CO129-351 - Public Offices - 1908 — Page 727

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when it comes to dealing with individual Japanese on such a basis, it is quite another thing from earliest times it has been apparently the inalienable right of the white man in the Far East (and elsewhere) to treat the Oriental-in this case the Chinaman-as an inferior being, and to behave accordingly. When, therefore, the Japanese not only object to being treated as inferior beings, but actually claim and put into practice the inalienable right of the white man, the latter is apt to view the proceeding with displeasure.

Much has been said about the commercial morality--or rather immorality-of the Japanese. Without in any way wishing to defend this point on their behalf, I do not think the foreigner has much right to sit in judgment. Owing to the great commercial depression now obtaining in Japan, there have been several failures in the number of business concerns; amongst these two very old-established German firms have suspended business. The head of one of the principal English banks in Japan told me that the bank had advanced three firms money on the security of silk then in their godowns. When the pressure came, and the bank wished to realize, it was found that the silk had disappeared, having already been sold to other creditors, and there were no further assets.

Mr. Lindley, in his Report, has touched upon the treatment of the Chinese Government by the Japanese Government, and has stated that the sympathies of the Anglo-American community in China-ho might have added the Far East generally- are on the side of the Chinese. This is undoubtedly true, and it has become a case of "give a dog a bad name," for in the eyes of the above-mentioned community the Japanese cannot do right.

With regard to the questions between the two Governments, His Majesty's Government are, of course, in a proper position to judge, for they have before them the reports from the Legation in Peking and from this Embassy. Speaking from a personal experience of both posts, I have no hesitation in saying that I have always found the Japanese Government reasonable, courteous, friendly, and amenable; the Chinese Government of my day exhibited, except on very rare occasions, none of these qualities. No one will be readier to acknowledge the truth of this last assertion than His Majesty's present. Representative in Peking, who rendered me such invaluable assistance in coping with the obstructiveness and ignorance of the Chinese Government of twelve years ago.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

Inclosure 1 in No. 1.

Report by Mr. Lindley.

CLAUDE M. MACDONALD

ALTHOUGH a report on the state of feeling amongst the foreign community in China does not properly fall within the province of a Secretary of this Embassy, I was so much struck during a recent visit to Peking, Tien-tsin, Mukden, and the leased territory with the intense anti-Japanese sentiments animating all classes and nationalities, that it may be worth while to put on record the impressions of an inquirer who is better acquainted with Japan than with China.

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Before the recent war, it appears that foreign opinion in China regarding Japan was pretty sharply divided; continental Europeans were in general pro-Russian, while British and Americans were pro-Japanese. At the present moment the latter are, possible, more anti-Japanese than the former. I propose to deal first with those charges against the Japanese which careful inquiries have elicited as the ostensible reasons for this remarkable change of attitude on the part of the Anglo-American community and press; later, an effort will be made to trace the underlying causes which appear to have contributed to, even if they are not sufficient of themselves to account for, the present state of affairs.

]. Prostitution.--Although cheap sneers on the subject of missionary efforts are common enough, there can be no doubt that the Anglo-American missionaries in China exert considerable influence on the opinions of their compatriots, an influence they owe to the general respect which their lives and characters have rightly earned. majority of the missionaries were pro-Japanese before and during the war; the subsequent enormous influx of Japanese prostitutes into nearly every part of China has

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completely alienated their sympathies; they are now anti-Japanese to a man.

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are, no doubt, many foreigners who would regard this question with a lenient eye if the Japanese prostitutes were regulated and inspected, but those to whom the moral issue is of unimportance join in the general execration when they find that disease is spreading with alarming rapidity in the wake of these unfortunates. It is believed that this is an evil which the Japanese Government have the power to check, and their failure to do so produces the impression that they are utterly indifferent to the welfare of the people of the country, provided that Japan herself reaps the advantage of the steady flow of wealth which the profession directs to her. The foreign community do not, in fact, appreciate this novel method of redressing an adverse balance of trade, any more than they would appreciate the force of an allusion to the opium traffic, with which a Japanese might receive any observations on this subject. The Japanese authorities in Tôkið, on the other hand, are fully alive to the evil, but state that they are unable to check it, as the prostitutes do not leave Japan in their professional capacity, but emigrate without special licences or permits of any kind, like other individuals. In the face of Sir A. Hosie's Report on the condition of affairs at Antung, it is, however, difficult to believe that any serious effort has yet been made to deal with the question.

2. Commercial Immorality.-Those acquainted with commercial dealings in general, and in the Far East in particular, will listen to vague charges against the commercial morality of a nation with scepticism; but, even if the Japanese in China are little worse than their competitors in this matter, and it is difficult to avoid the conviction that they are, there can be no doubt that their successful imitation of foreign trade- marks has given a solid handle to accusations of a more general character. imitations exist to an enormous extent in Japan itself, and they are naturally to be These found in China. Public opinion in this country is not a healthy one in this respect, and it is public condemnation following exposure which is more efficient than any laws or regulations in checking such an abuse. At the same time, there appears to be some confusion of mind on this subject, and foreigners are very apt to put down all Japanese goods made up in European style as fraudulent imitations of some special brand; but it cannot be reasonably expected that the Japanese should refrain from putting up goods in foreign style, though they may well be asked to avoid copying their rivals' marks and placing "made in France on articles which have obviously never been west of Shanghae. The Japanese authorities, while admitting that an abuse exists, object to Japan being held up as the only country practising these frauds; they assert that their goods in South America are fraudulently copied to an enormous extent by German firms. 3. Conduct towards the Chinese People. Though no one is averse to taking an occasional pull at a pig-tail himself, it is contrary to human nature to view with equanimity such an act in others, and stories of the tyrannous conduct of the Japanese towards the Chinese in Manchuria naturally arouse the indignation of those who hear them. A four days' stay at Mukden was enough to convince me that the Chinese are to a certain extent terrorized by the Japanese settlers in that town; the latter are mostly the scum of Japan and are a law unto themselves in their dealings with the natives, who dare not make complaints for fear of the consequences.

This state of affairs is serious, and it is not to be wondered at that foreigners blame the Japanese, and fail to appreciate the extraordinary difficulties of the situation. It must be borne in mind that the original settlers came in the wake of a victorious army at a time when it was hardly possible to supervise their behaviour; those who have followed them have been drawn from the roughest of the population, and are naturally a difficult class to deal with. At the present moment Japanese are precluded from emigrating to any country which suits them except Manchuria and Corea, and it can hardly be expected that any hindrance should be put by the Central Government in the way of those who wish to settle in these two countries. But so long as all are free to go who wish, and so long as extra-territoriality exists, it will be extremely difficult to keep in proper order a large low-class population settled in the midst of a people whom they despise and, not unnaturally, regard as a conquered race. The present situation is the inevitable outcome of Japan's victorious war, and is further complicated by an inherent quality of the Japanese character which is at the root of many of their difficulties in Corea. The adage "Live and let live" is no doubt an excellent one, though generally honoured in England rather in the breach than in the observance; in Japan it is the rule of life. Thus, if a respectable person sees your pocket being picked in a tram in Tôkið, he will neither call your attention to the fact nor aid you in any way should you observe it yourself; if you appeal to a policeman against the extortionate demands of a rikisha coolie, he will invariably advise you to pay the sum demanded; in a recent

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