Evening star., 1920-07-15
MURDERS ON AMUR
AROUSE JAP PANESE
Newspapers Advocate Nu-
merous Courses From With
draWaI to ReprisaI.
BY JUNIUS h. WOOD.
Correspondence of The Star and Chi
cago Daily News.

III stance. A war OIHCc COfflNnuHiiue
II stated that Chinese gunboats hat
II | fired on the Japanese, while com
II munique from the same office on the
H following day located the Chinese
II gunboats as icebound twenty miles
from Nikolaevsk. The radios from
the japanese correspondents who ac-
cofnpanied the expedition have beer
\ equally unsatisfactory. They have
i found the bodies of Consul lshida ano
I Commander Miyake. who were re-
ported to have perished in the burn
| ing consulate in March, with the for
mer's decorations and his children's
toys near by, but no trace has been
reported of the 100 survivors of the
I March affair. who are now reported
to have been massacred on May 20
a week before the relief expedition
arrived. No version has come from
the Japanese foreign office or from
the Russian authorities.
More Territory or Withdrawal.
There is no doubt. however. that
| there were several days OF bltteI
| fighting in March before the lSu
civilian and soldier survivors were
The war office reports agree that
these survivors later disappeared
nrobably executed in some manner
The only Japanese survivors 1ouno
were the wives of about twenty
Chinese and Russian hshermen sea-
Several organizations are clrculat- L
inc namphlets with bloodcurdling de-
tails and arranging mass meetings..
Their purpose is to collect money 1or
the relatives of the victims ana erect
monuments Even more potent OF re-
suIt is the preparation among the
| lead ers of different political elements,
whether elder statesmen. peers or
commoners. to take advantage OF the
incident.
| The newspaperS are characteristic
ally clamoring for action. They seem
to agree that responsibility rests both
With Russia and Japan-RussianS for
iperpetrating the crimes and the Japa
nese government for leaving It's cltl-
Gems insuff1ciently protected in Nlko-
! IIseysk. WEAn it comes to imposing
nun;shment on either Russia or Ja-
pan they do not agree
One or two advocate stronger dis
play Of military force and greater ac-
tivity in Siberia. They would hold at
least all the Siberian littoral. The
censorship bureau of the police de-
partment warned all newspapers not
to print anything Indicating that the
occupation of Nikolaevsk was perma-
nent, with the result that many have
taken it as a hint In reverse Eng
lish." The majority of the newspa-
pers urge the withdrawal of all Japa-
nese troops from Siberia and some go
SO far as to declare that the Niko-
laeysk massacres would have been
avoided If that policy had been fol-
lowed earlier.
Blame the Militarists.
The trend of the same newspapers
il to place all blame ct home on the
shoulders of the military party. They
Iconsider it opportune for ousting them
from control of the government. 9th
ers place responsibility on the gov
ernnient," and at least one demands
the imme ediate resignation OF the en-
tire Hara cabinet.
''1f the Russian authorities are url-
able to prevent massacres of foreign
ers we should take it upon ourselves
to dispose Of the bandita." says the
withdraw our forces If there are such
men among the Russians as have COM
mitted the inhumanities at Niko
laevsk.''
During the twenty-one months the
Hara government has been in office 1T
has made many blunders in dealing
with America. China and Russia" !"
says the Toxic Yorodzu. Japan is
one of the five powers and charged
with maintaining the peace of the
world. America proposes to interfere
in the internal disturbances Of Mex
leo and the republicans have made in
terference one of the planks Of their
platform Japanese troops ought to
be useful in controlling such barba- =
rians as the partisans. They are quite
different from the bolsheviki and per-
haps the best means is to clear a GER
tain area of these barbarians. This
is a duty which Japan owes to man.
kind"
BOlsheviki and Pnrtisans.
The TOXIC Kogumin. of which
Iichiro Tokuyomi, a peer. is editor
and proprietor. advocated thorough
going punitive measures" and ad-
vises the powers to devote their ef-
forts to the protection of their own
interests and territories and leave
Russia alone" One day it character
ICES all Russians as cruel Slavs, and
troops at Nikolaevsk for any length
of time. Never withdraw them until
Russia and her people are penitent.
On the other hand we should not turn
our resentment against the partisans
to the innocent Russians On the con-
trary. we should love them"
Several of the newspapers differen-
tiate between the partisans and the
bolsheviki, and the TOXIC Yomiuri. Of
which Satsuo Akitsuki. a former am
bassador, is editor. after referring to
the Lloyd George conference,
says: ut is too parochial of Japan
that she should be blind to the change
in character of the soviet government
and to the worlds conception of the
bolsheviki" The editor says the gov
ernment should have anticipated the
Nikolaevsk events which it provoked
by the clash at Vladivostok. the Japa-
nese army's six demands, the occu-
patton Of northern Saghalien in Feb
ruary. and continues: "The best way
to protect the Japanese is to with
draw the Japanese troops. The au-
thorities wax indignant at the cruel
ties and inhumanities of the bolshe-
Wiki and propose to dispatch more
troops to punish them. What will the
world say about such policy"