The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 11, 1897, Page 26

THE SA FRANCISCO CAT 1897. A SAN FRANCISCO WOMAN'S DINNER WITH COUNT OKUMA The prominence of Count Okuma’s| we stood together outside, looking down name n the list of Japanese protesters | against the American annexation of Hawail recalls some pleasant personal | reminiscences of his Excellency and of | his colleagues in the control of Japauese | affairs in the early eighties. | My first meeting with Okuma Shige- | nobu, at that time Minister of Finance, | at a breakfast given by General | inister of War, invitation to | which was as follows: was oyer the ten square miles of the human hive below us. ‘A grand country. Some time I must talk with vou about it. You are to be given a tiffin at Oojii on the 10th?” “That honor is in reserve ior me,” I av- swered. “Y s; and for me the honor of sitting beside you—on the floor, remember’— ne smiled quaintly—‘during the three hours of that divner, in old Japansse UNITE It is a pleasure to inform you that his Excellency General e this morning to acquaint me that his Excetlency will expect Mrs. — and yourself | ast with him on Monday next at 12 M. or you at Sbimbashi station, Tokio, at ce at hie Ixcellency’s request. Th d regrrds to Mrs. —. Yours, L& ATION. Tokio, January 31, 1880. salgo has sent his two messen- D STATES that his Excellency’s carriage will be in 0 A. M., to convey you to his house. I send s in strict accordance with the ancient cus- 11 nt {rom the days of Father Abraham, so you will please understand that his Saigo’s residence occuvied a tine position on one of the five elevations overlooking the city of Tokio, elevations | which in former times had been appro- | priated by tycoons and princes of the | empire as sites for their palaces and forti- | fications, but which after the restoration to | the present form of government had by | degrees become occupied by Ministers ofi General the various departments and by foreign legations accredited to Mikado's | court. General Saigo’s resiCence is a large two- story building, half European, half Japa- ounded by beautiful irees ana plants, ana managed upon that occasion, | at least, after European model. The ial zeneral and his young and pretty e received us most cordially, and in e drawing-room we met Judge Bingham, at that time the nestor of the diplo- mutic corps in Japan, and his daughter, the only foreigners besides ourselves pres- ent, the rest of the company being offi- of the highest rank, inctuding five | members of the Sangi, or Emperor’s Cab- inet, prominent among whom was his | Excellency, Okuma, Minister of Finance, the finest specimen o! Japanese manhood | 1 have ever seen. About six feet high, weighing 190 pounds, straight, graceful | 1d digaified, somewhat reserved and yet agreeable in manner and speech, he took 3t once a front seat in my rezard and bas held it ever since. the nese, s w Okuma’s face was like the pictures I have seen of the young Napoleon, es- above the mouth, and more | T y in the high, fuil, round fore- | head and in its expression of power. At/ ily style. You will enjoy that?” Ithought of the three long hours of sit- ting cross-legged like a tailor on a cushion of crepe that was to make a glittering dot on a polished floor, and smothered a sigh that Okuma, dear soul! never dreamed of. “I shall like your party to visit the Gov- ernment paper-mills that morning,” he continued, ‘‘and my carriage will be wait- ing for you at Shimbashi. Now I must go, for ‘necessity knows no law.’” Later Judge Bingham said, ‘I knew you would like Okuma. Some people are afraid of him!” ana the dear old Judge laughed heartily. “Tell you of him? I might—a Ilittle. He was born in 1837, and in 1873 was ap- pointed president of the Japanese Com- mission to the Vienna Exposition. You know that in 1853 Perry opened Japan to the trade of the world, but it was fifteen | years later, in 1368, before Meiji, or resto- ration of the ancient form of government, | was fully established. *“Mr. Okuma’s appointment, four years later, to the Vienna Exposition, placed him prominently in favor of that progress | which has marked the history of this once Hermit Nation. Earlyin life Mr. | Okuma pecame a student of finance, par- ticularly that of nations, and he is no doubt to-day better acquainted with the eovernmental and bankin: systems of England and America than many noted financiers of these countries,” About five miles from the business cen- ter of Tokio (sometimes spelled Tokei) on high ground commanding a magnificent view of a portion of the city and a great val- ley full of rice fields with the snow-capped OKUMA SHIGINOBU. that time he could not speak a word of | hills of Niko touching the h orizon, 1s th inglish, but his French and German |suburban district of Oojii (pronounced | placed before each guesta small lacquered | E were excellent and so we got aleng fam- ousl | “Yours is a wonderful country, d:me,” he said to me, in his low, trained voice, when the breakfast was over and ma- | O-gee) where are the Government paper- mills, which hi invited us to vi charming country seat of Mr. Shibusawa, | merchant-prince and banker, at which Excellency, Oknma, haa and where also is the | my lord and T had been invited to par- take of a “uffin’’ (which was rveally a dinner) gotten up in all the quaintness and served with the ceremony of Japa- | ese style. | We could have pleasantly spent many hours in watching the mysteries of paper- | making, but during our stay there one messenger, then another and yet a third came to say that Mr. Shibusawa’s feast was ready and we must go. | A drive of five minutes prought us through rows of jinrikishas, and between the mounted guards wbo always attend the Ministers, to the door, where our host | and his interpreter stooa to welcome us. | Removing our shoes at the doot, we pa-sed through a long gallery over the softest of | mats to the saile-a-manger, where awailed | us a feast such as the princes and | | daimios of a thousand years ago were honored in giving and accepting. The room we entered was about eighteen feet wide by twenty-four feet long and eight feet high, finished in plain, highly polished, but unstained wood, with peinted screens, in panel work, for the <ides; the ceiling being all of polished wood and t .e floors covered with mats. | At the upper end of the dining-room—as is usual in ail first-class houses in Jupan— | svas a raised platform about four feet | wide and ten inches high, in lacquer work, | where were ornaments, religious symbols, | vases of Howers, etc. This 1s the place of honor in the house, and tnere I found my ‘ name and the cushion I was to occupy, | supported on one hand by his Excellency, Okuma, and on the other by an interpreter. | In the center on the left was the seat re-erved for my lord, with Governor Mat- | | suda of Tokio and an interpreter on either | side. Opposite on the rizht were [nouye, | | Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Ito—the | Bismarck of Japan—Minister of the In- | terior, next to whom sat our hostess, | Mime. Bhibusawa, while the last cushion | | at the extreme end of the room was occu- | pied by our host. I cannot recall other names except those of Mr. and Miss Irving, the only | foreigners besides ourscives, and Mr. Fuchuchi, editor of the largest Japanese daily paper in Tokio, though there were otuer prominent natives present. | At about hall-past 2 o'clock the first | course was brought in by girls, who, in their bright, soft robes of crepe and with shoeless feet, glided noisclessly as kitiens over the yielding mats, and kneeling low, | stand holding tiny cups of tea, a bowl of | soup, some sweetmeats and a pair of chop- sticks, which my lord and I handled awk- wardly enough, though evervbody tried to | does seem as if teach us how and everybody praised our St perseverance, which was at last crowned with partial success. Course after course followed in prompt but statelv intervals, which I will not at- tempt 10 describe. There were singers, and dancing girls who did not dance, if dancing means to | use the feet and move the pody in grace- ful motion. They scarcely moved at all from one spot on the floor, but used their hands, arms and beads to give expression. “What does it all ?" 1 asked, mean ? when tbe singing—which was as painfu! to listen to as the singers were to look at— was concluded. His Excellency suppressed a smile and answered : “These singers were telling the story of an old Daimio’s struggles in hunting | and in ancient games, and the dancing | girls were acting the same in pantomime. 1t is beautiful, n’est c¢ pas?”’ I thought for the fraction of a minute of the singers’ apparent effort to inflate the lungs as much as possible and then to | exhaust them in a sort of suppressed | scream, forcing the blood evidently to the | face and seeming to threaten apoplexy— | then, with a silent prayer for pardon, re- | peated unblushingly: “Beautifull” In matters of harmony and grace it the Japanese are more backward than in any other accomplish- ment and, strangely s too, when in architecture, in paintings and bronzes one sees no sharp angles, nothing but the pleasing and the graceful. “Our host is the proud possessor of seven wives,”” explained Okuma; ‘'some of them young and beautiful.” I lifted my eyelids, “Yes?” he continued, laughing at my | too evident surprise. “You have the | same custom in America, I believe.” | 1should bave risen from my cushion in | indignsation had such a feat been possible. His Excellency observed my disquietvde | quite calmly. making no effort. to lessen it, and when I had my scattered wits col- lected ugain and had feebly whispered, +On! in Utab!” he apswered in apparent | innocence, **Utah is a part of the United States.” T shall always believe that answer was malicious; but explanations followed. After three hours of sitting, or kneeling, our feast was rcunded to a close by our host appearing before his special guests on bended knees soliciting one’s lacquered cup, filling it with sake (rice wine), drink- ing the wine and returning thecup for | the guest to follow suit. Thisis in strict accord with a time-honored custom and the highest honor a host can do his guest. Later, strolling through the lovely | familiarity with arms he!ped us, so that o S A 17 1 AR 1 A R R Il g A OV R R — grounds, Okuma spoke admiringly of the wonderful resources of the United States; how swifily from a peaceful, happy people we became a nation of warriors; how our the plowboy and the merchant's clerk soon became veterans, and how the resu't of the war, in view of the prodigious ef- forts of our Government, had been even | more wonderful in the standing we had gained thereby in the world at large. By reason of the war,” he said, “‘and by the successful termination of it, your im- rortance has been wonderfully augmented and the venefit to you as a nation is more to you abroad than at home. That great struggle demonstrated the fact that your people are more advanced than the people of any other nation. The people of Euro- | pean nations can be drilled and educated into being soldiers, and in the very act of so doing they acquire more intelligence than they ever had before, but Americans, north and south, seem to be soldiers nat- urally, ana,” he laughingly added, “‘you had some fighting women, eh? nurse and soy, etc.” { We were interrupted here by some of the party, who wished to examine the priceless souvenir which [ carried in my hand. “Shall T tell you the legend which this | old Satsuma bowl has pictured so richly yet, after all, so poorly ?”’ asked Ito. Of| couise, we all wanted the story, and here itas: +J pan, the Goddess of Light, sat weav- ing at her loom oneday, when her brother threw the skin of a piebald horse over her. This so enraged her that she with- drew into a cave, and the world was in darkness. A long time after this, when the gods were assembled in the bed of the Stream oi Heaven, which is the Milky Way, it was propo ed to endeavor to ture the goddess from her hiding, and | one of her brothers was deputed | to play upon his lute before the mouth of | the cave, as she was very fond of music. | She was thus beguiled to come out, and | when she turnea to go back so freble was | her real intention of returning tnat a I paper string across the mouth of the cave restrained her. Sberemained out and the world ever since has been in light. “The explanation of the legend is: ‘Many centuries ago, when Japan Wwas quietly pursuing her inaustrial li.e, for- | cigners who had been admitted to her! shores attempted to influence her political i and religious life,and in so doing gave uch offense that they were expelled from the empire. During hundreds of years for a Japanesze to speak to a foreigner was an offense punishable by death.” ““Yes,” broke in Mr. Irving, ‘“‘history — = T e fé"-—;;és = VIEW OF YOKOHAMA FROM GENERAL SAIGO'S HOME. i te!ls us that about that time an English vessel was wrecked on the northern japan- | ese coast, and the feilows that got ashore were put into cages, like beasts, and kept there till an English man-of- war threatened to bombard the town if they were not immediately sent out to the ship. So the dozen or more sailors turn to shorz, taken 1o a ceitain wall siill shown to strangers, and thers beheaded, because they had spoken to foreigner. Was that true 7"’ “Possibly.” The Ministry shrugged all its shoulders. “But to return to the le- gend,” said Ito. *By and by Commodore Perry came with his ships, his briiliantly uniformed men and bis wonderful brass bands, and with seductive music wooed Japan to the consummation of a treaty of commerce, “After time for reflection the Japanese Government was so well satistied with the arrangement that when she again thought of returning to her hermit life she was estopped by a paper freaty, and has re- wained in the world ever since to bless In subsequent conversativn Okuma showed his familiarity with our banking | institutions and National finance, and | when told that we had in San Franciscoa | bank with the largest capital of any bank in America be replied: *“No, thereisa bank in Georgia, I think, with twelve or twelve and a half millions.” And he joined heartily in the laugh evoked by the San Frauciscan’s renly that the Ne- | vada Bank’s capital was fully paid up, while the Georgia bank’s capital was only about one-fourth paid up. Mr, Okuma surprised his listeners by his knowledge of the business of our American banks, the indebtedness of most of the States and larger cities, and of the dimunition of tie National debt, He entered heartily into a scheme which was touched upon, for the establishment of a bank in Tokio by combined Japanese and American capital, and to which | would be given the business of the Gov- ernment, amounting, in exchange alone, at that date, 10 over $30,000,000 annuaily. Frequent interviews were later had in relation thereto. In gencral terms the capital was to be $1,500,000, one-third to be taken by Japanese and the balance by | American cap:talists, with corresponding seats in the directory and an American president. Here again Mr. Okuma’s mar- velous ability in financial matters shone forth. The whole matter was faithfully | discassed and at last written out in much detail and forwarded to the {late J. J. McKinnon, to be presented to Louis Mclean, vresident of the Nevada Bank, and Dr. McDonald, president of the Pacific Bank. Neither of these gentlemen viewed the | matter with much favor, Dr. McDonald saying his people had all they could do L here and Mr. McLean putting the subject AR LRy \ | o \ \ MATSCIDA GOO OF TOKIO. were taken out in ticht boxes with slats | aside with hints that he was soon tore across their tops and allowed to crawl | tire from his present position, and there. out on deck. “But the thirty or more natives who, in fore dia not wish to entertain it. Mr., | Okuma &t one time remarked that such a obedience to the orders of their superiors, | bank would inside of seven years become had thus delivered the men to the war- ship of their countr; | to Japan what the Bank of England was Were, Upon their re- | to Eagland. Hester A. BENEDICT. Bonfires, Fireworks and a Big Parade Were Features of the Oceasion. A town’s first Fourth of July! a’s first awakening into existence. stood an American town. And because it town instead of a town in France or England or in South Africa, it had to have a Fourth of July in capital letters and celebrate the same as though it were a town dating from the American Revolution. These annual holidays of ours are like huge, resistless waves, which sweep every new-born person or 1own into their current and set them to celebrating vociferously along with the several preceding generations, even the oldest member of which is celebrating only what his father did before Lim and knoweth wby only An event almost as important as the andsburg sprang up like a mushroom in the night. of “now you don’t see it and now you do,” and in a twinkling there = It was a case nappened to be an American from what is writ in the annals of his great-great-grandfathers, The American eagle, that proud old bird of freedom, screamed in Randsburg on the occasion of the one hundred and twenty-first anniver- sary of the independence of the United States so lustily that the roars of the British lion were completely drowned, and the inhabitants of the camp were determined that the said eagle should have no tail feathers left when the day was over. Lately a sort of government has been organized here, with the power of the people delegated to a committee of twelve residents of the camp, elected every six months. The comnmittee makes regulations relating to law and order, sanitation, fire, strests, highways, and otherwise provides for and looks atter the good of the camp. The men composing the com- mittee now are certainly the right men in the right place. it T HOW RANDSBURG CELEBRATED IT mannireess g, 274 Yo 7 % energetic, up-to-date, on Sunday. They ace wide-awake to the trust reposed in them. Some days before the Feurth of July they decided that it would be proper for Randsburg to show its patriotism, and accordingly they de- cided to celebrate the time fittingly, and on Saturday, as the Fourth came The people caught the idea, and for days before the 3d business men were industriously decorating their houses, and wheu the morning of the events came the town had assumed a gala and patriotic attire—indeed flags and bunting floated everywhere. At5o'clock in the morning the firing of dynamite guns awoke the sleeping populace and soon all was a-bustle and astir. P. M. a fine vrocession, a combination of the beautiful and the grotesque, moved up Butte avenue irom near Montgomery’s store, at the foot of Promptly at 12:30 FIRST FOURTH OF JULY Everybody Was H appy and Entered Into the Spirit of the Day. - Montgomery avenue. On Butte avenue it countermarched and cime down Broadway and turned the Rand, where it disbanded. The afternoon was spent in playing a gams of baseball by the home nine vs. the Garlock nine. Tt resulted 1n a victory for the visitors. Then followed a programme of games and races, both comical and o herwise. oration. The day’s festivities closed At 8:30 P. M. the crowd assembled at the Orpheus Theater, where a literary programme was rendered. Dr. E. A. Ormsby. the president of the committee and orator of the day, delivered a patriotic and stirring with a grand ball, and though th building was filled to the doors with a merry throng and there was really 100 large a c_romi present, yet they good-naturadly jostled each other about and enjoyed themselves immen:ely.