Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/72

 exclusion of aliens. But as regards the enjoyment of civil rights, the custom of making a rigid distinction between native subjects and aliens is now a matter of history. At present there is a tendency in almost every country to enable aliens to enjoy, with one or two exceptions, civil rights equally with natives.

19. At the present time, appointment to a military or civil post, or to any other public function, is not regulated by consideration of family. This must be regarded as one of the splendid results of the Restoration. The Constitution now guarantees by the present article that neither nobility nor degree of rank shall any longer be allowed to militate against the equality of all men in regard to appointment to office. Still, the proper qualifications established by law or ordinance,—such as, for example, proper age, payment of taxes, the passing of examinations—shall be the required conditions for appointment to an office or to any post of public trust.

As it is stated that 'Japanese subjects may be appointed to civil or military or any other public offices equally,' it follows that this right is not extended to aliens, unless by provisions of a special enactment.

20. Japanese subjects form one of the elements that make up the Japanese Empire. They are to protect the existence, the independence, and the glory of the country … every male subject throughout the land on reaching his twentieth year is entered upon the army and navy rolls, though the number actually called upon to serve each year is determined by the organization of the standing army and navy. Those between their seventeenth and fortieth years of age are all enlisted into the militia, and are liable at any time to be called out, upon the breaking forth of war. Such is the outline of the existing conscription law as it is now carried out. The object of the present article is that every male adult in the whole country shall be compelled, without distinction of class or family, to fulfil, in accordance with the provisions of law, his duty of serving in the army, that he may be incited to valour while his body undergoes physical training, and that in this way the martial spirit of the country shall be maintained and secured from decline.

21. The payment of taxes, like military service, is one of the duties of subjects, as it meets one of the necessities for the common existence of the nation. A tax is the contributive share of each subject in the public expenditures of the State. It is neither benevolence paid in response to exaction, nor a remuneration for certain favours which have been received upon a mutual understanding.

22. The liberty of abode and of changing the same is