Evening star., 1933-01-12
LEAGUE CONSIDERS
JAPAN'S EXPULSION
Leading Powers May Take
Drastic Step to Preserve
Geneva's Prestige.
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.

"A movement to disbar Japan from
membership in the League of Nations
is reported to be in progress at present
at Geneva. The matter, according to
reliable information received in Wash
ington, is now being discussed also in
some of the chancelleries Of the lead
ing powers, members of the league.
A suggestion that such a step might
be taken in order to save the much
lower prestige of the Society of Nations
was made some time ago by some of the
minor powers.
But certain nations were reluctant to
agree to such a drastic measure, in the
hope that Japan would not continue
her military activities in China, and
that with certain amount of delay,
the Manchurian question might be for
gotten or settled in manner to satisfy
everybody.
Other Nations Reused.
The new Japanese aggression against
China, much more unjustified than the
invasion of Manchuria, appears to have
reused even those nations which were
AdtOl1lk d pOuCy u wall ana see.
The powers with little or no interest
in the Far East see in the new military
activities of Japan a direct challenge
to everything the League of Nations
stands for and fear that If this chal-
lenge were not taken up at once, the
league would become completely use
less
The major powers which have been
advocating a go slow" policy see in
the Japanese attitude toward China,
and especially In the threatened inva-
sion Of what is called the Boxer terri
tory, direct challenge to their treaty
rights and prerogatives in that portion
of the Far East, and are at loss to
know what could be done not to COM
picate the situation, and yet defend
the rights of their nationals.
Feared japanese Action.
Japan is proud race So far, every
time there was a possibility of the
League Of Nations intervening strongly
in the Sino-Japanese dispute, the
japanese threatened to leave the League.
The League was afraid that such a.
move by Japan might disrupt that i'm
portant body altogether, and has
Systematically yielded to the Japanese
threats. This gave the Japanese ma
ton an exaggerated idea of its might
and importance
Now that Japan has gone further
than even her best friends at Geneva
expected her to go, the move to expel
Japan from the concert of international
powers is gaining ground.
The theory upon which the advocates
Of this move are working is that the
expulsion of the Japanese Empire from
the League of Nations, thus forestall-
ing the threat of Japan to leave that
organization voluntarily, would have a
powerful moral effect on the Japanese
people themselves.
II the Japanese government and the
Japanese nation is informed by the
League that they are not considered
worthy of remaining members of the
League, this would be the first time in
history that nation has been found
to act so unethically that it actually
had to be expelled from that interna-
tional organization.
Won't Affect Army.
Naturally, nobody believes that such
a move will have an immediate effect
upon the operations of the japanese
army in China, but it is thought that
eventually the Japanese people, who are
bound to smart under such reproval
from the rest of the civilized world, will
try to change their attitude towards in
ternational pacts and agreements.
This is by no means certain, but still
1t is considered by many members of
the League as the only dignif1ed action
that body can take in face of the re-
peated slaps it has received from Japan
during the last IL months.