S 837 P5 ^PV 1 Institute of International Education International Relations Clubs Syllabus No. XI The Political and Economic Expansion of Japan By Walter B. Pitkin Associate Professor of Journalism Columbia University, New York City October, 192 1 The Institute of International Education 419 West 1 17th Street, New York Stephen P. Duggan, Ph.D. DIRECTOR Mary L. Waite EXECUTIVE SECRETARY Telephone; Morningside 8491 Cable Address; **Intcred' ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD Herman V. Ames L. H. Baekeland Marion LeRoy Burton Nicholas Murray Butler Stephen Pierce Duggan Dr. Walter B. James Alice Duer Miller Paul Monroe John Bassett Moore Henry Morgenthau D wight W. Morrow E. H. Outerbridge Henry S. Pritchett Mary E. Woolley bureau divisions Europe Stephen P. Duggan Far East Paul Monroe Latin America Peter H. Goldsmith Scholarships and Fellowships Virginia Newcomb International Relations Clubs Margaret C. Alexander Institute of International Education International Relations Clubs Syllabus No. XI The Political and Economic Expansion of Japan By Walter B. Pitkin . Associate Professor of Journalism Columbia University, New York City October, 1921 A? ,r ^4* » f PREFACE The following chronological outline has been drawn for the express purpose of delineating, in its simplest form, the course of Japan's political, economic and military expansion from the earliest times to date. The temptation has been to include many detailed statistics on trade and military budgets and treaty terms, but all these have been reduced to the barest series of hints. The student is expected to turn back to the various statistical sources here mentioned, in order to fill in for himself the continuity of Japan's remarkable development. He should also study the chronology with a map and mark it with the appropriate dates of each major development in territorial acquisition, railway building, and trade concession. Only thus can a clear picture of the whole evolution be gained. Unfortunately, no book has ever been written on the precise correlation between military and economic expansion in the Far East. Certain phases of this, to be sure, have been dealt with in the various works alluded to in the following bibliography. But he who seeks a full understanding of the manner in which business and empire have gone hand in hand in Japan must piece together the story for himself, using trade reports in conjunction with the diplomatic and political records. Needless to say, such a task is by no means easy. But it should be done, in rough outline at least. Walter B. Pitkin New York, October i, 1921 3] BIBLIOGRAPHY The following books deal with most of the phases of Japanese expansion : Abbott, J. F., Japanese Expansion and American Policies Gibbons, H. A., The New Map of Asia Hall, Arnold B., The Monroe Doctrine and the Great War Hart, A. B., The Monroe Doctrine Hornbeck, S. K., Contemporary Politics in the Far East lyenaga, T. and Sato, K., Japan and the California Problem Kawakami, K. K., Japan in World Politics Latane, J. H., From Isolation to Leadership Millard, T. F., Democracy and the Eastern Question Pitkin, W. B., Must We Fight Japan? r The Truth About China and Japan Reshaping the Far East ^ The Fight for the Republic in China Weale, B. L. Putnam- A good general bibliography on Japan down to 191 6 is to be found in the Japan supplement of the New York Evening Pasty December 30, 1916, pages 25 and 26. A recent bibliography of Japanese- American relations, bearing in part on Japanese expansion, has been compiled by the New York Public Library, and published in the Library Bulletins of January and February, 1921. For the texts of various important Japanese treaties and agree- ments concerning matters of political, military, and economic expansion, see the various Japan Year Books, particularly that for 1910. Details of Japan's commercial expansion will be found in the various bulletins and annual reports of the U. S. Department of Commerce, as well as in the Japan Year Book. A general survey of Japanese history and trade is found in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, under ''Japan." 4] EARLY ATTEMPTS AT EXPANSION In the third century the Empress Jingo, of Japan, conquered Korea, but the Japanese did not remain long in the country. 1587. Hideyoshi issued the first decree expeUing all foreigners from Japan. It was not strictly enforced. 1 592-1 598. The first Japanese invasion of the Asiatic mainland took place. Hideyoshi, a great commander, sent 300,000 soldiers into Korea, for the purpose of conquering China. He crushed the Koreans in a series of terrible massacres on land, but was finally beaten by Korean sailors, who devised the first crude ironclads ever used. The campaign lasted six and one half years and cost a quarter of a million lives. 1614. Tokugawa Shogun issued a decree of expulsion against for- eigners and undertook to enforce it. 1638. The expulsion of foreigners begun in 1614 came to its tri- umphant finish with the massacre of thirty-seven thousand Japanese Christians. From now on Japan remained abso- lutely closed to outsiders for two hundred and seventeen years. Adams, Francis O., The History of Japan From the Earliest Period. London, 1875. Vol. I. NINETEENTH CENTURY EXPANSION 1 861. Russia suddenly seized the Island of Tsushima, but was obliged to withdraw through the intervention of the British minister, Sir Rutherford Alcock, and Admiral J. Hope, com- mander of the British-China squadron. 1863. Kagoshima was bombarded by a British squadron in August, and in the following year Shimonoseki was also bombarded by the Allied squadrons of England, America, France and Holland. The murder of a Mr. Richardson, a Shanghai merchant, by some retainers of the Lord of Satsuma, was the cause of the attack. 1868. Japan demanded from Korea recognition of the New Imperial Government. The Koreans refused, and war threatened, but was blocked by the Japanese statesmen themselves. 1 87 1. Formosan headhunters killed some natives of the Loo-choo Islands, which had long been paying tribute to both China and Japan. Japan demanded redress. China refused to aid in securing such redress, claiming she had no jurisdiction over the aboriginal inland tribes that had committed the offence. Japan sent three thousand soliders to Formosa. In the en- suing settlement, October 31, at Peking, Japan established exclusive suzerainty over the Loo-choo Islands. 1872. Commerce before Japan's "industrial revolution." A sig- nificant manner of considering the expansion is to look at the volume of imports and exports per capita in the country. On this basis, in 1872, the average Japanese contributed only half a yen, or about twenty-five cents, to his country's ex- ports, while he received from abroad only seventy-nine sen, or about thirty-eight cents worth of all imports. Exports Imports 17,026,647 yen 26,174,815 yen 1875. Ogasawara-jima, or Bonin, was recognized by America as Japan's possession. After years of negotiation with Russia over the title to the island of Sakhalin, Japan agreed to recognize the territory as belonging to Russia, provided that Russia recognized Japan's title to the Kuriles. Russia accepted this arrangement. 1876. Japan forced Korea to sign a treaty with her in which Korea was recognized as an independent state (no longer under vas- 16] salage to China) and was empowered to enter into treaties with other powers on a parity. 1880. Final conferences were held in Peking over the title to the Loo-choo Islands. The Chinese plenipotentiary refused to sign without further consultation and authorization; the Japanese withdrew, construing China's failure as final evi- dence of recognition of Japan's suzerainty over Loo-choo. 1882. Korea, torn by Chinese and Japanese intrigues, signed foreign treaties and soon afterward mobs destroyed the Japanese legation building at Seoul, Thereupon, both China and Japan sent three thousand soldiers to Seoul. The menace of war was deferred by some inconsequential diplomatic patching-up. Trade Expansion Exports Imports 37,721,751 yen 29,446,594 yen 1884. Korean and Chinese troops under Yuan Shi-Kai attacked the palace in Seoul which Japanese troops were defending. Serious friction was narrowly averted. 1885. Prince Ito and Li Hung Chang signed a new convention con- cerning Korea. Both China and Japan therein agreed to evacuate Korea and to help this country create its own home defence. 1 89 1. Trade Expansion Exports Imports 79,527,272 yen 62,927,268 yen Callahan, James M., American Relations in the Pacific and. the Far East, 1784-IQ00, Johns Hopkins Press, 1901. Chamberlain, Basil H., Things Japanese, London, 1898. THE WAR WITH CHINA 1894. China's continued claim of sovereignty over Korea led more and more to conflicts with Japanese policy. On July 23, after a long series of factional quarrels between pro-Chinese and [7] pro-Japanese groups in Korea, some Japanese kidnapped the Queen of Korea and her children, and appointed a pro- Japanese regent. On July 25, the Chinese transport "Kow- shing" was sunk by Japanese cruisers. On August i, Japan declared war on China. The war lasted only seven and one half months, and ended in an overwhelming Japanese victory which brought the following terms in the Treaty of Shim- onoseki, April 17, 1895: China was bound (i) to agree to complete independence of Korea; (2) to cede the Liaotung peninsula and ics littoral; (3) and Formosa and the Pescadores; (4) to pay indemnity of two hundred million taels; (5) to open up Shashih, Chung-King, Suchow and Hangchow to commerce, and the Yangtze to navigation. The second clause Japan had to renounce owing to the pressure exerted by Russia, Ger- many, and France, and had to console herself with the thirty million taels paid by China for it. Japan was to receive that part of Manchuria south of the line drawn from the mouth of the Anping river to the mouth of the Liao; also the Pescadores and Formosa. Russia, Germany and France protested the occupation of the mainland by Japan. Their polite show of power led Japan to accede, especially as she had been financially exhausted by the war. The war with China was a powerful stimulant to Japanese commercial expansion. It marks the beginning of the Em- pire's conscious efforts to attain the economic, as well as the political level of the great world powers, by the development of manufactures and trade. Compare the figures below given with those of 1 891. 1897. Trade Expansion Exports Imports 163, 135*077 yen 219,300,772 yen 1902. January. Japan entered an entente with Great Britain. THE WAR WITH RUSSIA 1904. After a long period of Russian aggression in Manchuria and adjacent territories, during which the Czar and his agents resorted to trickery, fraud, and violence, against both [81 Chinese and Japanese, Japan went to war with Russia. The war ended with the Portsmouth Treaty. This Treaty stipu- lated that Russia transfer Port Arthur and the territory adjacent to Japan; that Russia recognize the paramount interest of Japan in Korea; that Manchuria be restored to China"; and that the portion of Sakhahn south of the fiftieth parallel of latitude be ceded to Japan. Japan also won from Russia one hundred and sixty versts (one hundred and six miles) of the Central Manchurian Rail- way, north of the zone occupied by Japanese forces at the end of hostilities. This concession was made through a con- fusion for which Count Witte was responsible. It placed the control of the Sungari wheat fields in Japan's hands, as well as permanently destroying the military value of the whole Trans-Siberian Railway from Harbin to Vladivostok. From this date forth the Russian Maritime provinces fell under the strategic domination of Japan. 1905. Trade Expansion Exports Imports 321,533,610 yen 488,538,017 yen In 1905, the average Japanese was sending abroad 6.70 yen, or more than thirteen times as much as in 1872; and he was receiving 10.18 yen worth of imports, or again thirteen times as much as in 1872. In September, the Japanese-British entente was revised into an offensive-defensive alliance which insured the integrity of China and the territorial rights of both signatories in India and Eastern Asia, each party guaranteeing to aid the other in the event such rights were jeopardized through the activi- ties of any third power. (Japan Year Book, 1910, page 429 etc.) 1907. On April 15, Japan and China formally entered into an agree- ment concerning railway development and control. (Japan Year Book, 1910, page 437.) France and Russia concluded ententes with Japan in which the status quo of the contracting parties in the Far East was guaranteed. l9l 1908. Philander Knox, Secretary of State of the United States proposed to the Great Powers a plan of neutralizing the rail- ways of Manchuria. This was rejected because of Russian and Japanese opposition. 1909. British and American financiers planned to construct the Chinchow-Aigun Railway which would parallel the Man- churian Railway taken over by Japan. On August 19, Japan-China Agreements concerning the Antung-Mukden Railway, Chiento and other outstanding questions with China were concluded. 1910. On January 21, Japan sent a reply to America declining Sec- retary of State Knox's proposal to neutralize the South Man- churian Railway. On August 22, the Treaty of Annexation was signed by the Representatives of Japan and Korea and was made public on August 29. Korea became officially a part of the Japanese Empire. By 1910 Japan had full control of all railways in Manchuria east of the Liao river, all the mines there, and a new salt manufacturing enterprise which was forcing its product on the Chinese, in spite of the fact that salt was a Chinese gov- ernment monopoly. The lumber business of the Yalu dis- trict was also completely in the hands of Japan. 191 1. During the Revolution in China Japan sent infantry to the city of Hankow (six hundred miles up the Yangtze river). These forces are still there. Japan has subsequently erected a large wireless station there. 1913. Under the agreement of this year with China, Japan financed and constructed four railway lines in Manchuria. The official opinion as to the possibilities of the lines and the territories they traverse is that "the population within the present limits of the four lines numbers between twenty and thirty millions, but the re- gion can easily support double this number. The farming as at present conducted is so rough that each family oc- cupies on an average twenty-five to thirty-five acres." In October an agreement about railway concessions in Man- churia was concluded between Japan and China. [10] JAPAN IN THE WORLD WAR 1914. Japan entered the World War on the side of the AlHes. On October 6, the Japanese squadron occupied the German possessions of Jaluit ; and about a week later several of the Mariana, Marshall and Caroline groups were occupied. One survey ship was captured. Japan took over the Marshall Islands, and made the Japanese language compulsory in the schools. 1915. The Japanese criminal and civil code for the Marshall Islands was issued. Japan took over the Yap cable under the League of Nations ruHng. This cable connects with Shanghai, Menado (Celebes) and Guam. On January 18, Japan served the "twenty-four demands" on China. (For text, see B. L. Putnam Weale: Fight for the Republic in China. Appendix.) On April 26, Japan submitted her "revised twenty-one demands" on China. (For text and events in connection with this move, compare Putnam Weale : The Fight for the Republic in China, page loi, ff.) On July 8, the New Russo-Japanese Convention was promul- gated as follows: The Imperial Governments of Japan and Russia, having resolved by united efforts to obtain permanent peace in the Far East, agreed upon the following: Article I. Japan will not become party to any arrangement or political combination directed against Russia. Russia will not become party to any arrangement or political combination directed against Japan. Article II. In case the territorial rights or special interests in the Far East of one of the contracting parties recognized by the other contracting party are menaced, Japan and Russia will act in concert on the measures to be taken in view of the sup- port or co-operation necessary for the protection and defence of these rights and interests. [II] 19 1 8. Civil Administration in the Marshall Islands was begun under the control of the Japanese navy. Location and jurisdiction of officers of the civil administra- tion department created by the Japanese Navy's authority in 1 91 8, for the South Sea Islands group administered by Japan : Location Jurisdiction Saipan Mariana Islands Palau West Carolines, west of east longitude 137° Yap West Carolines, east of east longitude 137 Truk East Carolines, west of east longitude 154 Ponape East Carolines, east of east longitude 154 and Marshalls, west of east longitude 154 Jaluit Marshalls, east of east longitude 160 FINANCIAL EXPANSION OF JAPAN SINCE THE WORLD WAR 1918. During this year Japanese banks and syndicates made twenty-nine loans to the Chinese Government and Chinese enterprises totalling 246,400,000 yen. These loans were, in the main, for military railways, telephones and forestry. And it was such assets as these latter that were given as security for the loans. Of all the loans, the most important politically was the one for 26,000,000 yen made to the Shantung railways as a conse- quence of the Shantung Railway Agreement of September 24, 191 8, according to which Japan was to garrison permanently the capital of Shantung province, to control the police in the railway zone, and to fill all the important railway posts. On September 28, the Chinese Minister to Japan secretly signed at Tokio the Manchurian and Mongolian Railway Agree- ment, according to which the Industrial Bank of Japan, the Bank of Taiwan, and the Bank of Chosen would finance the construction of four railways lying northeast of Peking and effectively dominating not only the capital but also the entire territory to the north and east thereof. The violent opposi- tion to this project among the Chinese prevented the ratifica- tion of the agreement within the stipulated time limit of four months. [12] 1920. Japan began withdrawing troops from the Amur Provinces of Siberia and concentrated them along the Chinese Eastern Railway and in the Maritime Provinces. A special commission of inquiry, appointed by China to in- vestigate the activities of the Japanese over the Chinese Eastern Railway, declared as to bandit raids in the vicinity of the railroad which spans the Province of Manchuria, that it was "plain that certain bandits were armed with Japanese guns," and "that a foreign influence is exercised in favor of the bandits for the evident purpose of destroying Chinese auth- ority." The Japanese have installed themselves in the build- ings of the company. "Japan has acted independently, in spite of the Allies, in Northern Manchuria, in Transbaikalia, and in the Amur Province, and is today virtual master of Harbin, of Chita, and of Blavovestchenok . . . Evidence is accumulating that Japan has followed a set plan since 191 7." At various times since the Armistice Japanese business men and foreign investors have acquired a large number of con- cessions and created many corporations in the Far Eastern Republic, Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and the PhiHppines. The gross investments of Japanese in China are not precisely known, but reliable financial authorities estimate them as ranging between $750,000,000 and $1,250,000,000. No trust- worthy figures are at hand to show the extent of the Siberian investments. Trade Expansion Exports Imports 1,928,000,000 yen 2,320,000,000 yen Japan comes next to the United Kingdom in the Indian trade returns. A decade ago, the bulk of Japan's trade with India was carried in British bottoms, financed by British banks and distributed by British or Indian traders. Now, ninety per cent of the goods go in Japanese steamers, and they are to a large extent financed by Japanese banks, and distributed by Japanese nationals. Similar conditions obtain in the export trade, but reports from many quarters tell of growing dis- satisfaction with Japanese goods on the part of the Indian consumer. 1 13] THE AWARD OF THE YAP CABLE TO JAPAN At the Council of the Great Powers at Versailles, Japan in- sisted from the start that the Japanese Government was en- titled to German rights and interests in the Island of Yap. A mandate was granted to Japan by the League of Nations, which was accepted. The United States has maintained — and still maintains — that it was never a party to the agreement by which Yap was conferred upon Japan, and it has also insisted upon equal commercial opportunities for all nationals in the mandated territories. A special protest has been lodged concerning the violation of American interests and rights in the assignment of the German cable station to the Japanese Government. During 1921 the State Department and the Japan Foreign Office took up the question with a view to achieving a settle- ment prior to the Disarmament Conference at Washington. While progress is being made in that direction, no final result has as yet been announced by either Power. GROWTH OF POPULATION Japan took her first census in 1920. The figures are given below. For her previous rate of growth, see the Government estimates in the Japan Year Book for the desired period. Japanese Census 1920. The distribution of the population is as follows : Japan proper 55,961,140 Korea 17,284,207 Formosa 3,654,000 Sakhalin 105,765 Total 77,005,112 14 INCREASE IN SHIPPING In 1855 Japan had one steamship, presented by the Dutch Government. In 1870 there were 35 steamers with a total of 15,498 tons: 1872 23,364 tons 1882 42,199 1892 165,764 1902 610,446 1912 702,738 1914 1,177,760 1918 2,310,960 1921 2,995,878 SaiHng boats are not included in above figures. [15 PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS 1919 *Announcement of Founding of Institute. 1920 Bulletin No. i. First Annual Report of the Director. *Bulletin No. 2. For Administrative Authorities of Universities and Colleges. Bulletin No. 3. Observations on Higher Education in Europe. Opportunities for Higher Education in France. Opportunities for Graduate Study in the British Isles. 192 1 Bulletin No. i. Second Annual Report of the Director. Bulletin No. 2. Opportunities for Higher Education in Italy. *Bulletin No. 3. Serial of an International Character. (Tentative List for Libraries) *Bulletin No. 4. Educational Facilities in the United States for South African Students. Bulletin No. 5. Guide Book for Foreign Students in the United States. Bulletin No. 6. See Syllabus No. VII. For the International Relations Clubs Syllabus No. I. Outline of the Covenant of the League of Nations. Syllabus No. II. The Past, Present and Future of the Monroe Doc- trine. Syllabus No. III. The History of Russia from Earliest Times. Syllabus No. IV. The Russian Revolution. Syllabus No. V. The Question of the Balkans. Syllabus No. VI. Modern Mexican History. Syllabus No. VII. Hispanic- American History. Syllabus No. VIII. The Question of the Near East. Syllabus No. IX. China Under the Republic. Syllabus No. X. The Baltic States. Syllabus No. XI. The Political and Economic Expansion of Japan. *Out of print. 16 '&ir- ADVISORY COUNCIL Addams, Jane Alderman, President Edwin Ames, Dean Herman V. Andrews, Fanny Fern Biggs, Dr. Herman Blakeslee, Professor G. H. Brookings, Robert S. Bru^re, Henry Bull, Dr. Carroll G. Burton, President M. L. Byrne, James Coolidge, Professor Archibald Cravath, Paul D. Cunliffe, Professor J. W. Davis, Katherine B. Downer, Professor Charles A. Ely, Professor Richard T. Filene, A. Lincoln Finley, Dr. John H. Fosdick, Dr. Harry E. Gilbert, Cass Gildersleeve, Dean V. C. Goodnow, President F. J. Hadley, Dr. A. T. Hale, Dr. George E. Harrington, Governor E. C. Hazen, Professor Charles D. Hibben, President J. G. Howe, Professor Henry M. Hughes, Hon. Charles E. Jenks, Professor Jeremiah Judson, President H. P. Keppel, Frederick P. Keyser, Professor C. J. Lovett, President Edgar Lowell, President A. L. MacCracken, President H. N. Mali, Pierre Main, President J. H. T. Mannes, David Marling, Alfred E. Meiklejohn, President A. M ill i ken. Professor R. A. Moore, Professor E. H. Morgan, William Fellowes Neilson, President W. A. Noyes, Professor Arthur A, Payne, President Bruce R, Pendleton, President Ellen T, Pupin, Professor Michael L Putnam, Herbert Richardson, Dr. E. C. Robinson, Dr. Edward Sachs, Professor Julius Salmon, Dr. Thomas VV. Schwedtman, Ferdinand C. Severance, Mrs. C. A. Shanklin, President W. A. Shorey, Professor Paul Shotwell, Professor J. T. Showerman, Professor Grant Stimson, Henry L. Stokes, Dr. Anson Phelps Storey, Professor Thomas A. Suzzallo, President Henry Thomas, President M. Carey Todd, Professor Henry A. Townsend, Hon. John G. Vincent, Dr. George E. VVald, Lillian D. White, Professor Henry C. Wilkins, Professor Ernest H. Wilson, Professor George G. Wood bridge, Dean F. J. E. Woolley, President Mary E. L'.BRARY OF CONGRESS ^ 029 979 061 7