I was up and down the Pacific the year the Mikado died, and chanced to
be in San Diego the month that a Japanese warship put into port because
its commander had suicided of grief over the Emperor's death. The ship
had to lie in port till a new commander came out from Japan. Japanese
coolies were no longer coming; but the Japanese middies had the run and
freedom of the harbor; and they sketched all the whereabouts of Point
Loma--purely out of interest for Mrs. Tingley's Theosophy, of course.

Diaz's ministry had been very hard pressed financially before being
ousted by Madero. Some Boston and Pacific Coast men had secured an
option from the Diaz faction of the sandy reaches known as Magdalena
Bay in Lower California. The Pacific Coast is a land of few good
natural harbors; especially harbors for a naval station and target
practice. Suddenly an unseen hand blocked negotiations. Within a year
Japan had almost leased Magdalena Bay, when Uncle Sam wakened up and
ordered "hands off."

Nicaragua has never been famous as a great fishing country. Yet
Japanese fishermen tried to lease fishing rights there and may have,
for all the world knows. In spite of exclusion acts, they already
dominate the salmon fishing of the Pacific.

Coaling facilities will be provided for the merchantmen of the world at
both ends of Panama. Yet when England and France began furbishing up
colonial stations in the Caribbean, Japan forthwith made offers for a
site for a coaling station in the Gulf of Mexico.

But it was in South America and Mexico that the most active
colonization proceeded. There is not an American diplomat in South