marks the beginning of modern Japan. The development of this wonderful little people from their earliest contact with foreigners may be divided into four periods. The first, beginning with the opening of the ports to foreigners and covering about a quarter of a century, includes the Kevolution of 1868 and the Civil War of 1877. During this time, Japan was quietly observing the civilized conditions of the Western nations, and was preparing her fields for the seeds of civilization. The second, covering a single decade, includes the adoption of a constitutional government, and the sowing of the seeds of civilization in fields already prepared. The third begins with 1888, and ends with the Chino-Japa- nese war of 1891. During this time, Japan was busy gathering the fruits of civilization by acquiring all the essential things which a civilized nation must have to be ranked as a world power. She demonstrated her position among the nations of the world by her war with China in 1894, but this was grudgingly acknowledged by the European nations. Japan, therefore, in the decade just passed, has, by almost superhuman effort, doubled her military strength, and has rapidly advanced her industrial enterprises and commercial expansion. The out- come of her present war with Russia will end this last period and will determine Japan's standing among the nations of the world. Politically, the work Japan has accomplished in these few GUILFORD COLLEGIAN. 3 years is marvellous. In less than half a century, she has brought about the same state of affairs which the European nations reached only after hundreds of years. Less than fifty years ago, the little island was cut up into hundreds of petty feudal kingdoms, one of which the Mikado ruled. By a revolu- tion and a civil war, feudalism was entirely abolished in the island and the Mikado was made supreme. A few years later, at the demands of the people, a constitutional government, modeled almost in detail after that of Germany, was estab- lished. Having at first local assemblies as training schools, a representative national legislature was finally instituted. Bal- loting has been introduced and political parties have been organized. Well educated and experienced men make up the ad- visory council and assist the Mikado in administering the affairs of the government. In a few words, Japan has a well .organized modern government which suits the needs of her people. Chinese and Japanese literature and learning, such as it was, nourished in Japan two thousand years prior to 1868. Even with this, she was far in advance of many of the other Asiatic nations near her, but at this time, a movement for popular education, after European and American school models, was agi- tated, and the plan was put into operation, along with the cre- ation of a department of education with a competent councilor at its head. Today, Japan has eight modern universities, numerous high schools and colleges, and every village has its grammar school, all supervised and provided for, to a certain extent, by the central government, while there are numerous private schools in existence. It is estimated that at the present time 10 per cent, of the population of Japan are in school. Her people are a remarkably well educated people, so much so that, although the modern printing press was introduced into Japan only eight years ago, she today has over three hundred daily newspapers, sixteen of which are of national reputation, beside numerous magazines and other periodicals. Where is the modern nation, European or American, that has produced such results in so short a time? Until very recently, the Japanese have known nothing of 4 GUILFORD COLLEGIAN. steam power and machinery, but now that they have learned, these are being introduced quite extensively. The cotton, oil, lumber, and other industries are being promoted at present, and, for some time, Japan has not found it necessary to go abroad for her numerous ships, especially those of her power- ful navy. Notwithstanding the fact that the country is very mountainous, all parts of the island are now connected by steam railways, and the old streets of even small cities have been widened to admit the electric railway. Telegraph and telephone lines are now in operation throughout all Japan, as a communication both for military and commercial purposes. Japan's greatest ambition, however, has been and still is, to become a first-class commercial power on the Pacific, and her prominent men have been advocating the enlargement of her commerce for many years. The government has encouraged this by subsidizing her steamship lines and, today, Japanese steamship companies run regular lines of traffic between the principal ports of America, Australia, Europe, and some Asi- atic countries. It is enough to say that in the ten years since her war with China, Japan's international commerce has been trebled. So far, the inventive genius of the Japanese has not been displayed, because he has been busy imitating the civilized methods of the modern men around him. To his credit, however, it may be said that, since he was aroused from his slum- bers of ignorance and seclusion, half a century ago, he has lost no opportunity and has spared no expense to improve his condition. With an unbiased mind, he has sought out and appro- priated for himself those civilized methods which were best suited to his peculiar condition. As a result of this broad-minded, common-sense policy, he has brought his people from an unthrifty, uneducated, and in- ferior condition to a prosperous, enlightened, and superior position ; his nation, a few years ago a barbarous, secluded, and almost unheard of little people, on an island somewhere off the coast of China, stands today a world power, a peer with the foremost nations of the earth, the school mistress of the East. R. E. Lewis. Guilford collegian, playing the game. ROYAL J. DAVIS. When Harvard faced Yale on Soldiers' Field, the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day, 1899, the supporters of the crimson were as nearly confident as a son of Harvard allows himself to be on the eve of a meeting with the Yale eleven. To be sure, there was the punting of McBride, the famous Yale captain, to be feared, but, on paper, the chances were even, if not greatly in favor of Harvard. It was, accordingly, an enthusiastic welcome that greeted the crimson eleven as it trotted on to the field. From some fifteen thousand throats rose the "Harvard! Harvard! Harvard! Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah! Rah, rah, rah! Harvard !" the yell that ever, in victory or in defeat, cheers the winners or consoles the losers who have done their best for Alma Mater. The Harvard stands were a waving mass of crimson, girls in bright dresses and jackets vieing with their sturdy compan- ions in tossing aloft the brilliant color that made one entire side of the field a sea of red.

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