The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1934-04-09


correspondent and foreign affairs
expert. while on q world tour for
NEA Service and the Tribune.
BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS
copyright, 1894, NEA Service, Inc.)
Toxic. April 9.-After Italy and
Germany. party government In Jap
an Is fighting for its life, the odds be-
Ing against survival.
For two and one-half years-since
the army swept through Manchuria-
the Diet has been In almost total
eclipse. Members Of parliament have
not dared lift their voices In criticism
Of the militarists.
Today slight spark Of life Is dis
cernible in the political bodies. but 1t
is extremely feeble. And unless some
thing happens to fan it into q blaze
It will soon 60 out altogether.
Should that happen, Japan would
probably 60 Black Dragon. This
would correspond to Italy going Fas-
ctst and Germany going Nazi.
She would likely return to sort
Of Samurai rule, under her sacred
Emperor.
Nippon may produce her version Of
q Mussolini or q Hitler but, short Of
q cataclysm. there Is little likelihood
that His Imperial Majesty will cease
to be regarded with anything but
piety and awe by the vast majority Of
his subjects.
Wealth In Few Hands
The party system Is in disrepute
In Nippon, because, rightly or wrong
ly, the abuses Of Japanese capitalism
are popularity laid at its door. And
in no other country in the world IS
wealth confined to so few hands.
Factories. shipping, banking. de-
partment stores-practically every
thing in the islands-is controlled by
five or six stupendous interlocking
concerns.
To the public. civil or party gov
eminent has meant vast privileges
and wealth for few and poverty for
the many.
To them, the Diet has not been
composed Of representatives Of the
people, but representatives Of the
big banking, commercial, and indus
trial houses.
Up to the Mukden incident Of
Sept. l8, 1881, one Of the most prom
inent liberals in Japan and former
member Of tho Diet told me, the Jap
anese people had the feeling Of being
hemmed In by stone walls without an
exit.
Many were jobless. University men
were graduated and five Of 100 found
jobs. The other IS went to work as
day laborers-if they were sufficiently
lucky.
Army Finds Way Out
Then the army defied the civil re-
gime and took Mukden. It spread out
all over Manchuria.
And Manchuria. to the masses.
meant the breaking down Of the
stone wall. It meant room to ex-
pand. It meant way out.
At the same time, the factories be-
gan to start up. This meant work.
The yen deprecated, exports started
to boom. the army needed new equip
ment, and pretty soon there was little
unemployment left.
Comparative prosperity returned.
Money began to circulate 50 that
everybody-not just the half dozen
big corporations-could get their
hands on some Of 1t.
Rightly or wrongly again, the
masses became more than ever con-
WINGED that the army IS more patriotic
and more unselfish than the politt-
clans.
Where the politicians feathered
their own nests by looking after the
Big Interests, the army had at heart
the livelihood Of the people through
out the country.
Assassins Made Heroes
Thus, when three young naval Of
ficers assassinated Premier Inukai
and started q movement to over
throw the civil government, they were
popularity hailed, not as murderers,
but as heroes.
So intense was this sentiment
among the masses that even moder-
ate punishment became risky bust
ness.
~ 0eAV Jag - VAC RVPNA04 ANV4A48
against parties that grim determine
ton Is heard among soldiers return
ing from Manchuria that this new
country must be kept forever free
from civilian rule.
I'VE did not take Manchuria," II
heard one Of them say. Ito turn it
over 70 Japanese Big Business. We
took It for the rank and file Of the
Japanese people"
Representatives Of the big con-
Germs who went to Manchuria to in
vestigate opportunities complained
that they were treated by the army
Is II they were foreign spies and had
no business there.
Assails Political Parties
Japanese political parties are rot
ten to the core" Yosuke Matsuoka,
Japan's famed Geneva spokesman,
told me. Il am trying to do away
with. al Of Them"
Hailed - . hero after his return
from Geneva g chief Of the dele.
CATION to the League Of Nations
Manchurian debate, Matsuoka,s first
public oct after his arrival In Toxic