Despite the desire of the Opposition to secure the apple' of power, there is a general, albeit vague, fear of a general election because, with the manhood suffrage act now law, twelve millions will go to the polls, of whom nine millions are new voters. There are those who believe that a general election will cause the country to drift more and more towards unstable political equilibrium and that, owing to the political ignorance of the Japanese, factional and ings will so increase as to cause Japanese consciousness to lose its stirring for the world prestige.
The Japanese nation to-day is very restless, a fact that can be noted by even the superficial observer, and the question arises whether" the—newly-emancipated middle class and the working class will not express their feelings at the polls in terms of economics rather than by calm contemplation of the issues they are called on to decide, Even the country districts, aa the recent troubles between landlords and tenant farmers have shown, are more or less tinged with Socialist ideas, while in the urban industrial areas the workers are far more radically inclined,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.