The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-08-06
JAPAN JITTERY,
RESENTMENT AT
CARTOON SHOWS
Emphasizes Turmoil Due to
Army'S Desire to Keep
Nippon on Top.
BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS
Scripps- Howard Foreign Editor


WASHINGTON. Aug. Nippon
protest to the United States that
the publication in this country Of
a cartoon Of Emperor Hirohito was
a deep affront to all japanese"
has brought up Official Washing
ton with jerk.
hot that this government feels
any responsibility in the matter,
Boosting as II does Of free speech
and free press. but the astounding
incident has suddenly revealed to it.
as though by a flash Of lightning
I'm the dark, the hair-trigger charaC-
ter Of the whole Far Eastern sit
Uation.
Japan is In the initial stages Of
what she feels IS a fight for life. A
hret-class power. she lacks the ter
rtoral and economic resources to
maintain her permanently on that
basis. She is confronted with the
alternatives OF increasing such re-
sources or dropping back to lesser
status
Faces Herculean Task
That she VIII not even consider.
she would rather shed the last drop
Of her blood Accordingly. Hercu-
lean task lies ahead. She plans
nothing less than the creation of a
vast new empire. Sacrifices almost
beyond national and human endur-
ance viii be essential for years to
come.
The basis of these sacrifices is en-
perOr worship. The emperor to the
japanese. is not like other emperors.
He is not even quite mortal. He IS
the direct descendant of the grand
son of the deity Amterasu-O-M
Kami. the sun goddess. He and his
line are eternal. For them. every
japanese must be glad to die, give
up fortune, submit to any and all
sacrifices uncOmplainingly
To carry out her divine destiny,
Japan must expand. To do this, she
plans a navy equal to Britain's and
America s. a powerful army and a
mighty air force. And these things
cost money. Taxes are already high
Yet the population has been warned
that bigger demands are still to
come. Last years military budget
was the largest in the country's
peaceume history This years is
still digger. Nor. government spokes-
men have indicated. viii the next
five years see them any smaller.
Chinese Writer Jailed
When the hard-put financial ex-
pertS of the government ask the
militarists where so much money
is to come from. the reply is:
That's your business, not ours
Find the money!
For some time Japan has been
issuing what they call red ink"
bonds More will be needed before
japanese expansion in Asia is COM
pleted. Tremendous sacrifices in
blood and money appear inevitable.
The militarists, therefore, are re-
sorting to all sorts of means to
keep the population stirred up.
They are constantly juggling with
dynamite. The foreign office is
prOdded into doing its share. Last
year, when a Chinese newspaper at
Tsingtau published something about
the Japanese emperor, its plant
was not only wrecked. but China
had to apologize. Toxic threatened
10 send warShipS.
Recently a Shanghai publication
committed a similar offenSe. Nam
king was again ordered to apologize
and punish the writer. The latter
was sent to prison for IA months.
Emperor Held Supreme
Political parties in Japan-virtu-
ally dead since the Manchurian ad-
venture began and the militarists
took over the power-lately have
been discussing a return to conSti-
tutional government. 1t is regarded
as significant. therefore. that stimuli
taneouSly with the protest to Wash
ington. there was published through
out Japan, at the militarists de-
mand. warning to the "constitu-
tlOnahsts'
The national policy of Japan"
the government statement read, is
clearly revealed in the divine mes
sage that the sun goddess gave her
grandson. the first emperor, on his
advent in ,TaDan
When the constitution was pro-
mulgated. Emperor Meiji pro-
claimed: We inherit supreme rights
from our ancestors and transmit
them 10 our descendants. Article l
Of The constitution provides. the
empire shall be ruled over and gov
erned by a line of emperors unbro-
ken from ages eternal 1t is there
fore clear that supreme power rests
with the emperor"
The militariStS of Japan deem the
divine origin cult vital to their
plans. The Japanese masses will
sacrifice lives and fortunes more
readily for 1t than for a constitu-
ton or a parliament.