consent” is striking and ominous.  It makes divorce a matter of entirely private arrangement, unless one of the parties objects.  In a land where women are so docile, is it likely that the wife would refuse to consent to divorce when her lord and master requests or commands her to leave his home?  “There are not many women in Japan who could refuse to become a party to the ‘mutual consent’ arrangement if they were convinced that they had lost their husband’s affection and that he could not live comfortably with them.”  It would appear that nothing whatever is said by the Code with reference to concubinage, either allowing or forbidding it.  Presumably a man may have but one legitimate wife, and children by concubines must be registered as illegitimate.  Nothing, however, on this point seems to be stated, although provision is made for the public acknowledgment of illegitimate children.  “Thus, a father can acknowledge a natural child, making what is called a ‘shoshi,’ and if, subsequent to acknowledgment, the father and mother marry, the ‘shoshi,’ acquires the status of a legitimate child, such status reckoning back, apparently to the time of birth.”  Evidently, this provision rests on the implication that the mother is an unmarried woman—­presumably a concubine.

Recent statistics throw a rather lurid light on these provisions of the Code.  The Imperial Cabinet for some years past has published in French and Japanese a resume of national statistics.  Those bearing on marriage and divorce, in the volume published in 1897, may well be given at this point.

MARRIAGES   DIVORCES  LEGITIMATE BIRTHS ILLEGITIMATE
1890      325,141      109,088      1,079,121      66,253
1891      325,651      112,411      1,033,653      64,122
1892      349,489      133,498      1,134,665      72,369
1893      358,398      116,775      1,105,119      73,677
1894      361,319      114,436      1,132,897      76,407
1895      365,633      110,838      1,166,254      80,168
1897      395,207      124,075      1,335,125      89,996[BQ]

These authoritative statistics show how divorce is a regular part of the Japanese family system, one out of three marriages proving abortive.

Morally Japan’s weak spot is the relation of the sexes, both before and after marriage.  Strict monogamy, with the equality of duties of husband and wife, is the remedy for the disease.

This slight sketch of the provision of the new Code as it bears on the purity of the home, and on the development of noble manhood and womanhood, shows that the Code is very defective.  It practically recognizes and legalizes the present corrupt practices of society, and makes no effort to establish higher ideals.  Whether anything more should be expected of a Code drawn up under the present circumstances is, of course, an open question.  But the Code reveals the astonishingly low condition of the moral standards for the home, one of the vital weaknesses of New Japan.  The defectiveness of the new Code