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sia was the only power whose occupation of Chinese territory was backed by land forces and fleet. The Japanese minister in St. Petersburg made persistent demands that Russia keep her promises to get out of Manchuria. Diplomatic negotiations dragged through two years. Twice Russia set dates for the evacuation, but it was only to gain time to strengthen her fortifications and concentrate troops. Suddenly, when Russia had a quarter of a million soldiers in Manchuria and Japan was expected to back down, diplomacy was abandoned.
On the night of Feb. 8, 1904, Japanese warships fired on Port Arthur and bottled up the crippled Russian fleet. Within two weeks Japan was landing troops at Chemulpo, Korea, the port of Seoul, far up in the Yellow Sea, capturing or sinking two Russian cruisers. Then followed the swiftest, most business-like war that the modern world has ever seen. The fortified Yalu River, bounding Korea, was crossed on May 1. After the battle of Liao-Yang in August the Japanese forces divided, one moving on mukhden, the other attacking the defenses of Port Arthur. Port Arthur and the shattered fleet in the harbor were surrendered on Jan. 1, 1905, after a five months1 bloody siege, during which the world stood aghast at the fanatical patriotism and military genius of the Japanese. On the i2th of March Mukhden fell, the Russians, with a loss of 150,000 out of 375,000 men, retreating 160 miles northward. On May 27th and 28th, the vessels of the second Russian fleet, sent to the relief of Port Arthur from the Baltic Sea and flying to the safe ty of Vladivostok harbor, were captured or sunk in the Japan Sea. It furnished the world its first example of a great naval battle in open sea, with modern battle-ships and guns. The war lasted only 16 months and ended in complete rout for Russia. The financial resources of both nations were practically exhausted. Through the friendly intervention of President Roosevelt a treaty of peace was signed in Portsmouth, N. H., August 29, 1905. Russia surrendered all claims in Manchuria and ceded the southern half of Sakhalin Island to Japan. Japan has since established a protectorate over Korea without protest from the powers, is developing the jRussian railroads in Manchuria, and continues to occupy Port Arthur. She has added some 20 Russian vessels to her navy, and the names of Admiral Togo, Field-Marshal Oyama and Generals Kuroki, Nogi and others to the world’s roll of military and naval heroes.
The progress of Japan is still proceeding at a rapid pace. Her wealth is estimated (1911) at $6,410,403,500 and one-fourth of her national debt of $1,442,581,237 is held in western capitals. Her imports and exports exceed $500,000,000, about a third of that sum representing her trade with the United States There were no schools; now there are 30,000 elementary schools, 150 high schools and academies and 40,000 students in the universities and colleges for professional training. Large numbers of students are in universities abroad, a policy in part supported by the government. The samurai of the daimios were scattered, warring clans who were humorously described by an early traveller as wearing “iron-pot helmets with the lid over the face, chain and lacquer armor, and led by a chief in a palanquin with a fan.” The army to-day excites no one’s sense of humor. Its peace-footing is 220,000; its war-footing 800,000. There are 193 vessels in the navy and 36,000 men. The empire hts its own arsenals and shipyards, and all the harbors are fortified.
In 1875 the imperial revenues were only $30,000,000. In 1912 they were $286,445,000. Vast sums have been spent in internal improvements and developments, Japan comparing in this respect with Mexico. A necklace of lighthouses has been strung around the islands, and the waters charted, making navigation safe. Over 5,000 miles of railway have been constructed. Telegraphs are established throughout the empire, and cable connection made with Korea and China. Commercial steamship lines to the United States, China, Australia and the Philippines have been established, partly with the aid of government subsidies. The latest machinery is used on farm and in factory, and this machinery, at first imported, is now produced in Japan. Engineers, mechanics, learned professors, experts in every line, once sought abroad, are now displaced by native talent. Japan’s population has increased from 40,000,000 to 51,000,000 in one generation. Tokyo, from a shogun’s walled citadel, has changed to a modern capital as big as Chicago. Osaka has 1,226,590 people; Kobé is as big as Milwaukee, Yokohama as San Francisco, Hiroshima as New Orleans. Kioto, the sacred city of the hermit emperor, has 442,462 busy people, and the temple-palace is a museum of antiquities in a public pleasure park. Thousands of Japanese have emigrated to China, Korea and the Philippines. In 1900 there were 60,000 of them in Hawaii, 25,000 in the United States and as many more in British Columbia.
Nine tenths of the Japanese in the United States are coolies, and are concentrated in Washington, Oregon and California chiefly in the cities, mines and fruit ranches where their competition with white labor aroused hostility. In 1906 the feeling against the Japanese was so strong in San Francisco that they were refused admission to the schools. Japan entered a protest against this discrimination, claiming that it violated treaty rights. The matter was compromised by admitting Japanese children, but excluding adults, and by an amendment to the immigration laws excluding Japanese
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