Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-10

bers would not give to Toxic a good ex-
cuse to claim "a vital interest" in Man
Churia
All these things put together-the
desire of occupying a rich province, the
desire to find an adequate territory for
the Japanese surplus population within
easy reach of the mother country. the
fear that the Chinese and the Russians
might get together and thwart the
clans of the Toxic government-have
/ induced the japanese government to
forget all the pledges they had given
China and the rest of the world and
proceed to the annexation of Manchuria
in some form or other.
World Powers in Sore State.
The world powers are in a sore state
today. In spite of the efforts of the
United States, the process of reconCil-
ing the European nations is making
slow progress.
Great Britain, which at one time was
the most feared nation in the Far East,
collapsed Unexpectedly and is today
/ fighting for her own existence. The
economic depression has hit the whole
! world to such an extent that every
country feels compelled to look out for
herself and has no time to worry about
treaties and pledges given by Japan.
The present, therefore, is considered
an ideal moment for the japanese i'm
perilistS to strike a decisive blow. They
took advantage of the treaty of 1915.
called the treaty of 81 demands" and
Of the fact that the Chinese had failed
to live up to it. Although the Jap
aneSe government is one of the mem
bers of the League of Nations and con-
sequently pledged not to take up arms
unless the Council of the League has
examined the causes of a dispute al
though Japan is SignatOry OF the
KellCgg-Brian pact. whereby she mas
pledged her word TO settle any dispute
by amicable means, the japanese gen
eral staff, without any warning and
basing its claims on the fact that Jap
aneSe nationals were threatened and
that the Southern Manchurian Rail
way was interfered with, sent troops
into Manchuria.
Pretext Easily Found.
A pretext was easily found The
Japanese railway guards claimed to
have found Chinese individuals blowing
up sections of the Southern Manchurian
Railway; the men, thus discovered at
midnight, September 16, were shot on
the spot Queerly enough, as If the
japanese military authorities had had
a premonition that the Chinese would
attempt to blow up their railroads, three
columns of japanese infantry and artil-
lery were all ready and marched out
of Mukden in full war kit only three
hours after the guilty Chinese had been
discovered.
The Chinese appealed to the League
of Nations on September 10. The Japa-
nese diplomats agreed to practically
anything the Council OF the League Sug-
gested and explained confidentially in
Washington and at Geneva that the
military had run amuck" again, but
that the situation would be straight
ened out in no time. Everybody signed
with relief, and diplomats congratulated
each other because the machinery OF
the League showed the world war &C
tually could be prevented.
on october % the international dip
lonats had their first real shock when
the japanese government informed
them that the Japanese troops would
not be withdrawn from Manchuria I'M
less thu Chinese agreed definitely to
settle the many questions left in abey-
ance in the treaty of 1918.
every Sorry" Says Japan.
"That means taking a defenseless
nation by the throat" shouted the
League of Nations diplomats. you
can't do that"
Very SOrry,' the japanese answered,
"but it can't be helped. The Chinese
have oyerplayed their hand and If
they want to come to terms, they know
the road to Toxic"
To show that they mean business
the Japanese general staff started late
last week further advance into the
Western Manchuria. An excuse was
again easily found. A Chinese regular
army had opened fire on party of
japanese engineers, detailed to repair
some bridges across the River Nonni.
Both the Japenese and the Chinese
forces suffered casualties and, today,
there is a regular state of war in Man
churia.
Nobody can say that the japanese arc
not astute diplomats They managed
to lull Europe and the United States
into a sense of security; they convinced
everybody that the Manchurian incident
of September IT was a trivial affair
which would be settled satisfactorily in
no time When everything was ready
for the last move which is calculated to
give Japan effective control ever Man
churia, they showed their hand and
said This is a business between the
Chinese and ourselves If peaceful set
Element is desired the Chinese know
where to find us"
So did the Koreans 81 years ago.
The United States is vitality interested