The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-10-07
Washington
Merry-Go-
Round
BY DREW PEARSON and
ROBERT 5. ALLEN


NTASHINGTON. Oct. What
w the Navy, the general staff
and President Roosevelt himself,
really are worried about in the
Ethiopian situation. is the Pacific.
Surface conversation centers on
the danger of war in Europe, a
blockade, the hazards of American
shipping
But naval and military Strategists
are looking in the opposite direction.
The area they are worried about IS
China, Siberia and Japan.
Reason for this might be Summar-
lied in the words of Col. Kenji Mat
Sumoto, Japanese military attache
in Washington Col MatSumoto is
extremely frank. Without the bat
of an eye he says:
"Manchukuo is a very nice coun-
try, but it has no gold The mari
time provinces eastern Siberia;
have gold. They also have fish,
timber, many things Japan needs.
When we get ready We shall take
them. This will be the flrss result
Of the Italo-Ethiopian war"
Even if Col. MatSumoto were
not so frank, United States mill
tary and naval intelligence offices
have ample reports. indicating all
too wildly Japan's plans for taking
not merely eastern Siberia, but the
China coast. Hongkong and even
the Dutch East Indies.
In fact, the japanese foreign of
flee, one year ago, was almost as
frank as Col. Matsumoto. 1t sug-
gested to both the Dutch and Brit
ISL governments that the time might
| come when Sumatra and Hongkong
would become a liability to their
present owners and they might wish
to turn them over to Japan.
This is what has furrowed the
brows of naval and military strate-
gists. and even of the President him
self.
THEY are not particularly con-
4 cerned about Japan biting off a
piece of Siberia. But for Japan TO
march down the China coast, de-
velop the tremendous resources of
the Yangtze Valley, the rich
markets of South China, and corner
the oil wells of the Dutch East In
dies, would make her not only in
vincible in the Pacific, but one of
the most powerful nations in the
world.
This is why the State, War and
Navy Departments are watching so
| intently the next move of Great
Britain and the use of its powerful
fleet For it is automatic that once
the British feet becomes definitely
| involved in the Mediterranean, the
japanese cut lose with impunity in
the Orient.
1t is also why the British are do
ing a lot more thinking than APP
pears on the surface, to decide
whether to go the whole hog against
Italy. Finally, it is why there have
been some very informal and very
| secret soundingS to learn Just what
would be the position of the Ameri-
can fleet in relation to the British
fleet, in case war breaks and spreads
to the Pacific.
In the latter event, there is one
group Of StrategiSts within the Ad-
| mlnistration which believes that the
United States should throw its
weight emphatically with the Brit
ish.
CONFIDENTIAL cabled reports
~ indicate that the British adj
mlralty is not seriously wor-
RED about the italian fleet. British
WarShlpS could wipe the Italian navy
OF the Mediterranean. the admir-
atty figures. But in doing so. the
British would lose at least two or
three battleships and three or four
cruisers.
The admiralty considers this in
evitable. And this really worries
| them. For such a loss would mean
British navy inferior to Japan's.
1t would also mean a free hand for
Japan IN the Far East-a free hand
which would begin the minute hos
tilities started in the Mediterranean
MuSsolini knows this. The last
thing he wants is war with the
British, but he figures Britain will
back down.
Mussolini also knows that the
Russians are powerless to help the
the British in the Far East He him.
self encouraged Hungary, Italy's ally,
to form supplementary alliance
with Germany and Poland, in part
directed against the Soviet. The
minute Moscow is engrossed with
trouble in Siberia, Poland plans to
bite off the Ukraine.
u
THEREFORE, the only country
l. which can be of material as
sistance to the British is France.
Hence the constant dickering be-
tween London and Paris.
Copyright. 1885. by United Feature
Syndicate, IncJ
g Rv George Clark