Evening star., 1936-03-08

IlOG QOuDt LIE divinity Oh Tile Eli
peror. Their hatred of the old-time
politician is not caused by a class
feeling. 1t is the consequence Of their
distrust of what they call the jap
anese internationalist who has tried
to slow down the conquest of the
Asiatic mainland
The picture of their sisters being
sold to the loan sharks to pay the
300 per cent interest on money the
rice grower fathers had to borrow to
purchase food when the crops failed
is undoubtedly vivid in the minds of
these officers Still, they are less Bit
ter against the small money lender
than against the big banker whose
tool the loan shark is.
Bitter Against Industrialists,
They are bitter against the big in
dustrlaliSt and the big merchant
whose interests are frequently COM
mon with those of the Western busi-
ness baron. These men seek peace at
any price in order to swell their
banking accounts.
They believe the Emperor is disasso-
ciated from the capitalist leaders Of
the country. But the Emperor, they
say, is misguided by his advisers, who
exaggerate the dangers of complica-
tions resulting from a policy of con-
quest. The old politicians are accused
OF serving the interests of the financial
lords to the detriment of the Emperor
and the nation. And a wholesale
massacre of the political leaders is
necessary to start anew with younger
men who have. the interests of the
people at heart. And the interest OF
the people is summed up in the slogan,
Asia for Japan"
The imperial government has in
deed put spokes in the wheels of the
military since the end of the last World
War. Whatever has been achieved in
the last few years is due exclusively
to the initiative of the officers.
The conquest of Manchuria and
Jehol is the work of the army and not
of the government in Toxic. The
Mukden coup was made by a small
group of Japanese soldiers under the
command of Gen. Eanjo, without the
consent or the knowledge of the WAX
atsuki administration. The gold
braided proletarians did it. Wakat-
suki was sincere when he informed the
governments of the other powers that
the whole matter was merely an in
cident and that he would stop the
army which had gotten temporarily
out of hand. He did not know then
what power that army had and when
he discovered it he was shocked. He
resigned in order to save his life.
Toxic Handicaps Army.
If today the five provinces of North
ern China are nominally autonomous
and have not been placed under the
absolute control of Toxic, it is not the
army,s fault. The Kwantung army
was once more handicapped by the
Toxic government. The Emperor was
told that too aggressive policy in a
zone where there are importnt Ameri-
can British interests was bound to
create international complications and
that Japan was not in q position to
face them.
But the principal grief of the young
army officers against the octogenarians
who were ruling Japan was that they
prevented the showdown with Russia,
thus giving that country chance to
strengthen its defenses in Siberia.
For the last two years the army
has been begging and pleading with
the Toxic cabinet for a war against
the Soviets. Border incidents were
created by the young officers, but the
foreign office managed TO straighteD
them out with Moscow. The Rus
SLAMS were not eager to fight because
they were not ready.
Nov, the trans-Siberian railroad has
been double tracked, the Soviet Army,
350,000 men strong and equipped with
all the modern war paraphernalia-
TOO planes and numerous tanks-is In
a position to meet japanese attack.
To delay further would mean to make
victory doubtful. And the Akada gov
eminent was deferring the outbreak
Of the war. It told the enthusiastic
officers who were pleading for war that