Evening star., 1932-07-03
Manchuria, Economic Pawn of Orient
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN

Manchuria, or Manchoukuo, as the
new state created by japanese force
and diplomacy is called. is destined
to constitute the great economic pawn
of the Far East for anywhere from
10 to so years. It is to be moved IN
a triangular game participated IN by
Japan. Russia and slumbrous China,
and no one can say today under whose
flag it viii be found a few generations
hence Today it is japanese. and for
this reason offers but limited market
for American wares because Japan
seized the territory as previously she
had seized Korea, for the purpose Of
finding an outlet for her own goods
and her territorial pressure.
Manchuria is a country as large as
France and Germany, or Texas and
California, and within her borders are
30,000,000 people, nearly all Chinese.
1t is fertile land, but has growing
season Of only four months. narrowing
the variety of cultivable crops. Never
theless. the grains, the timber, the furS
and the almost untouched mineral
wealth form an economic background
Of great potential riches.
While the trouble in Shanghai has
subsided and Japan is seeking peaceful
penetration and settlement of the Man
churian country. the country itself is
far from tranquility. Few towns OF
any considerable size, few railroads and
no highways at all mean that communi-
cation Is slow and the wildness lends
itself readily to guerrilla warfare. Agi-
tated. and to some extent officered, by
southern Chinese. the Manchurians
readily form themselves into banditti
and keep the land in dangerous turmoil!
under the cloak of Chinese patriotism.
Less than a century ago Japan was
dwelling in a sequestered medievalism
under feudal system. Her entire his
tory has been warlike, her samurai
class so completely dominant that
member could, without question, de-
capitate any inferior he chose. The
sword was the prime influence. With
the opening of the ports, foreign trade
began and the long repression of the
Japanese people seemed to make them
all the more eager to adopt Western
ideas. A victorious war with China
gave new confidence to the military
class. Then the easy victory over Rus
sia. won before the Russian forces had
time to arrive on the scene, still fur
ther magnified the Japanese militarists
in their own opinion. These struggles
they had won with Occidental weapons
and by following Occidental methods.
Only the military spirit was pure Nip
ponese.
UnweIcOme Situation Develops.
Then came the World War and ia
pan Waxed rich. She was not permit
ted to land troops in France, but
served the allies in naval patrol work
to limited extent. The principal ef-
feet of the war was the enrichment of
her industries, which received profitable
contracts. From a land OF home in
dustries, Japan began transition to a
factory system and introduced the ma
chine age When, in 1923, the earth
quake razed her greatest cities, she
built anew in the Occidental manner,
adopted Western architecture, trans
portation, even clothing and ideas. Her
warlike tradition of victory had become
fixed and she went into the Man
churian aggression sure of herself.
With the failure at Shanghai, the
Chinese boycott, the curtailment of her
sales to the United States, principally
Of raw silk, she entered, for the first
time in the lives Of most of her people,
a period of check. Her young men
fire eaters, raised in the old military
spirit. can scarcely understand what is
the matter. Her young men of the