The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1943-02-05
BY LEVERNE HAMILTON
PEARL HARBOR

Amid rapidly transpiring events il
is more difficult for the analyst tc
accurately catalogue and classify the
current happenings in their relation
to the evolutionary process as a whole
than to properly catalogue and class
ify past events. This is due to the
fact that much information is garbled
by faulty reporting, public excitement
which prevents an accurate account
being given or, as is often the case,
by deliberate misrepresentation.
When to these difficulties is added
the understandable desire of capitalist
news mediums to retain their position
as "molders of public opinion" the
task of the analyst who desires to
present an accurate picture is made
doubly difficult.
While polls of public opinion indi-
Gated that America was overwhelm-
ingly 'isolationist' so far as Europe's
was was concerned, and students of
world diplomacy were far more
alarmed over the transpacific situa-
ton than over Europe's troubles, came
the morning of December 7th with
it's news of Pearl Harbor. Mr.. and
Mrs. America, whose full attention
had been kept focused on the Euro
pean struggle by capitalist spokesman
and news mediums, were rudely
awakened to the disagreeable fact
that "the little brown brother" was
knocking on our back door with a
fpir, 1nv in,
ment of Japan had failed, just as
Munich appeasement of Schicklegru-
Der had failed in Europe.
The full story of American di-
plomatic failure and Japanese treach-
cry has yet been told few students
of world affairs have reason to be-
lieve. World capitalism had assisted
i'm building Japan's war machine just
as it had simultaneously aided in the |
construction of the Hitler menace
While China suffered from the effects |
of Japanese aggression, American cap
ital was realizing profits from the sale |
of scrap and war material to Japan.
The matter of principle or the ques-
ton of right or wrong has never yet |
carried any great amount of weight |
in the capitalist scales when balanced
against the enormous influence of
profits.
How much the capitalist diplomacy
of America had lured Japan into the
belief that Uncle Sam would be an
easy and unsuspecting victim will
probably never be known. How much
pressure the influence of capital had
exerted to bring about the unparal-
leled treachery of Japan must also
remain for years a matter of specula-
ton. Those who read both in and
between the lines of capitalist news
mediums, realize all too plainly that d,
the full and true story of the out ,
break of apanese-American hostili-
ties has not yet, and may never be,
fully told. The American. white ;
Book recently published makes, to
the careful reader, some exceedingly
damaging admissions, for example: If
Secretary Hull made the statement
attributed to him by that publication
that the Japanese situation was now
out of the hands of diplomacy and up f
to the army and navy, how could it c
be possible that our statesmen were
SO taken by surprise" as they would d
have us believe? If our ambassador F
to Japan passed the administration
The warning almost a year previous Il
10 Pearl Harbor, as intimated by the d
White Book" how could our state S
department. have been SO unexpectant d
If the imminence of Japan's treach- 0
cry? If two men in the military v