No. 655, Fujiyama, Japan, titled "A Temple Near the Foot of Mt. Fuji."

Containers:

Box 1, Folder 24

Material specific details:

Printed on back: "No. 655. FUJIYAMA, JAPAN. A TEMPLE NEAR THE FOOT OF MT. FUJI. The disestablishment of Shinto is another instance of the peculiar method by which reforms, whether political, social, or moral, are usually accomplished in Japan. In Occidental nations political reforms have been initiated by the people, by the power of public opinion; and popular rights have been wrested by the ruled from the unwilling rulers, whether feudal barons or monarchs. But in Japan all the political and social reforms of the last few decades have been imposed by the ruling classes upon the indifferent people, who are not like the Irishman who, when he was asked immediately upon landing in New York, to which party he belonged, promptly replied, 'I'm agin the government.' The common people of Japan are always 'for the government,' or at least they never object to any innovation, but 'keep the noiseless tenor of their way,' gradually adapting themselves to the new order of things, as soon as they are firmly established. The reason for this unique condition is that the upper classes of Japan never oppressed and enslaved the lower; extreme wealth and extreme poverty are unknown in Japan. A8893"

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