results of his work were seen first in the Chinese-Japanese War of
1894 and 1895, and later in the war between Japan and Russia. Japan was
ready, financially, for these conflicts. It was possible for the Japanese
mills and factories to furnish much of the equipment for the Japanese
armies.

The advice of Shibuzawa constantly had been:

"Get in line with progress. Be as modern in all things as the rest of the
world."

He had to go against ancient prejudices, shatter ancient customs, and
shock conservative people, as he did when he cut off his topknot and
replaced his Japanese garb with modern European clothing. But his advice
was good, and, it having been heeded, Japan profited not a little.

CRANE, MAN OF BUSINESS.

Massachusetts Senator, Though Neither
an Orator Nor an Author, Is a
Highly Successful Statesman.

Winthrop Murray Crane, who succeeded George Frisbie Hoar as United States
Senator from Massachusetts, is not an author, orator, or scholar, but
Massachusetts is as proud of him as of the other distinguished Senators
she has furnished. Senator Crane was born in Dalton, Massachusetts, in
1853. His grandfather had started a small paper-mill in a valley among the
Berkshire hills, more than fifty years before that date, and Crane's
father, in turn, had taken up the business and continued it. Still, while
it gave a fair living, it did little more, and was of no greater
consequence than hundreds of other little industries in the State.

Young Crane was educated at Williston Academy, Easthampton. He showed no
fondness for books and study, and made no attempt to get a college
education. At seventeen he left school, put on overalls and started in to
learn the paper-making business in his father's mill. Methods were still
crude and the production of the mill was small.

When Crane had learned all the mill could teach him he began to look
beyond it for improved methods, for a greater outlet for the product, and
for increased capacity. He speedily found ways to reach all three, and the
little mill began to take on importance.

In 1879 he learned of a new method of running silk threads through paper,
and he was convinced that this was an important advantage in the making of
paper for currency, as it would render counterfeiting more difficult. He
made up some samples of the new paper and took them to Washington. Those
whom he saw were not at first impressed, and he was referred from one
official to another,