Fifty years in Wall Street
Please convey to his Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, my
sincere thanks for bestowing upon me, as a token of his good
will, the Imperial decoration of Commandeur of the most
distinguished order of the Rising Sun. No words of mine can
fitly express my high appreciation of this honor, and I shall
always value the distinction as one of the greatest that it has
been my good fortune to achieve. I consider it a symbol of the
friendly relations existing between Japan and the United
States—a friendship which, I assure you, I shall endeavor to
foster and promote to the best of my ability.
With many thanks to his Imperial Majesty for the honor conferred
upon me, of which I am justly proud, and to your Excellency for
your kind offices in my behalf, I have the honor to remain,
Most sincerely yours,
(Signed) HENRY CLEWS.
HIS EXCELLENCY COUNT TADASU HAYASHI, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
OF THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN.
The following letter from Prince, then Marquis, Ito is interesting as a
part of the world’s history, and shows the feeling and friendship of
that great statesman:
TOKYO, April 14, 1904.
DEAR SIR:
In answer to your letter of February 17th, let me first of all
thank you most sincerely for the constant sympathy you have
shown to our country’s cause. Your friendly efforts on the
occasion of the Chino-Japanese war are still fresh in my memory
and in the memory of all those who have heard of them. And, in
general, the sympathetic attitude of public opinion of your
country is a great encouragement to us in our faith that in
fighting for our own future security and undisturbed enjoyment
of the fruits of civilization, we are to a certain extent
fighting also for the common cause of all. Just as you say, the
supremacy of Russia in Corea would mean not only a constant
menace to the very existence of our island empire, but would
also mean the wholesale destruction of our commercial and
industrial interests already legitimately vested there in the
past, not to mention the loss of natural outlet for our
expanding people. The constant policy of Russia in this part of
the globe has steadily inclined toward monopolization of natural
resources of the country she conquers and annexes. Her
Manchurian policy is the irrefutable evidence of the above
statement. So that in fighting for our own interests we are at
the same time fighting for the principle of “fair competition
all around” in these new markets of the world. I am indeed very
sorry that the negotiations carried on on our side, with sincere
“bona-fide,” were not crowned with success so earnestly desired.
If the Russian Government were a little more inspired by the
spirit of moderation and of toleration for the legitimate
interests of others things would not have come to this pass. As
it was, there remained no other way for us but to try to enforce
by arms what we could not do by reason. And we had to do so ere
it would have become too late, for Russia was steadily and
rapidly augmenting her fighting forces available in this part of
her empire, so that before long the sheer mass of her fighting
power would have made it a folly for us to attempt to resist the
unscrupulous march onward. It has been nothing but a coolly
thought-out step in the cause of State necessity. And I am much
gratified to see that you as well as the general public opinion
of your country, have understood our motives in their true
light.
Hoping that you are enjoying as robust a health as when I saw
you last in New York, and also hoping to be able to see you
again in no distant future,
I remain, yours sincerely,
(Signed) MARQUIS H. ITO.
HENRY CLEWS, ESQ.,
New York City, U. S. A.
The following article, which I wrote at the time for one of our leading
magazines, contains matter which may be instructive to my readers:
May 24, 1904.
The success of the Japanese in the present war with Russia is
due to their great zeal. What they undertake to do, they
generally do with great earnestness of purpose, which calls
forth sacrifice, energy, courage, and determination. The
concentration of all these qualities is the basis of success in
all undertakings whether large or small. The success of the
Japanese is easily accounted for also by the fact that they love
their Emperor as a people—they are willing to fight for him and
to die for him, added to which, they are fatalists and are not
afraid to face death on the battle-field, because they firmly
believe that the next world is better than this, and therefore
to die in a good cause, especially in fighting for the salvation
of their country, secures a high and honorable position there.
Against these characteristics, which back the Japanese in the
present war, their antagonists, the Russians, fear their
Emperor, and under the autocratic rule of the nation soldiers
are very often put into the army through force and kept there.
There is a vast difference, therefore, on the battlefield, in
the fighting qualities of soldiers who are backed by love of
their Emperor and soldiers who are backed by fear of their
Emperor. Then again, the discipline of the Japanese soldiers is
of a more intelligent and up-to-date order than that of the
Russians. Each regiment in Japan is composed of 400 men with a
captain in command who carries a sword. Their training provides
that if anything should happen to the captain, and his sword
should fall to the ground, it must be taken up on the instant by
the next in rank, and if anything should happen to him, the next
in rotation takes his place, and so on all the way through to
the last man; and each man to the end of the 400 is capable of
picking up the sword and commanding with it, which also means to
continue the fight until the last man in each regiment is killed
or disabled; in other words, the fight is never to be given up
except by total extinction. As an evidence of the interest and
earnestness of the Japanese people, it is customary, amongst the
trades-people, whenever a family that they have been supplying
with the necessaries of life is deprived of the father of the
family, in consequence of his going to the war, to continue to
supply all their needs the same as before and without sending
any bill therefor. It is pretty difficult, therefore, for the
Russians, notwithstanding that they so largely outnumber the
Japanese, to whip such a determined, forceful people either on
land or sea.
There is scarcely an important college anywhere in the world in
which Japanese students are not to be found studying for all
vocations, and they are bent upon acquiring the best and most
up-to-date methods in all walks of life. Admiral Togo was
educated at Annapolis, and the American, English, and
Continental colleges have educated many of Japan’s best army and
navy officers now engaged in the war.
The Japanese are not given much to invention, but they possess
great discernment and discrimination; they know a good thing
when they see it, and are very skilful in imitation. Fifty years
ago, when Commodore Perry successfully negotiated for the
opening of the Japanese ports, that nation’s intercourse with
the outside world commenced. A few years thereafter a commission
was appointed to frame a constitution. This commission visited
all the great nations in pursuit of information. They
familiarized themselves with the American constitution and the
basis of the government of other nations; they culled the best
from all and put it into their constitution. It took them seven
years to accomplish it. When they made their report to the
Emperor he accepted it without any modifications whatsoever, and
notwithstanding the great changes that have taken place in that
country in consequence of its growth and development, there has
been no occasion up to this date to in any way change that
document.
They also appointed thirty-five years ago a commission, with the
present great statesman, Marquis of Ito, at its head, to visit
the various nations with a view of obtaining the best
information possible in order to establish a financial system.
On their trip around the world to study the various foreign
financial systems with a view of adopting one up to date for
Japan, they first came to this country and brought official
letters to General Grant, then President. General Grant turned
them over to me to teach them our financial system. I posted
them up thoroughly on our financial methods. They then went to
England, France, and Germany, and returned to Japan via the Suez
Canal. On their return, their report strongly favored the
adoption of the American system. It was accepted by the
Government, and their Secretary of the Treasury appointed me
their agent to get up the engraving of their new currency and
bonds, similar to those of the United States Government. I sent
the phraseology and denominations of all our different demand
notes and various bonds to them, and they transferred the same
into their own hieroglyphics and sent them to me. I had the same
beautifully steel engraved through the Continental Bank Note
Company, who were the lowest bidders, in competition for the
work. Since that time I have kept up a most interesting and
exceedingly friendly acquaintance and correspondence with
Marquis Ito, and his recent letter to me contained much of
interest, as it gave most excellent reasons for Japan being
involved in the present war, which he said was not from his
country’s desire, but through necessity, as a matter of defense.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER LXXXIX.
THE NATIONAL CORPORATION PROBLEM.[13]
Footnote 13:
An address by Henry Clews, LL.D., delivered at the First Annual
Banquet of the Economic Club of Manchester, New Hampshire, May 20,
1908.
_Mr. President and Members of the Economic Club_:
The political and popular clamor against the industrial Trusts, with
which we have been long familiar, was due primarily to the anti-monopoly
sentiment of the people, but in a far greater degree to the crushing of
competitors, through unlawful and unjust methods, by some of the
conspicuously large corporations, as Government prosecutions have shown.
Hence public hostility to the Trusts increased, and remedial legislation
was called for. The general feeling was that as a Trust had neither a
body to be kicked nor a soul to be damned it should be handled by the
law without gloves, and with the utmost rigor.
The exposure of the railway rebating evil by which competition had been
destroyed, and great monopolies built up resulting in colossal fortunes
for their principal owners, added fuel to the fire of this indignation;
and similar abuses and unlawful practices by certain Trusts showed how
strong combinations of capital had preyed upon, and killed off, weaker
ones, and individual traders, to an extent that made the injustice of it
a national scandal.