Japanese Actions Now Mock Words on Inscription Here

Lines written on two bronze tablets in a lovely corner of Seward Park--the little isle of trees and stone set aside to remind men and women of the ideal of peace between the United States and Japan--make ironic reading today.

It is hard to look at them without remembering two words which do not appear on the stone mounted tablets--Pearl Harbor--although that may be unfair to the ancient artisans of Nippon who made the huge stone lantern around which the little park is laid out.

The lantern, presented by the citizens of Yokohama in gratitude for the aid Seattle gave during the Japanese earthquake of 1923 stands beside a lone flowering cherry tree in the midst of sheltering pines.

It is flanked by the two branze [bronze] tablets.

The lines on the first say:

"Manifesting the gratitude of the people of Yokohama for the assistance given them by the citizens of Seattle on the occasion of the disastrous earthquake of 1923 and symbolizing the peace and good will that exists between Japan and the United States, this Taiko-Gaita Lantern was presented on September 15, 1930, to the City of Seattle by the City of Yokohama."

The other tablet reads:

"To serve as a constant reminder of the growing amity between the people of Japan and the United States and to commemorate the visit of the Japanese naval training ships in 1929, the first of 3,500 Japanese cherry trees given the City of Seattle by the Japanese residents of the city and environs were planted in this park December 12, 1929, by former Premier Reijiro Wakatsuki and Admiral and Madame Taeishi Takarabe."

There were no citizens of the busy day of Seattle who had the time or the inclination to visit the green little retreat yesterday to read the lines.

The great lantern and the weathered tablets stood alone with the chill wind moving the shrubs and pines around them.

After a while a four-engined Flying Fortress undergoing test checks--an airplane which might well soon spread death in the city of Yokohama or in the fleet where the former cadets who visited Seattle now serve--came snarling across the afternoon sky.

By some coincidence it banked above the little park and flew away as though it had paid a hurried call above the shrine before departing on the grim business for which it was constructed.