Japan For Peace, Says Eliot.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 27, 1912:
War Scares Absurd, as Mikado's People Would Fight Only as Last Resort.
    HONOLULU, July 26.— Dr. C W. Eliot, President Emeritus of Harvard University, who is returning from a tour of the Orient, in connection with the world peace movement, declared in an address here that neither China nor Japan favored disarmament. Such a course would be impossible for Japan, he said, because of her insular position, which renders it necessary for her to be able to protect her routes of ocean commerce.
    Dr. Eliot characterized the Japanese war scare of recent years as absurd. Japan, he said, was not in the least inclined to be warlike and would fight only as a last possible resort if attacked.
    The only hope of world-wide disarmament, Dr. Eliot declared, lies in the American policy of exemption of private property from attack at sea.
    Dr. Eliot is carrying to the United States a memorial, signed by many leading Chinese statesmen asking that an American library be established at Peking. It is urged that such a step would lead to a better understanding of American ideas by the people of China.