Evening star., 1938-07-07
Disillusioned Japan.

OAC year ago COOdy Japanese troops
engaged in might maneuvers" near
Marco Polo Bridge, outside Peiping, sud-
denly found themselves engaged with
Chinese forces. Thereupon, from trivial
cause. ensued the so-called North
China incident" as Toxic lightly labeled
an episode expected to fade into soon
forgotten history as mere skirmish
with an army hopelessly unable to with
stand the ever victorious hosts of the
Son Of Heaven. Yet out of that small
acorn has grown the tallest oak of war
in Japans history-a conflict which has
blasted the myth Of her military in
vincibility, cost her q years terrific
fighting brought losses of at least 5OO.-
600 men, and entailed, in combined life
and treasure, sacrifices vastly in excess
OF those she had to make in the Russo
japanese war Of 1904-o5.
Such colossal expenditure in blood,
money and prestige might have been
worth the while Of an aggressor nation
if it had achieved its purpose. That is
exactly what the invasion of China has
not done. Far from 1t, Japan is as
remote from victory as ever Her armies
stand deep in the heart of China. The
area of their conquest" is measurable
only in hundreds Of thousands of square
miles. China's chief cities and ports
are in japanese possession-Peiping
11entsin. Shanghai Marking, Suchow,
Swatow and Anking, to enumerate them
roughly in the order of their capture,
up to and including this week. The
f1rst anniversary Of undeclared war even
finds the invaders sweeping, apparently
1rreslstibly, across the trackless and
sWampy Yangtze Valley and pushing
up river, without serious opposition,
toward their next goal, the seat of China,s
fugitive government at Hankow.
Yet Chang Kai-shek. long since the
lndisputable leader of a people welded
into unbelievable national unity in the
crucible of invasion-bred patriotism,
lights on. THE intense sufferings of
our people says the generalissimo, in
war anniversary proclamation, have
served only to steel our purpose to
resist the invader to the bitter end. In
the nations determination to see tts
territory liberated. and our honor and
sense of justice vindicated, lies our con-
hdence in final victory. There will be
no cessation Of hostilities until the
Japanese realize their folly, or are driven
of our soil.'
Were there not a twelvemonth Of
heroism in the field and unbroken
morale behind the lines to justify such
a pronunciamento, Chiang's defiant dec
laration might be dismissed as sheer
bravado. But the degree to which
Chinese soldiers have compelled the
admiration Of the world by their per-
formances against overwhelming odds
lmpels people everywhere to respect
words backed by such deeds. No longer
can 1t be taken for granted that japan
will win the war. There are now grounds
Tor believing that she will be fortunate
not to lose it.
The island empires misfortunes in
China are paralleled by its vicissitudes
at home. An ironclad censorship hides
the full truth from Occidental know
ledge. But enough has seeped through
to permit the conclusion that japan
hovers on the abyss of economic COLLAPSE.
A campaign costing in the neighborhood
OF 100000 day cannot be indefinitely
conducted by a nation with as limited
resources as those at Tokio's disposal
Catastrophe may be postponed, but it
appears inevitable.
Of perhaps even more tragic signif-
cance-and this is circumstance which
dlstresses Americans, among whom the
Japanese people once claimed we'll
nigh universal friendship-is the com.
pleteness with which they have forfeited
the worlds respect, in consequence of
the ruthlessness with which the assault
on China has been conducted. One
wonders whether in moments of sane
introspection Japan realizes the i'm.
mensity Of the task that confronts her in
regaining the esteem Of nations whose
sensibilities were shocked and staggered
by the horrors which accompanied the
sack of Marking and the bombing Of
Canton. Civilized mankind will not soon
forget how "Bushido" ran amuck on
those occasions.
To Washington, on the eve of this
first anniversary of Japan's disillusion-
ment, came word from an American
who speaks with exceptional knowledge
and authority respecting the sad history
now being made in China. "Japan."
he writes, sis exerting an expensive and
extensive effort. We all wonder how
long she will wish to carry this on, for
the deeper she sinks in the morass that
is China, the more we are convinced
that in the end it must ruin her"