OCR Text |
Show f POLITICS IN JAPAN By FREDERIC J. RASKIN. - - - (Copyright, mos.) tjIBt' tlHa is 011 nro wit'1 polities from Bt onc end to tin's other, for this is :i ft JB-ci-oat campaign vonr in Uk: Lund of 3 ?,B fi,e Risins Sun, just as it is in '(ho mW.f United flutes. A now DnH is to ho 'K 'dot'te'I wi -111110. :ind for Uio first timo "EVin the oifrhtccu yours that J-ipn.n luis 1 iB iad a. parliamentary ovcrnment, thero 'K'lij u red hot issue of priuo.iplo :it VR stakc. Heretofore oJcction to tlic Diet f .IB- m's been merely a matter of personal J .m. following, petty factionalism m and lj )Bf- bribery. Now como tlio eommoroinl in-, in-, torests of the nation. 'deiiuiudin a 9R-ceut"at tho council" tnbli', whore they fl "iiavc never been represented. Jn old C 'BL japan tho people were divided into iMT. four classes, find the lowest of these .H' were tho merchants. Commerce was jJBSs looltcd upon as degrading, and the am- bitiou to make money was nothing t sllort of crira'ual- jjfc Tlic Chambers of Oommereo of the -KEtf country recently organized a United J jyT Chambers, and momori::.Uzed the gov-HP gov-HP ernment in opposition to the increnso mW o tases contemplated by the Diot. 'mW u ns protest they were joined by 'B't the labor organizations. The govnrn-rncnt govnrn-rncnt called the lenders on tho carpet " and told thorn that tho Chambers of Commerce were business organizations, 'Hi and that if they eo far forgot thein-Hfr thein-Hfr selves as to meddle in politics, their charters -would bo revoked. Whereupon Wfc the chambers withdrew, but. every in- p, ! dividual member in every city bogan vn'Bk'Rt once to conduct an individual cum-'.H cum-'.H paign for the election of a member in Br- the Diet who would represent the com-'Hv com-'Hv i"erpia' interests, regardless of political part lines. BS " iBfe Political parties, as they arc known vB in tho United Rtatos, do not exist here, R, but the- probably -will be called into TBS? being by this very campaign. When tho parliamentary government Tni6 first granted, tho necessity for standing to-jM.''Mr to-jM.''Mr pother for the new form of administra-ft-tion made party divisions dangerous, lUBT and Prince Ito, the George VTash-r'Bffl. VTash-r'Bffl. ington of Japan, frowned upon J.hem. ,H The cabinets wore made up of min-isters min-isters irom everj- important faction. jH -'-1-3 condition continued nominally un-,lBttil un-,lBttil quite recently, and while a "cabi--net wns really a party affair, it was '.jMr not until a few mouths ago that a.U .'.ffethe ministers were actually of onc ; -WW group. The. cabinet headed by Marquis HtsSaion.ii gavo to the party called the" LH&'Sciyukwai, or Constitutionalists, the TW first exclusive control of the govorn--yB jnent by partj. That, its hold is only jBr 6UtTerance is shown by tho fact . w that it can muster but J 77 votes out uBr - -nc 0,!i- 'u Mc Lower House, Aft vB and must always have at least twenty-(JXBp twenty-(JXBp four votes from the other part' groups, ,6 or rom fie. independents. The strength t'jB of the other parties are: The Sliimpo-It Sliimpo-It IJtKt to, or Progressists, ninety-three; the Daido Club, sixtv; tho Vukowni, thirty-five; thirty-five; and fndopendent, twelve. Tn the I House of Poors there is no parly division. di-vision. ft Those so-called parries have m f.visteiice. in .fact, outside of the Lower House of the Diet. Members are returned from tho various districts for one reason or another, and their party alignment, is fixed after they qef to Tokio. This leaves much room lor bribery and corrupt inn, and it is notorious that there are many members . of. tho Lower House, in fact a whnJe croup of them, who may be had by tiro highest bidder, and in" no other way. It having been virtually decided that Japan is to have government by party oabinrtH responsible to the Diet, it is becoming important . that the corruption in tho parliament be purged, and that, Mho people themselves take an interest ' in the views nnd principles of political organizations, as woll as of individuals. This interest is being aroused by the commercial movement, and Ijy the. newspapers, so that in the elections this summer candidates will declare their parry affiliations in a much more distinct fashion than hns bocu done heretofore, and the people will begin be-gin to' align themselves. Jn this evolution evolu-tion the .lapanose are following closely tho trend of early American history. When our Govcrnmonf under tho Constitution Con-stitution was first organized. President Washington, as did Prince Ito, feared the effect of party dissension at a time when it was necessary for all hands to pull together to save the Constitution Constitu-tion itself. Therefore he invited into his Cabinet Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, tho leaders of the two schools of thought in the country, although their followings were not "parties,5' as the term is understood in these days. Questions essential to rhe ver3- ov istencc of tho Government wore uppermost upper-most for years, the party alignments wero made'inainly at the capitol and the Congressional caucus ruled, just as tho parliamentary caucus rules in Japan to day. Then'oamo the -'era of good feeling," resulting from a strong for oign policy which united all factions. In Japan this era came immediately upon the heels of a war, in the United StateB it was sorno little time after tho second war with England. The grcat-j grcat-j est ovent of that, era in American history his-tory was the promulgation of the Moiv roe" doctrine, ''America for Americans." In tho same era in Japan the Japanese Jap-anese Monroe doctrine of "Asia for tho Asiatics" made ito appearance. In tho United States tho peaceful era of no parties was followed by the most bitter political bnttles of our history, and undev the administration of Andrew An-drew Jackson, political parties came into being as thuy arc Known today, the party convention was invented, and since that time t,ho voter has not asked. 'Who is he?" but "What is he?" Therefore Japan is just now at the point in its constitutional evolution that the Americans reached in Old Hickory's time. Here tho analogy' ends. The American Constitution is the renult of a meeting of business men called lo consider wavs and menns of improving trade conditions between the States. The very foundations of the uation wore laid upon the rock of commerce. com-merce. This disposition to foster business busi-ness resulted in the bank of the United States, To destroy thnt bank and to take the control of politics away from tho commercial, interests was the work of Jackson's great political battles. In Japan the constitution was not ordained by the people, but was granted from above by tho Emperor. The lowest class of those people wore the merchants, mer-chants, and they havo not been considered. con-sidered. The literary and military men rule the nation and tho merchants" must shift for tboinselvcs. Now comes .la pan's greatest political battle, in which the commercial interests arc trying to obtain representation. If predictions made by close students of political affairs here arc borne out by ovnntB, the country will divide along the same linos thnt havo divided all peoples. Tho party now in power will receive the conservative stren3r.l1, and tho Progressist, or Shimpoto, party will gather Tho radicals and democrats together. to-gether. The business men are trying to capture both parties, but are re ceiving' much more encouragement frp'ru the Shimpoto, which is now iu onnosi-tion. onnosi-tion. Tn Japan tho unit of the State, so far as the people are concerned, is not tlio individual, but the family. 'Family" means a whole clan of ancient an-cient lineaffc, and its organization is as : perfect as a piece of delicate machinery. Tho rights of the individual arc never considered as against those of tho family. fam-ily. Thi Shimpoto is attempting to break down this clan system. Its ven-orablo ven-orablo loader, Count Okuma, is an individualist in-dividualist and a democrat. Ilo is also something of a fire-cater; and it. was he who stirred tho radical Japanese on the subject of tho San Francisco school question and the immigration vostrio j Lion agitation. While it. is not proper to doubt his sincerity, there is excel lent, reason for the belief that his rnd 1 icalism on these questions was moro directly the result of his seeing an opportunity op-portunity to take a shot at the cabinet ! than because he really wanted to make I I trouble with America. 1 Party fooling is already running high, 1 and the newspapers attack the loaders of opposite pnrtics with as much bitterness bit-terness as the American press has over shown Back of all the party spirit, however, is absolute unity 111 loy alty to the Emporor. If the Emperor cuts off a man's official head, criticism 1 is not di reeled toward him as Americans Ameri-cans sometimes criticise the President, but rather to the minister "who screened the eyes of his imperial maj-est.v, maj-est.v, " The Mikado is a real rider, and many thiuga done in Japan are his direct di-rect acts. For this reason the influence of tho elder statesmen, who havo di i reel access to tho throno. is of such great: weight in affairs. But, tho elder statesmen will pass away, a new Kni-poror Kni-poror will como who will gradually resign re-sign himself lo that position of innocuous innocu-ous desuetude which so many constitutional constitu-tional mouarchs occupy, and thon will como tho party rule in fact. Tho bo-ginning bo-ginning of thai; era is at hand, aqd from the eloctions in June will oinorgo tho two organizations which will in time bring Japan actually into tho circle of tho groat nntions which derive thoir powors from the people, which arc responsible re-sponsible to the people, and which will endure, as long as it is true that, "tho ! voico of the people is the voice of God." |