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Show IfPopuSar Government in Japan 1 I - - -BY FREDERIC J. IIASKX--.- - - v el&JwVliilc the Japanese constitution bases MnihSto government upon popular roprcscn-at. roprcscn-at. -f"0" :nl(l tM0 -' c people. and .,viJuilo these forms any' rigidly askcrcd In" f 'alwin nas 1,0 S,U'M thing as !pop-?IIvVl !pop-?IIvVl vr government' in the American iu-Pjn iu-Pjn Mrprct ni.i(iii of the phrase. The con-t con-t Evolution limits the-imperial power, line 3Wsjtthe s:ime lime it declare. the cm-.xSSror cm-.xSSror to be ' sacred and inviolable. ' e(0i3ic imperial diet is organized and l,lVnducted along the lines or the parlia- 'botOJ,ls 0- lther constitutional mon-i mon-i .Sciurs, but it reflects Uic purposes of 'pJarpn oligarchy nitlier than tin: will of 'Slfo people. The responsibility of the awkbinet to the lower and popular house to the diet is practically admitted, but ' Ifl'lS. the House is essentially aristocratic, ot &wiis fact does not mean that the people ,' .'lilo. As a matter of fad. the great ' .'fcipaioriry of the Japanese public knowa jlyuttle and cares less about the affairs avwf government. The suffrage- is restrict-""jfrtti1 restrict-""jfrtti1 lj'V Property qualifications, but even enutfjhose taxpayers who can vote take so sllrtf attic vital interest in public affairs that nue,Jiey are easily corrupted, and hence -apanese parliamentary elections are ( wction sales of votes. Tlie average ilv lUno,m spent in bribes by successful 1 Handidates for the lower liouse is said 5im. bo about 3000 yen. or $1500. As box $P.R sum s w"lely distributed it, is ' niijidont that the average Japanese elector; elect-or; $r does not place a high estimate upon 'ryjie value of his franchise. ; pt must be admitted that: the present j jMrm of government is far superior to I 'SlKat which obtained until fifty years. 5go, when not only the Shogun' and !jyie various Diamyos, or feudal lorda. ;$Dut even the hosts of Samurai, pos- C?fessed the right of life and death over nihc common people. Nowadays if ono .vjtrikes a coolie he is almost certain -b go to jail, be his provocation to , .vjjfnger ever so great. It must also be fnJr?JjJniittcd that the present government JJts benevolent, in many ways, that it n.gespects the natural rights of the lowest low-est classes, and that it is as a whole -wisely administered. But for all of rTrShat it is not trulv "popular." fJESJ D'pgThe House of Jiopresentatives is com- j posed of 370 members elected h) male 1 j Japanese subjects of more than twenty- ! i five 3'ears of age who pay a direct tax 1 of at least a vcar. Japan has a pop- I illation of 50,000.000 people. Of this : number only , 000.000 is entitled to i vote. In the United States, with a i population not quite twice as great as i thai: of .Japan, the actual voters number num-ber fourteen times as many as the ! Japanese elector?, and those entitled to vote would raise the proportion much higher. Jn local affairs, not only the . actual persons who pny taxes are per- i mitted to vote, but the franchise is 1 also extended jundicial persons'' on the tax lists Therefore corpora- j tions have a direct vote. In Tokio, Vis- j count TCaneko was elected a member of I the citv council. There, was but one taxpayer. in the ward entitled to vote, and it was a corporal ion, the Nippon Vtison Kaisha, or Japan Mail Steam- J ship company. Viscount Kaneko received re-ceived its vote and was unanimously j elected., ire did not live in the ward,' and the hundreds of people who did. 1 had -no voice in his selection. l The general parliamentary elections are manipulated in the interest of the ruling oligarchy in many different ways. Bribery is always in evidence. Then, too. the government may fix the dato of the election. One was" to have been hold in April this year, but the commercial movement for reform was so strong that the cabinet feared the result, or feared it would cost too much to buy the voters when there was competitive com-petitive bidding, so the election was postponed until June. Tf the outlook is still dark for the ruling party another an-other postponement niav bo expected. H The oligarchy which actually rules Japan is made up of the leaders' of tho two dominant clans of C'hoshu and Sat-suma, Sat-suma, of the millionaire Mitsui family, and of the controlling spirits of the army and navy. These influences represent rep-resent live or six families which are nil-powerful by right of tradition, 'and they bow only to the will of the .emperor. .em-peror. As the imperial household is connected intimately in political and business affairs with the members of tins oligfarchy, t here is no friction at tho top. - Below, people may protest and complain as much as they like it makes ,no difference. The intelligent business men and publicists of Japan who are not connected with the ruling rul-ing oligarchy arc unanimous in their protests against further impoverishing the nation for expenditures in unproductive unpro-ductive investments. The" do not want; war with anybody, and they do not sco the sense of preparing for n great war if none is expected to bo fought. But tho military clique, always assertive as-sertive aftrr a war, is jealous "of its power. Jf the army and nav' cannot be kept continually before the public mind, they will suffer thp loss of their popularity, and their places as rulers maj- be takon bv mere politicians. They care not how great the burden of the taxpayers. Tho' control tho government govern-ment and thp government must pay to keep themfjin the limelight. This is one of th marked danger points of the whole Oriental situation, for while Japan is economically unable to stand the strain of another war. it is unfortunately unfor-tunately governed by a military cliquo such as has often rushed a nation into war and then counted the cost afterward. after-ward. T The great mass of the Japanese people, peo-ple, those bolow the rank of voters, is unthinking and improvident. Tt is. however, intensely patriotic and full ol the war spirit. Civil affairs of government govern-ment attract no attention from this class, and it borrows its opinions wholly whol-ly from military sources. Thus tho mid. ale class must stand alone against the present tendency of the government, which it believes Tiirans economic ruin. The middlo class knows that the government gov-ernment is not now responsive to the popular will, but it thinks it has a gTeat; opportunity in that the forms of government gov-ernment arc popular, and may therefore, by :t great effort, be actually captured by the people. This is what the rank and file of the business mou of the countrj' are trying to do. They are nominating their own men for the Diet, and if the government will permit them to be elected by a fair count, the next parliament will contain at least a respectable re-spectable number of actual representatives representa-tives of the people, who will sot themselves them-selves into strong opposition to the plans of the military oligarchy. -r A Tokio bank president, who has been earnest in his endeavors to point out the dangers of the present spendthrift spend-thrift course", is now a candidate for the lower house. Notwithstanding his high position in business, his protests have not only passed unheeded, but have been smiled at. He is telling his people now thai, "if he can get into the Diet he will thunder the protests of the taxpayers in such a fashion that they cannot be ignored. The family, not the individual, is still the unit in Japan. The family, consisting consist-ing of perhaps a score or more of households house-holds and of hundreds of members, is responsible lo society as a whole. The decision of a family council in rural Japan Ja-pan is of greater fon'o and effect than the decision of a legally constituted court. These families have their an-eifnt an-eifnt clan connections and tho individual indi-vidual members now, as for a thousand years, take their opinions from the chief of the clan. The Japanese rule of life is exaetlv the opposite of that which obtains in America and ouf of which our ideas of free government arose, Anglo-Saxon liberty means the liberty of tho individual indi-vidual to do as he thinks best so long as he respects the rights of others. Japanese Jap-anese liberty means the gracious and benevolent permission, granted by a higher and superior power to the indi-, indi-, vidual, to do as he thinks host until tho higher will is changed. The American and English idea of popular government is that the power is granted from the people to their representatives to govern in the inlercst ot the people. The Japanese Jap-anese idea of constitutional government is that tho emperor permits the people to select representatives to assist him in managing affairs for the glory of the state. This difference obtains throughout through-out all forms of government, national, local, family and household. A Japanese Japan-ese son is subject to his father's will uutil he establishes a household of his own, uo matter if he is oO years old. One Japanese father the other day declared de-clared that if his son went to the theater thea-ter he would disown him. Tho son was 25 years old, but as he has not set up a household of his own he cannot do tho simplest tiling against his father's will. This father, in his turn, is absolutely subject to the will of the head of the family council. .If he directs him to disown dis-own his son, he has no rcconrso but to obey. The family is sacred; it must be maintained, and its mandates may novcr be disregarded. For thousands of vears these people have submitted to discipline of this kind. The law has told them what kind of clothes to wear, how much food to eat and how to comb thoiv hair. Wlieu a question arises as to policy, the Japaneso docs not ask what, is best, or Avlial. is right; he looks to the power above him fo"r regulation and direction. This method of daily life has not chaiTgcd by the adoption of a constitutional constitu-tional form of government. The constitution consti-tution ilself bows to the law of tho supremacy su-premacy of the family council, and thereby recognizes a higher power. So it id that the forms of popular govern- i mcnt in J:ipau arc liiorcly convonienl ' fidmmistnitivc functioiis. 'I'lie real power is at ill in tho hnuds of tle oh fari'hj of ruling families, and will bo until sucli a time as tho .Japanoso mind grasps the fact that in those forms of government they h'i e a weapon which ! will enable them to overthrow tho pow- i or of the family and assert the right ' of tho Individual. (Copyright. 190S, by i Frederic .r. Haalcin.) |