398 THE CLASS STRUGGLE ARMED PEACE ON THE PACIFIC 399 siderable portion of the Japanese people. The recent ChineseJapanese pact must be looked upon as a result of the popular demand represented by Mr. Shintaro Nagai and his following.
While Mr. Nagai refutes the idea of an Asiatic Monroe Doctrine as a foolish dream that is impracticable, yet the great mission toward the world which he assigns to Japan is to be carried out by the present regime which is militaristic and capitalistic and imperialistic in every way. He does not approve of the present rigid militaristic education, but favors a more free and progressive system. Nevertheless he is an imperialist and supports the expansion of armament.
All these developments have a bearing on the peace of the Pacific, and come to a head concretely, in the form of the relations between Japan and the United States; the entire process in its further course centers on this point.
The attitude and sentiment of the people of the United States towards the Japanese in this country, has not thus far been such as to lead to a favorable solution of this problem.
The Japanese over here are subjected to many handicaps and disadvantages because they are denied the rights of citizenship; not that this has ever been tested through court procedure, it is simply an administrative act. To show what this means, a Japanese cannot sell newspapers to make a living on account of the regulations incidental to citizenship. And the California land legislation is the worst thing of all. The Japanese government is satisfied with the Gentleman Agreement for the time being, but the Japanese people cannot be made to see the justice of the status of inferiority imposed on the members of their race.
Furthermore, the relations between the two countries outside of America should be clearly understood if they are not to lead to shallow jingoistic animosity. Japan is determined to maintain her interest in China by force, at the same time that the United States seeks to maintain the open door policy.
This on the face of it looks like a policy of retaliation in which Japan is saying hands off in answer to the anti Japanese movement in America. But this country itself tore off the mask recently when the embargo on the shipment of steel to Japan showed how completely the latter was dependent on the United States for this basic commodity. This certainly threw a scare into the relations between the two countries.
The fact is that Japan is poor in iron, at the same time that the demand for this article has been increasing at an accelerating pace. Thirteen years ago Japan required 136, 000 tons against which she produced 97, 000 tons; in 1916 her demand had grown to 671, 000 tons of which she produced only 140, 000. The deficit was made up by importation from China. In 1917 the production of iron bars was 578, 000 tons and the demand 999, 000. In May the Japanese government gave out an estimate of iron requirements as follows. in 000 s)
1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 Iron bars 145 1150 1310 1410 1460 1500 Steel 1165 1650 1850 2030 2110 2340 Steel products 820 1180 1320 1490 1560 1580 While is it true that Japan is pervaded by militarism and imperialism just as a similar tendency took place in the West, it would be a serious mistake to over estimate this factor to the exclusion of underlying forces. It is true that the Japanese masses are conservative and patient; but they are by no.
means born slaves. They have from time to time revolted against their oppressors, and although they were never strong enough to achieve their independence they have each time made the yoke less heavy and the conditions less severe. And those who were at the head of the successful revolutions were always upright and able, like the triumvirate of the revolution of 1868, Okubo, Kido, and Saigo, who were statesmen of the first order, and friends of the people. Saigo was imprisoned and then exiled, Okubo was assassinated, and Kido was poisoned on account of his liberal influence.
The revolt of the tenant farmers against the feudal lords in