1914 - Letter from the American Consul General in Yokohama informing an Indiana druggist that he had no chance of obtaining employment in the Japanese chemical industry because of the country's insularity as well as the uncertainty brought on by World War One

Yokohama, 1914. Envelope or Cover. Very good. This one-page letter, dated 2 November 1914, was sent by George Hawthorne Scidmore, the American Consul General in Yokohama, to Harley H. Mote, a druggist in Indianapolis. It is enclosed in an American Consular Service envelope franked with a 10-sen blue stamp (Scott Type A35) canceled Yokohama circular handstamp. Letter is in nice shape; envelope shows some postal wear.

In this letter, Scidmore informs Mote:

"In reply to your inquiry of October 3, 1914, I have to say that, owing to the unsettled conditions caused by the war in Europe as well as to the fact that manufacturers of chemical (truncated) employ none other than Japanese experts, opportunities of employment are not favorable for you." . At the time Scidmore wrote this letter, Japanese expansion in the northern Pacific was in full swing. Japan saw the outbreak of World War 1 as an opportunity to expand its sphere of influence. Within a week of the war's beginning, Japan proposed to the United Kingdom that it join the Entente in exchange for being allowed to take over Germany's Pacific colonies. On 7 August 1914, the British accepted with the condition that Japan's navy destroy the German East Asian Squadron operating off the Chinese coast. Japan quickly agreed, and on 14 August issued an ultimatum to Germany to abandon the Pacific. When that went unanswered, Japan declared war on both Germany and Austria-Hungary. The Japanese Navy rapidly seized Germany's Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall Islands, and when Tsingtao on the Chinese mainland fell, Japan not only controlled all of Micronesia (except for American Guam and the British Gilbert Islands) but also had a foothold on the Chinese mainland. Its navy, however, sunk no German warships as German Admiral Spee had already deployed his East Asian Squadron to attack the French port at Tahiti. The Japanese fleet did, however, unsuccessfully hunt for the German commerce raider Emden.

Emboldened by its success, In January 1915 Japan secretly placed "21 Demands" upon China that effectively would have made it a Japanese vassal. When China informed the UK and US, the most egregious demands were humiliatingly rescinded, and the seeds were planted that brought Japan into World War 2 as a member of the Axis.

Japanese higher chemical education had become fully equal to the West's by 1890 with the consolidation of four medicinal, research, applied, and agricultural faculties (all directed by distinguished western professors) into the Tokyo Imperial University. Students flocked to the programs and graduates easily filled available positions even as Japan rapidly industrialized.

Between the uncertainty of the war and an ample supply of home-grown chemistry graduates, there simply was no market for American druggists.

(For more information, see Polk's 1916 Indianapolis Directory, "George Hawthorne Scidmore" at Find-a-Grave, Kikuchi and Siderer's "A History of Chemistry in Japan 1820-1955" in AsiaChem, December 2021. . (Inventory #: 010314)