Evening star., 1932-02-15
JAPAN IS FACING
INTERNAL CRISIS
Seiyukai Government Threat.
ened With Downfall in EIec.
tions Scheduled SATURDAY..
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK. February 15.-The
situation at Shanghai. where japanese
troops are battling TO wrest possession
Of the city from the Chinese. is
secondary in importance to Japans
internal condition, where the Seiyukai
government faces an insufferable posi-
ton in the elections set for February 90
according to Josef Washington Hall,
better known as Upton Close, author
and lecturer. recently returned from
the Far East.
Mr.. Close, author of The Revolt of
Asia" has spent most of the last Is
years in China and Japan as q
journalist. He has figured in a number
Of revolutions in China, where he was
secretary to Gen. WI Pei-Fu at the
time the general was dictator of the
Chinese government.
His pen name is derived from a cable
gram he sent when a correspondent
for an American newspaper during a
war when all messages were being
strictly censored In an effort to tell
his office that the besieging army was
pressing hard upon the defenders he
signed an innocent message up Close. >
The present Japanese government
is ruling without any real sanction OF
the people" Mr.. Close explained TODAY
In his studio at the National Arts Club
Defeated by landslide in the cleo
tions on September II, and faced by q
drastic reduction in the budget, the
military clique. which is controlled, body
and soul, by the MAsui interests de-
cided to spring a coup in Manchuria
and gain the support of the country al
large.
The house of Mitsui is the most
powerful of the vested interests OF
Japan, where 80 per cent of the incor-
porated wealth is in the hands of five
families. The Mitsui wanted to urest
from their opponents the control OF
Southern Manchuria and used the
blocking of the railroad as an excuse
The military clique took over the gov
ernment within week of th.sir Man
churian sally
But the japanese. who are far less
united than outsiders believe-in fact
Japan is a perfect mass of conflicting
elements-are already dissatisfied with
the results achieved by the Seiyukai
government, which promised to end the
Chinese boycott. get foreign loans. pro-
cure world markets and generally bet
ter the condition of the country. which
is on the verge Of economic collapse.
And the military clique. unless it
can capture tie japanese sympathy by
some decisive viNory at Shanghai with
in the next week. faces return of the
Minseito and their own downfall in the
elections. The betting is now three TO
two against the Mitsui, with the odds
based upon guesses regarding the ex-
tent to which the political and military
chiefs will dare go in bribery and po-
lice interference with the balloting
TIE assassination of Inouye by Jingc
gangsters and the news that Baron
Shidehari has broken down under strain
demonstrates the desperate lengths tc
which the Seiyukai government will &C
to defeat the opposition party" con-
tinued Mr.. Close. Il personally believe
that Baron Shidehari knows he is likely
to be assassinated too unless he steps
out of the limelight.
There is an absolute censorship ol
all internal news in Japan. 1t is en-
tirely possible that if their campaign
of bribery and terrorism fails. the pres
ent military government will declare
an open dictatorship until the next
Diet session in July"
r,rbf