The daily morning oasis., 1920-08-13
BY HENRY W. KINNEY


TOKYO, August 1.-THE arrest
of Tsunanoru Oyama, young mem
ber of one of Japan's very highest
families, on charge of having sold
military maps to an American, who
in turn handed them over to "a Ger
tain embassy" as the vernacular
press carefully expresses it, has
caused considera CONSERVATION in
officla circles as well as with the
public in general, although the mat
ter is at present veiled in the midst
of official secrecy.
Young Oyama IS a nephew of the
late Field Marshall Prince Oyama,
one of Japan's foremost statesmen
group, which is virtually the ultimate
power in the country. The young
man i also d cousin to Prince Oyama
the present head OF this great IA
mily. md his prominence makes the
incident especially interesting, as
we'll as the fact that, while no direct
charge has been made against the
American embassy, the accounts OF
the affair take pains to veil their
illusions SO thlnly that no room is
left open to doubt as to which en-
bassv is referred to.
1t Is STAGED that the young man
was V ith the 14th cavalry regiment
when il seized Habarovsk in August
1918. as a member of a surveying
detail, and that at that time he Sc
cretly took possession Of about 2oo
mans which had been in possession
of TIE enemy. While in Siberia ne
is supposed to have become friend
w witr a certain American and TO
have disposed of the maps to him.
tie miiius.ry attache of the American
embassy being, it is said' tne
ultimate recipient of the maps.
Several other young men have been
arrested as Oyama's accomplices, ana
tie a.thoritles are now making
thorough investigation of the affair.
It Is certain that considerable I'M
nortance attaches to the matter, as
;s evident from the fact that Oyama
has en- arrested and as the gen.
darm.r;e. which handled the case
cla,mc that it made absolutely sure
of It's ground, before taking steps,
owing to the high cUnAleetions o1 tle
young man.
n, me other hand, it does not seem
quite Plain why the American en-
bassy or any other embassy shouid
nav 4G,UOO yen which is alleged 10
no the amount paid for the MAPS
for data regarding Siberia par
ticularly as the American forces
have Withdrawn from tnat region ana
sbou.d d therefore take no great IN
ts,e..r. therein. 1t therefore looks as
II lie maps may be more important
ttat as been given out.
The 1ernacular press stated Jew
days.aeo that the foreign office had
beer. requested to take steps to Sc
cure the arrest of the military at
tache. INQUIRY at the foreign Office
bowever. elected the information tnat
no su. h steps had been taken, and
It wa. added that as diplomatic OF
f,ci;L are immune from arrest, no
such action could be taken, unless the
county involved consented thereto.
TIE foreign office officials were
rather annoyed that anything had
heen e;ven out at all about the af-
fair. They stated that the Ameri-
can charge daffaires had called on
tie foreign minister and complain
ed ah ut the various statements
y ,ic, bad been made in the press
and as a consequence an investlga-
tion Vas made which brought out
that the gendarmeria had. told the
story.
The lress states that the au-
thorit.es are rather in quandary
owing to the fact that they have nc
definite information as to the exact
nature of the maps, and upon theif
imports nee depends in large meas
ure the severity of the punishment
70 be roeted out. "To secure that IN
f. ru,~r;cn is almost impossible" thus
remarks the Nichi Nichi, as the maps