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Show 386 387 greatest mav be encouraging to mu to know that in the four cities of Jap an we have had within the last three years sessions . with the meetings and speakers which woul d compare favorably eventhat we have had here, saving the large meeting on Sunday have ing. The largest halls in Tokyo. Kobe, Osaka and lfyoto been filled with interested listeners and the platforms With influen- tial statesmen and business men and leaders of the national life. As I have thought over the list of the names over the plat- form here, I have thought that in Japan we have interests responsive to every name that faces you from this platform. I see the name of Burritt, and when I go along the list until I come to William Penn, I remember that one of the most popular educators of Japan, Dr. Terao, the president of one of the government colleges, has already translated the life of Penn into Japanese. When I think of (jrotius. I remember the Japanese branch of the International Law Association with five hundred members, and I remember a splendid address that one of the pro [eons of the Imperial University delivered, an address which if printed I should not hesitate to put alongside of some of the best addresses we have heard upon this platform. good as they are. I think of the interest of that expert adviser of the Japanese government during the war. on questions of international law, who while watching the progress of the war and reading continually about the war as related to international law, became convinced that if during war nations could observe international regulations, that international regulations might and could be extended to prevent war and to bring in the reign of peace. and so he resigned his position and is giving his thought and time to the question of international peace. (Applause) I feel that one of the most practical things which I can say here is in reference to the American side of the Japanese Peace Society. What can American peace workers do for the peace movement in Japan ?~and while I speak here for the peace movement in Japan, I speak for the peace movement of the Orient. Our attention during this Congress has been called again and again, as it ought to be, to Europe. Our attention has been turned to the Orient a few times, but when we remember the millions in the Orient and remember the large and important place which Oriental questions occupy in international thought, and when we. remember that our relations with the Orient hold in them some of the most important problems, the part which Japan is to play is a matter of greatest importance. I wish to dis« cuss a few things which seem to me practical. I believe that as peace workers you perhaps are already doing them, but we can at least extend our influence to those who are not present in the Congress. exerting our influence toward the development of the peace movement in our own land here in America, and Japan will respond to that: in proportion as the business men of Amer- ica are interested in the peace question that will influence the business men of Japan. The resolutions of the Chambers of Commerce of New York and of Chicago will have much weight in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. We need better knowledge of Japan and the Orient, better knowledge of their languages and customs. That better knowledge will bring with it. I am sure, a courtesy which will forbid us using such an expression as the abbreviated word. "the Japs." as if they were abbreviated men. They are short of stature, but not abbreviated men. That is only a little thing, but it is a matter of international courtesy. An increasing sense of responsibility in the discussion of international afl'airs. Sometimes American citizens resident in the Orient blush with shame to read the records of platform utterances, or perhaps utterances not going directly to Japan. and they know the detrimental influence when those expressions are reproduced in the FUTUIX‘HII press. and perhaps not always truth« fully, and then sent b * to the Orient, As I say, some of us blush at some of those utterances. lint I know the Peace Cow gress stands against that and that you will use your influence in that way. Discrimination and freedom from prejudice in considering the Japanese emigration question is of special iinpzrtancc. In this I include the separation of the economical from the moral "wet; I tell you as a result of the study of the Japanese sitnaA tion that I believe the, whole question can be settled, and settled permanently as an economic question if wr- can separate the economic issue from lllt' moral issue. I lu-licve it is an economic question and if met in that way the Japanese will be open to a consideration of the question and to a rieght solution. The |
