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31 - Outline History of Japan by Herbert Henry Gowen · Outline History of Japan

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Speaker 1: Chapter thirty of An Outlying History of Japan. This is
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Speaker 1: the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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Speaker 1: Read by Elsie Selwyn. An Outlying History of Japan by
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Speaker 1: Herbert Henry Gowan, Chapter thirty. The Great earthquake and after
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Speaker 1: the year nineteen twenty three opened quite hopefully in Japan,
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Speaker 1: mourned by the empire, which remembered all the vast services
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Speaker 1: which they had rendered from the earliest days of Meiji.
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Speaker 1: Two great statesmen, almost the last of the general passed
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Speaker 1: away in nineteen twenty two. These were Okuma, whose memory
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Speaker 1: is enshrined in the university of his founding Waseda, and Yamagata,
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Speaker 1: whose services in war and peace outweighed in the minds
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Speaker 1: of his countrymen the general conservatism of his mental outlook.
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Speaker 1: But great as were these losses, the majority of men
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Speaker 1: in Japan were now looking forward rather than backward. One
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Speaker 1: of the strongest desires of the government, for example, was
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Speaker 1: to re establish harmonious relations with Russia, China, and the
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Speaker 1: United States. In the case of China, considerable progress was
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Speaker 1: made in the handing over of the Tzennan Railway on
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Speaker 1: January first, nineteen twenty three was the happy termination of
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Speaker 1: a long endured and thorny controversy. Japan was permitted by
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Speaker 1: her arrangement with China to renew for thirty years leases
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Speaker 1: and Shantung which had been made prior to the ratification
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Speaker 1: of the treaty, and she was also allowed to purchase
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Speaker 1: salt to a large amount from the salt works of
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Speaker 1: Signtal for a period of fifteen years. With Russia. Negotiations
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Speaker 1: for the settlement of the troublesome questions connected with the
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Speaker 1: occupation of Sakhalin, the Nicolayevsk massacre and Imperial Russia's debt
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Speaker 1: to Japan were not so satisficed truly proceeded with. Conferences
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Speaker 1: were attempted at dren Chanchun in Tokyo. Japan offered to
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Speaker 1: purchase northern Sakhalin for one hundred and fifty million yen
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Speaker 1: and to be content with an apology for the affair
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Speaker 1: at Nikolaevsk, but Russia proved obstructive and absolutely declined to
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Speaker 1: recognize the debts of the imperial government. On August twenty
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Speaker 1: fourth occurred the death of the Premier Admiral Tomasa boro Cato,
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Speaker 1: and this carried with it the resignation of the cabinet.
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Speaker 1: Four days later, Admiral Count Gombe Yamamoto was sent for
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Speaker 1: to form the new administration. Yamamoto was one of the
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Speaker 1: pioneer graduates of the Naval Academy in eighteen seventy seven,
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Speaker 1: and had had much experience abroad in the United States
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Speaker 1: and in Germany. He was not new to the premiership,
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Speaker 1: having formed his first cabinet in nineteen thirteen, but this
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Speaker 1: time he came into power at a crisis of wholly
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Speaker 1: unlooked for disaster. For it was by candle light and
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Speaker 1: amid the terrors of the great earthquake of September first,
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Speaker 1: nineteen twenty three, that the new ministry assumed the seals
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Speaker 1: of office practically without warning. About a minute before noon
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Speaker 1: on Saturday, September first, came the great shock, which in
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Speaker 1: so brief a space of time overwhelmed the densely populated
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Speaker 1: cities of Tokyo, Yokohama, Yokosuka, Odawara, and many others in
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Speaker 1: the provinces of Sagami, Musasashi, Awa, the north coast of Iszu,
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Speaker 1: and the west coast of Kazusa. Within this area, hardly
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Speaker 1: a building was left undamaged, though the structures of reinforced
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Speaker 1: concrete stood the shock fairly well. This world shaking earthquake,
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Speaker 1: that is, one recorded by the sizameters practically all over
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Speaker 1: the world, was followed by a long train of aftershocks
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Speaker 1: and by seismic waves such as that which destroyed a
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Speaker 1: large part of Kamakura. But the most serious after effect
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Speaker 1: of the earth was the fire, which broke out independently
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Speaker 1: in many centers, especially in Yokohama and Tokyo, and swept
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Speaker 1: over vast areas of the cities affected. The disruption of
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Speaker 1: the water pipes, of course, made it quite impossible to
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Speaker 1: do much by way of checking the flames. One of
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Speaker 1: the great tragedies of the whole catastrophe was due to fire,
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Speaker 1: when over forty thousand people took refuge in the ground
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Speaker 1: formerly occupied by the Army clothing depot on the eastern
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Speaker 1: bank of the River Sumida. Here, a furious tornado of flame,
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Speaker 1: approaching from three sides, swept the area and left no
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Speaker 1: trace of life behind. The losses through the combined effect
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Speaker 1: of earthquake and fire are hard to estimate. Accurately, About
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Speaker 1: ninety thousand were killed in Tokyo and Yokohama, over one
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Speaker 1: hundred thousand wounded, and over forty thousand were reported as missing. Many,
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Speaker 1: of course, could not be identified, so it is probable
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Speaker 1: that the total toll of human life will never be known.
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Speaker 1: In material things, the loss was so prodigious as to
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Speaker 1: be beyond accurate computation. It was estimated as all the
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Speaker 1: way from one to five billion yen, but much perished,
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Speaker 1: on which no monetary value could be placed. Among the fatalities,
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Speaker 1: all classes were represented. Princesses Yamashima in Kiroko and the
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Speaker 1: young Prince Moromasa were among the victims, and Professor Kuri
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Speaker 1: Yagawa of Kyoto University perished at Kamakura, viscountess Oshima at Odawara,
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Speaker 1: Baron k Matsuoka at Ninomiya. Indirectly due to the earthquake
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Speaker 1: was the death of the last famous member of the Older,
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Speaker 1: General Marquis Matsukata, aged ninety two. The venerable statesman was
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Speaker 1: buried in the ruins and rescued alive, only however, to
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Speaker 1: catch pneumonia and die of this in his injuries. Six
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Speaker 1: months later. The brighter side of the great calamity of
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Speaker 1: appeared almost coincidentally with the disaster itself in the instant
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Speaker 1: response of stun Japan and a sympathetic outside world to
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Speaker 1: the great need. The Yamamoto Ministry, hastily sworn in by
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Speaker 1: the Crown Prince on the evening of September second, at
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Speaker 1: once took hold of the situation with effective vigor, aided
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Speaker 1: by the Japanese Red Cross and other philanthropic bodies, to
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Speaker 1: the relief fund, which was at once started. The Emperor
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Speaker 1: contributed ten million yen and thirty million, three hundred sixty
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Speaker 1: thousand yen was dispersed from the national treasury. Nor were
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Speaker 1: outsiders slow to offer help. The foreign ships in the
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Speaker 1: harbor of Yokohama and other ports did splendid service in
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Speaker 1: taking off refugees and supplying first aid to many hundreds
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Speaker 1: of sufferers. When the relief fund was finally closed, it
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Speaker 1: was seen that out of the sixty one million yen subscribed,
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Speaker 1: twenty one million yen was from foreign sources. Out of
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Speaker 1: this sum, no less than fifteen million yen was from
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Speaker 1: the United States and its territories. The sympathy of the
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Speaker 1: United States in this hour of terror and sorrow, and
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Speaker 1: the magnificent service rendered by the American ambassador mister Cyrus
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Speaker 1: Woods are things no Japanese as ever likely to forget.
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Speaker 1: In the first alarm caused by the fire, the rumor
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Speaker 1: prevailed that Koreans had been aiding the flames, and many
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Speaker 1: innocent persons probably fell under the popular fury because of
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Speaker 1: this belief. But the army acted promptly, and in a
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Speaker 1: short time over one hundred thousand Koreans and over forty
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Speaker 1: four thousand Chinese were collected and given shelter at the
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Speaker 1: military barracks. The army also aided wonderfully in the clearing
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Speaker 1: away of collapsed buildings, the building of public shelters and
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Speaker 1: temporary hospitals, the establishment of public dining rooms, and such
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Speaker 1: common necessities. The ashes of the old Tokyo were hardly
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Speaker 1: cold before reconstruction was in the air. With Viscount Chimpei Gotto,
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Speaker 1: Mayor of the Capitol and Minister for Home Affairs in
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Speaker 1: the Yamamoto Cabinet in his element, Doctor Charles A. Beard,
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Speaker 1: former League director of the New York Bureau of Municipal Research,
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Speaker 1: had been invited to Tokyo by Mayor Goto to make
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Speaker 1: a general survey of the city. Doctor Beard's results were
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Speaker 1: embodied in the interesting book The Administration and Politics of Tokyo,
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Speaker 1: But the author told the present writer in Tokyo a
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Speaker 1: few months before the earthquake that he regretted it would
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Speaker 1: be impossible to carry his plans into effect now. However,
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Speaker 1: doctor Beard was immediately requested by Cable to proceed to
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Speaker 1: Japan with a unique opportunity for reconstruction work on modern lines.
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Speaker 1: With two thirds of the capitol and ashes, and with
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Speaker 1: a man like Goto, who had done such notable work
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Speaker 1: in the rebuilding of the capital of Formosa at the
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Speaker 1: head of the reconstruction board, it certainly looked as if
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Speaker 1: a chance had come such as seldom offers itself to
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Speaker 1: the molding hand of man. But money was scarce in
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Speaker 1: the cry for business as usual, insistent even within temporary quarters.
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Speaker 1: So it was soon perceived that reconstruction called for patients
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Speaker 1: even more than for skill in city planning. Time was
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Speaker 1: needed even to be suer as to which plan was
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Speaker 1: wiser than any other. There were some who considered that
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Speaker 1: Yokohama might well be allowed to revert to its former
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Speaker 1: unimportance At the time of the first treaty. Some even
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Speaker 1: advocated the removal of the capital to Osaka or back
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Speaker 1: to Kyoto. Some again considered the possibility of so uniting
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Speaker 1: Yokohama and Tokyo as to make one great port. All
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Speaker 1: private persons, of course, were anxious to rebuild their homes
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Speaker 1: and businesses as speedily as possible. In spite of the
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Speaker 1: difficulties caused during the next few months by obstruction in
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Speaker 1: the diet, the fall of the Yamamoto Ministry at the
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Speaker 1: end of nineteen twenty three and the similar fate of
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Speaker 1: the Kiyora Ministry not long after, and the transformation of
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Speaker 1: the Reconstruction Board into a reconstruction bureau, the progress made
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Speaker 1: during the next nine months was almost phenomenal. The bankers
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Speaker 1: announced the worst of the financial crisis successfully weathered. Business
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Speaker 1: recovered rapidly, and firms began to find their way back
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Speaker 1: to Yokohama as well as to Tokyo. In the former city,
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Speaker 1: the breakwater was repaired and many of the old keys
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Speaker 1: replaced more substantially than ever, and Tokyo the population showed
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Speaker 1: a falling off of less than half a million, and
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Speaker 1: schools and parks, homes and business blocks began rapidly to
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Speaker 1: emerge from the ruins. Yet it had been conservatively estimated
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Speaker 1: that all trace of the earthquake of nineteen twenty three
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Speaker 1: will hardly be obliterated for twenty years. On December twenty seventh,
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Speaker 1: nineteen twenty three, a young fanatic d Namba, attempted the
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Speaker 1: assassination of the Prince Regent while the latter was on
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Speaker 1: his way to the Imperial Diet to open the forty
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Speaker 1: eighth session of that assembly. The Prince was not injured,
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Speaker 1: but as deeming themselves in some way responsible, Premier Yamamoto
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Speaker 1: and his cabinet, together with the Metropolitan Chief of Police,
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Speaker 1: at once tendered their resis. Viscount Kiora was sent for
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Speaker 1: and by January seventh succeeded in getting together a cabinet
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Speaker 1: which was popularly condemned as a cabinet of the privileged classes.
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Speaker 1: Doctor Minzuno took the place of Goto as Home Minister,
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Speaker 1: and so became responsible for the work of reconstruction to
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Speaker 1: the Cuyora Cabinet fell the duty of carrying through the
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Speaker 1: interrupted plans for the marriage of the Prince Regent. The
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Speaker 1: Prince had been betrothed formally to Princess Nagotokuni, eldest daughter
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Speaker 1: of Prince Couni, on January seventeenth, nineteen eighteen. The alliance
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Speaker 1: was formally sanctioned by the Emperor on June twenty sixth,
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Speaker 1: nineteen twenty two, at which time the public announcement was made.
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Speaker 1: It was intended that the wedding should take place in
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Speaker 1: the fall of nineteen twenty three, but this plan was
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Speaker 1: defeated by the occurrence of the earthquake soon after the
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Speaker 1: beginning of nineteen twenty four. Announcement was made that the
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Speaker 1: wedding would take place on January twenty sixth, but the
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Speaker 1: actual ceremonies extended from so days earlier, when the Prince
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Speaker 1: Regent visited the Great Shrines to make the proper announcements
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Speaker 1: to the ancestors, right on to June fifth, when the
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Speaker 1: wedding was celebrated by the citizens of Tokyo in the
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Speaker 1: presence of the royal couple. Sumptuous gifts were showered upon
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Speaker 1: the Prince and Princess from all over the world, as
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Speaker 1: well as from various parts of the Empire, and married
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Speaker 1: life began simply and auspiciously in the Akasaka Palace, originally
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Speaker 1: built for the entertainment of state guests from foreign lands.
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Speaker 1: A happy feature of the whole festivity was the exhibition
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Speaker 1: of genuine affection for the Prince and Princess on the
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Speaker 1: parts of the populace. It was plain that royalty's new
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Speaker 1: spirits of democracy and accessibility had not lessened the ancient
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Speaker 1: loyalty of Nippun for its rulers. Since the Great War,
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Speaker 1: American opinion had been rapidly crystallizing into the form of
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Speaker 1: opposition to the generally unrestricted immigration policy of earlier days.
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Speaker 1: Every nation has the double duty of protecting its own
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Speaker 1: national homogeneity and character, and at the same time of
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Speaker 1: recognizing that this character is developed in the interests of
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Speaker 1: world service. In the early years of the Republic, the
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Speaker 1: doctrine of the melting pot was held and taught without
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Speaker 1: reason and with an optimism severely rebuked at the time
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Speaker 1: when the Great War shattered some other national delusions. Hence
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Speaker 1: the swing of the pendulum towards an extremely careful selection
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Speaker 1: of possible immigrants. Unfortunately, while this laudable desire led to
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Speaker 1: the adoption of the quota policy of admitting immigrants from
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Speaker 1: most of the outside world, under the influence of long
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Speaker 1: continued propaganda, the policy of absolute exclusion was adopted for Asiatics.
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Speaker 1: This policy was not resented by Japan because of its
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Speaker 1: effect in excluding immigrants of that nationality, but first of
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Speaker 1: all because it discriminated against them as undesirable racially, and
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Speaker 1: secondly because it impugned the honorable character of the gentleman's agreement.
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Speaker 1: As Premier Cato put it, it was a sentimental matter,
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Speaker 1: nothing practical, upon which we had said our hearts had
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Speaker 1: been taken from us. We merely were wounded in our feelings.
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Speaker 1: Our friends had done something we did not expect and
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Speaker 1: could not help a judging unjust end quote. Mister Hughes,
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Speaker 1: as Secretary of State, felt the same way. Quote there
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Speaker 1: can be no question end quote he said, quote that
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Speaker 1: such a statutory exclusion will be deeply resented by the
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Speaker 1: Japanese people. Permit me to suggest that the legislation would
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Speaker 1: seem to be quite unnecessary, even for the purpose for
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Speaker 1: which it is devised. End quote. Nevertheless, in spite of
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Speaker 1: all efforts made by individuals and organizations friendly to the
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Speaker 1: Japanese public, opinions so far influenced the House of Representatives
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Speaker 1: that the immigration Bill, with its obnoxious clause was passed
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Speaker 1: with but little opposition. On April twelfth, nineteen twenty four.
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Speaker 1: The publication of a letter by the Japanese ambassador mister
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Speaker 1: Hanihara dated April eleventh, with its solemn warning against the
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Speaker 1: possible quote grave consequences end quote, which the passing of
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Speaker 1: the bill might entail, had the unfortunate and unforeseen fate
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Speaker 1: of being interpreted quite unfairly as a threat. Partly in
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Speaker 1: consequence of this, the Senate, which had been relied upon
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Speaker 1: to modify the bill, also passed the measure on April fifteenth.
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Speaker 1: Mister Coolidge signed it with the following statement quote and
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Speaker 1: signing this bill, which in its main features I heartily approve,
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Speaker 1: I regret the impossibility of severing from it the exclusion provision, which,
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Speaker 1: in the light of the existing law, effects especially the Japanese,
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Speaker 1: I gladly recognize that the enactment of this provision does
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Speaker 1: not imply any change in our sentiment of admiration and
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Speaker 1: cordial friendship for the Japanese people end quote. Following upon
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Speaker 1: the passage of the bill, there seemed much reason to
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Speaker 1: fear that the President's hope expressed in these last words
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Speaker 1: might not be realized. On the other side of the Pacific,
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Speaker 1: there were protests. Official and unofficial meetings in which heated
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Speaker 1: speeches were delivered were held in Tokyo and elsewhere, declaring
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Speaker 1: that Japan could not possibly submit. One man committed suicide
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Speaker 1: outside Viscount Enoyer's house in order to draw attention by
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Speaker 1: his sacrifice to the great wrong. The funeral of this
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Speaker 1: patriot was made the occasion of a most remarkable demonstration. Officially,
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Speaker 1: the Cabinet drew up a protest on May twenty eighth,
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Speaker 1: which was transmitted to Ambassador Hanihara for presentation at Washington.
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Speaker 1: Nor were protests confined to the other side of the Pacific.
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Speaker 1: On this side, the Federal Council of Churches issued a
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Speaker 1: statement which commenced as follows quote. The Asiatic Exclusion section
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Speaker 1: of the Immigration Law of nineteen twenty four has created
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Speaker 1: an international situation which causes US grave concern. The manner
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Speaker 1: of its enactment, the abrupt abrogation of the Gentlemen's Agreement
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Speaker 1: without the conference requested by Japan, the insistence on a
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Speaker 1: discriminatory law which Asiatics resent as humiliating, unjust in unchristian,
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Speaker 1: and the affront of Japan's prestige as one of the
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Speaker 1: great and equal nations of the world have combined to
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Speaker 1: wound and grieve a friendly nation end. The law went
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Speaker 1: into effect on July first, and the first intensity of
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Speaker 1: feeling rapidly subsided through the good sense of statesmen on
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Speaker 1: both sides of the ocean. But results followed which had
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Speaker 1: been quite unforeseen, particularly in the encouragement given to the
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Speaker 1: cause of pan Asianism and the drawing together of the
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Speaker 1: three powers of Eastern Asia, Russia, China and Japan. Of
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Speaker 1: a more practical nature was the alteration of certain Japanese
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Speaker 1: laws which had, on the side, been persistently misunderstood, such
17:43
Speaker 1: as the matter of dual citizenship in the terms on
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Speaker 1: which land might be purchased or leased by foreigners in Japan.
17:51
Speaker 1: Before the end of the year, mister Honeihura was replaced
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Speaker 1: as ambassador to Washington by mister Tsuneyo Matsudaira, whose names
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Speaker 1: signifying prepared victual peace under the Pine Tree were regarded
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Speaker 1: as of good omen. The Kiora Ministry had been doomed
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Speaker 1: almost from its birth, and it hardly needed the shock
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Speaker 1: of the immigration bill to bring about its downfall. This
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Speaker 1: was hastened by the result of the general election of
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Speaker 1: May nineteen twenty four, and on June eighth, Viscount Takati
18:20
Speaker 1: Keto was called upon to form a ministry. This he
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Speaker 1: did by including mister Tsuyoshi and Yuki of the Kakushin Club.
18:30
Speaker 1: Keto had been a factor in politics from the time
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Speaker 1: when he served as Okuma's secretary from eighteen ninety four.
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Speaker 1: For five years. He had represented Japan in London and
18:40
Speaker 1: returned to Tokyo to become Minister for Foreign Affairs. He
18:44
Speaker 1: held the same position in Saionji's cabinet and was also
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Speaker 1: in Okuma's ministry at the outbreak of the Great War.
18:51
Speaker 1: After the death of Katsura, Kato became leader of the
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Speaker 1: new Kinsei Kai Party, and it was the victory of
18:59
Speaker 1: this party which swept him into office at this juncture.
19:04
Speaker 1: Yet before he had been a year in office, he
19:06
Speaker 1: was deserted by Takahashi in Anukai, and the cabinet had
19:10
Speaker 1: to be reformed by command of the Prince Regent in
19:12
Speaker 1: order to harmonize the diverse elements of which it had
19:15
Speaker 1: been composed. One of the great achievements in the field
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Speaker 1: of domestic politics of the Cato ministry was the passing
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Speaker 1: of the Manhood's Suffrage Bill in March nineteen twenty five.
19:26
Speaker 1: The bill was introduced for the purpose of doing away
19:29
Speaker 1: with the property qualification and to grant the franchise to
19:32
Speaker 1: every mail free from stated disabilities above the age of
19:36
Speaker 1: twenty five. The listing of these disabilities brought about a
19:40
Speaker 1: sensational struggle between the two houses of the diet. It
19:44
Speaker 1: had been the intention of the government to disqualify paupers,
19:47
Speaker 1: but the House of Peers amended the disqualification to read
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Speaker 1: quote people depending upon others for help or support end quote.
19:55
Speaker 1: An effort to obtain agreement by compromise led to the
19:58
Speaker 1: emperors being asked prolonged the session, first for one day,
20:02
Speaker 1: then for two further days, then for two days more.
20:05
Speaker 1: At last, the piers yielded halfway, and only two million
20:08
Speaker 1: were cut off the list of voters, instead of the
20:10
Speaker 1: four million contemplated. With all amendments, the bill, of course
20:14
Speaker 1: made a great step forward, not without its risks, for
20:18
Speaker 1: there would be now twelve million, five hundred thousand voters
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Speaker 1: instead of the three million hitherto enfranchised. Several important changes
20:26
Speaker 1: were made by the bill, apart from the increase of
20:28
Speaker 1: the electorate. The number of elected peers is now as
20:31
Speaker 1: follows counts eighteen viscounts, sixty six barons, sixty six. Imperial
20:39
Speaker 1: nominees to the House of Peers are now one hundred
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Speaker 1: twenty five, while the number of the highest taxpayers elected
20:45
Speaker 1: to the same as sixty six. Princes and marquies are
20:49
Speaker 1: now permitted to resign from the upper house at will.
20:52
Speaker 1: A new element is added to the legislature by the
20:54
Speaker 1: election from among themselves a four members of the Imperial
20:58
Speaker 1: Academy for terms of s seven years. And directly a
21:02
Speaker 1: result of the Manhood's Suffrage Bill is the creation of
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Speaker 1: the Farmer Labor Party, a purely political party formed largely
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Speaker 1: from the non propertied classes. It is no exaggeration to
21:12
Speaker 1: say that the passing of this bill is in the
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Speaker 1: strictest sense of the word. A second ishing footnote, that
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Speaker 1: is renovation, a term applied to the Revolution of eighteen
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Speaker 1: sixty seven. End footnote comparable, that is, to the restoration
21:31
Speaker 1: of eighteen sixty eight. This is the more especially true
21:35
Speaker 1: in the light of Prince Scionji's declaration that after himself
21:39
Speaker 1: there will be no more general the power has passed
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Speaker 1: definitely from the hands of privilege into the keeping of
21:45
Speaker 1: the whole people of the Empire. The fact has already
21:48
Speaker 1: been alluded to that the rebuff received in the United
21:51
Speaker 1: States by the passing of the immigration Bill has something
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Speaker 1: to do with the drawing into closer relations of China, Russia,
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Speaker 1: and Japan. In respect to China, Japan had regretted the
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Speaker 1: costly mistake by which the trust of the Great Asiatic
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Speaker 1: Republic had been forfeited. She now began to realize that
22:09
Speaker 1: the cornerstone of her foreign policy must be in China.
22:12
Speaker 1: As the Japan Advertiser at this time put it, quote,
22:16
Speaker 1: Japan could better afford to sacrifice all other interests before
22:21
Speaker 1: giving up her presence in her contemplated cooperation with China
22:25
Speaker 1: in an economic and diplomatic way. The old militaristic idea
22:29
Speaker 1: of political dominance of China by Japan seems to have
22:32
Speaker 1: largely disappeared, along with certain other views long held by
22:36
Speaker 1: the powerful military bureaucrats who have so often dictated to
22:40
Speaker 1: the Foreign Office in the past. End mister Yusgade Sarumi
22:45
Speaker 1: has well said, quote, there is no doubt some necessity
22:49
Speaker 1: in our new virtues such situations are not peculiar to
22:53
Speaker 1: the orient But the new turn in Chinese Japanese relations
22:57
Speaker 1: has a deeper significance. It is an ex rush of
23:00
Speaker 1: the growing desire of the Japanese to take up anew
23:03
Speaker 1: the study of Oriental civilization. It means that Japan is
23:06
Speaker 1: discovering that Western civilization, dominated by the machine and by passion,
23:11
Speaker 1: offers no solution to the great problems of inherent, permanent
23:15
Speaker 1: national stability, serenity of the spirit in man's greatest achievement,
23:20
Speaker 1: the conquest of himself end Of even more significance is
23:24
Speaker 1: the announcement of policy by the Foreign Minister Baron Shidihara,
23:28
Speaker 1: who said in the Diet quote, we have followed with
23:32
Speaker 1: the strictest exactitude the principle of non interference in China's
23:36
Speaker 1: internal politics. We have absolutely refrained from supplying any party
23:41
Speaker 1: in China with arms, munitions, or loans that might be
23:44
Speaker 1: utilized for the purpose of continuing hostilities, knowing that the
23:48
Speaker 1: Chinese were sick of war. We believe that the refusal
23:51
Speaker 1: of assistance to any particular party in China was in
23:54
Speaker 1: effect assistance rendered to the whole nation of China. Another
23:58
Speaker 1: point to which we attach. Particular importance was our belief
24:01
Speaker 1: in international good faith. The Japanese government had already subscribed
24:06
Speaker 1: to the resolution of the Powers prohibiting the supply of
24:09
Speaker 1: arms and ammunition to China. We further declared on more
24:13
Speaker 1: than one occasion our policy of non interference in the
24:16
Speaker 1: domestic troubles of that country. We have now translated these
24:19
Speaker 1: commitments faithfully into fact. End, this good feeling between the
24:24
Speaker 1: two countries was not allowed to continue without incidents demanding
24:28
Speaker 1: considerable restraint. Among these the Shanghai Affair of May nineteen
24:33
Speaker 1: twenty five, when the shooting of a Chinese rioter in
24:36
Speaker 1: defense of Japanese mill property proved the spark which threatened
24:39
Speaker 1: a great conflagration. Again, the firing by Chinese nationalist troops
24:44
Speaker 1: upon Japanese destroyers on March twelfth, nineteen twenty six created
24:48
Speaker 1: consternation and led to an ultimatum issued by the Protocol
24:51
Speaker 1: Powers of nineteen oh one. Yet, with all such critical incidents,
24:56
Speaker 1: the friendly restraints of Japan has been remarkable, and the
24:59
Speaker 1: atted tid two of mister Hyoki at the Peaking Tariff
25:03
Speaker 1: Conference was sympathetic beyond that of most of the other representatives.
25:07
Speaker 1: The negotiations between Japan and Russia had hung fire for
25:11
Speaker 1: several years through Japan's unwillingness to relinquish Stakalon without an
25:16
Speaker 1: adjustment of the Nikolayevsk affair. Fifty years earlier, the whole
25:20
Speaker 1: of Sakalin could have been purchased for one million dollars,
25:24
Speaker 1: but now m Jofe wanted the sum of seven hundred
25:27
Speaker 1: and fifty million dollars. However, since the earlier occasion, Japan
25:33
Speaker 1: had come to realize the value of the islands oil
25:35
Speaker 1: and coal resources, estimated as from one fifth to one
25:39
Speaker 1: half of those beneath the surface of the United States.
25:43
Speaker 1: In May nineteen twenty four, the insistent demands of the
25:46
Speaker 1: Japanese government through mister Kenkichi Yoshizawa, brought about a conference
25:51
Speaker 1: extending to no fewer than seventy seven sessions with the
25:55
Speaker 1: Soviet representative M. Karakhan on January twentieth. In nineteen twenty five,
26:01
Speaker 1: the Russo Japanese Treaty was signed, providing for the recognition
26:05
Speaker 1: of the Treaty of Portsmouth by the Soviets, for a
26:08
Speaker 1: revision of the Fishery Convention of nineteen oh seven, for
26:11
Speaker 1: an apology instead of an indemnity for the massacre at Nikolaievsk,
26:16
Speaker 1: for concessions to the amount of fifty percent of the
26:19
Speaker 1: coal and oil deposits of North Skalan, all this conditional
26:23
Speaker 1: on the immediate withdrawal of the Japanese troops, and accompanied
26:26
Speaker 1: by a promise that the Soviets would not use propagandist
26:29
Speaker 1: methods in the Empire. Over this last possibility, the Japanese statesmen,
26:34
Speaker 1: especially in view of the increase of the electorate, had
26:37
Speaker 1: been excusably nervous. The conclusion of these negotiations was regarded
26:42
Speaker 1: as one of the most encouraging of recent developments, particularly
26:45
Speaker 1: as it was felt there were policies in Russia and
26:48
Speaker 1: Japan which seemed to be converging on Manchuria, and the
26:51
Speaker 1: newspapers were already predicting a recurrence of the conflict of
26:55
Speaker 1: nineteen o four. The treaty came into force on February
26:59
Speaker 1: twenty sixth, and soon after mister tokich Tanaka left for
27:03
Speaker 1: Moscow to be the first Japanese ambassador to the Soviet government.
27:07
Speaker 1: The Cato Ministry seemed, after its reorganization exclusively from the
27:12
Speaker 1: ranks of the Kinseikai, to be making fair progress and
27:15
Speaker 1: solving the many problems for which the natural courts of
27:18
Speaker 1: political history, as well as the extraordinary necessities created by
27:23
Speaker 1: the earthquake, had made it responsible. When an attack of
27:26
Speaker 1: influence laid low at the age of sixty seven, the premier,
27:30
Speaker 1: who had gained the trust and friendship of his own
27:32
Speaker 1: countrymen and the respect of his fellow statesmen and other lands,
27:37
Speaker 1: Viscount Kto was immediately succeeded by mister Raziel Wakatski, who
27:42
Speaker 1: had been Minister for Home Affairs under his deceased Chief
27:46
Speaker 1: Baron Shidahara, continued to hold the portfolio for foreign affairs.
27:52
Speaker 1: Another death with different associations, which occurred a few weeks later,
27:58
Speaker 1: namely on April twenty fourth, nine teen twenty six, was
28:01
Speaker 1: that of Prince Ye, the former ruler of Korea. The
28:05
Speaker 1: ex emperor had been ill for some time, but was
28:07
Speaker 1: only fifty three at the time of his decease. The
28:10
Speaker 1: calling to memory of so much of the passion and
28:13
Speaker 1: intrigue of earlier days led to some exciting scenes in
28:16
Speaker 1: connection with the funeral ceremonies of this last of the
28:20
Speaker 1: Korean royal line, but the ceremonies were tactfully as well
28:24
Speaker 1: as impressibly carried out, and there was no serious outbreak.
28:28
Speaker 1: The Koreans mourned not only a departed emperor, but also
28:31
Speaker 1: the burial of many of their former anticipations and hopes.
28:36
Speaker 1: End of Chapter thirty read by Elsie Selwyn