t of the official
statistics I could say nothing in palliation of the unpleasant
allusion to America. When the war with Russia ended, Baron Takaki,
Surgeon-General of the Japanese Army, boasted that whereas in the
Spanish-America War "fourteen men died from preventable diseases to
one man killed on the field of battle," the Japanese had lost only one
man from disease to every four from bullets. Now the Japanese, as
usual, had not worked out any of the principles of medical science,
sanitation, and hygiene which enabled them to make this remarkable
record, but they showed their characteristic facility in taking the
white man's inventions and getting as much or more--more in this
case--out of them than the white man himself.

The Japanese record, showing in such amazing fashion what a wisely
directed health organization may accomplish, is worth remembering not
only in connection with plans for military efficiency, but also in
connection with plans for general public health activities at home.
Every State should spend five times as much for this public health
work as at present.

In 1910 the forgetful Manchurian earth bears but few traces {73} of
the fierce contest that only five or six years ago scarred its bosom,
and the serried shocks of newly harvested corn, _kaoliang_ (sorghum)
and millet--in some infrequent instances fertilized by the dead men's
bones--are seen on fields where contending armies struggled. Let it be
so for a little while; let the Manchurian peasant sow and garner in
peace while he may; for still the war cloud hangs heavy above China's
Three Eastern Provinces, and in the next struggle the peasant's blood
may redden his own fields. For that the fighting has not ended is to
me perfectly clear. By reason of the Japanese railroad monopoly
through the very heart of Southern Manchuria, and her leased territory
on the coast, Japan has obtained power bordering on control, and
everything goes to show that she has fully made up her mind to
complete and retain that control.

Moreover, when one has seen the great Manchurian empire, it is easy to
understand how it has now roused the covetousness of Japan just as the
temptation a few years ago proved too strong for Russia. Immense
farming areas are only thinly settled; some of the richest of the
world's mineral resources have only been touched.

A day or two ago I went out to see Mr. Edward C. Parker, in charge of
the agricultural experiment farm here (he is a