Albuquerque Morning Journal

BRITISH OPPOSE GERMAN GIFT TO JAP HOSPITAL
(Associated Press Correspondence.)
Kobe. Japan, Feb. 21.-A proposal from the German residents of Kobe to contribute an operating ward to be known as the "Kaiser Wilhelm II Operating Room" in connection with the reconstruction of the international hospital here, has excited a controversy which is attracting attention throughout Japan. British residents and their sympathizers are opposing the German gift on the ground that it is repulsive to them.
The trustees of the hospital accepted the German fund some time ago. the sum having been raised by the German residents of the city in commemoration of the silver wedding anniversary of the German emperor and empress.
The fund amounted to $7,000, and the original idea was to send it as a gift to the kaiser, but the latter suggested that the money be devoted to some local charity. In turning it over to the hospital, the Germans stipulated that German-made surgical instruments should be used in fitting out the operating theater.
The feeling among the pro-British section of the community is so strong that an endeavor has been made to raise a substitute fund, and this has already reached $4,000. but the Germans declare it is beyond the power of the trustees to change the conditions of their gift.
The controversy centers mainly about the naming of the ward after the kaiser. and in this matter the Germans will accept no compromise.
The Japan Chronicle. voicing the pro-British view, declares it impossible to agree "to the association of a building for alleviating suffering with the name of one who stands as the apotheosis of the frightfulness of the German general staff."
The hospital controversy follows a less important but more sensational incident which occurred when news was received in Kobe of the blowing up of the Lusitania. A prominent British member of the Kobe club procured a long bamboo pole and thrust it through a picture of the kaiser's yacht which was hanging on one of the walls. Largely as the result of this incident the German members of the club resigned almost to a man.