Yet at one stroke of a magic wand all was changed. Japan now ranks among the Great Powers of the world. Her army commands respect and fear; on war‐footing it numbers over half a million—and the Japanese have always been gallant soldiers. Her navy is as modern and well‐equipped as any afloat. The resources of the country have been developed. A network of railways covers the land; telegraphs and telephones link the important towns. Her manufacturers compete with Europe in every market in Asia. Her merchant ships are all but built in her own dockyards. The fleets of her steamship companies, such as the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, would not discredit Liverpool or New York. Lines of splendid passenger steamers, some of them over 6,000 tons, run to Europe, America, and Australia. Smaller lines keep up communication between Japan and the coasts of Siberia, Corea, and China. Education is widespread; universities and schools abound. Manufactures are encouraged by a liberal policy. The forest of factory chimneys in Osaka gives that town the semblance of Birmingham as one approaches it in the train. The water‐power universal throughout the islands is utilised freely. Electric light is found in almost every city in the empire. It is installed in even the smaller private houses. Automatic public telephone kiosks dot the streets of the capital. In provincial towns like Nagoya electric trams run. All that Japan has become, China may yet be. Nay, more. The former is poor, her territory small, the greater part of the country encumbered with unprofitable mountains. The undeveloped wealth of the latter is enormous. Gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal are all found. Vast stretches of forest cover the interior. The soil is incredibly fertile; and her people are naturally intelligent. The Chinese in Hong Kong and elsewhere, as merchants, as shipowners, as professional men, prove it. The schools and colleges of our island colony are filled with the clever, almond‐eyed students. In the Straits Settlements, as in Hong Kong, they compete with the Europeans in commerce and vie with them in wealth. All that he is in other countries the Chinaman can become in his own under the liberal rule of an enlightened Government. The foreigners who trade with the Chinese say that the latter are far more trustworthy in business than many a white man. The Chinese merchant’s word is his bond. The Japanese are not so reliable; and their artisans are by no means as industrious as their Celestial neighbours. The latter, under no compulsion, will toil day and night to complete some work by the time they have agreed to finish it.