Detroit evening times., 1945-04-17
The ROAD
TO TOKYO
BY James R.
Young

IilCflI was iCopofioiOlC III Gf9
fall of the Koiso government in
Japan.
It's fall was inevitable, and its
succession by a crew of bilge-
water bureaucrats equally inevi-
table.
But Koiso's fiasco was heights
ened by the invasion and the re-
nunciation of the pact. and il is
doubtful IL the government Of
Premier Adm. Baron Kantaro
Suzuki will do better.
Koiso.s home minister was
blamed for the inadequacy OF
fire protection in factories and
AFRAID shelter construction for
the civilians.
The bald fact is that there
exists no place to send harassed
residents of the crowded cities
now targets of our bombers, but
shelter preparations were so
ludicrously inadequate that this
fact is overlooked.
Three great airplane factories
were immobilized by Superfort
raids, and Koiso learned too late
that requirements. Of dies. spe-
cial tools. engines and castings
was next TO impossible.
The third factor in this COM
edy Of incompetence is Col. Kin.
goro Hashimoto. "the Kanga.
roo" Nippon's Heinrich Hmm
Ter. who makes, breaks and
shoots cabinet lineups. Backed
by the equally unprincipled Gen.
Jiro Minami, he controls gov
ernment by assassination.
CALLING the Suzuki cabinet
~ bilgewater buresucrats is
fiattery. Suzuki is a doddering.
dated elder statesman, COM
pletely lacking in organizat tional
ability and entirely unable TO
lead, administer or direct empire
affairs.
His minister of the navy. Ad-
mIra1 MltSumasa Yonai, lost a
fourth OF his feet tonnage the
day after he took the holdover
post in the Suzuki government
- the 45.000-ton Superdread-
naught Yamato. named after
the divine race" which Ameri-
can torpedoes sent 10 the i'm
perial ancestors.
Suzuki,s foreign minister.
Shigenori Togo, is, an apologize,
protocol diplomat.
War Minister Gen. Anami Is
a onetime chief Of police. and il
you know Japanese police you
have fair gauge of his men,
tality.
The naming of Field Mar
shals Sugiyama and Hata could
mean that they will be assigned
the roles Of organizing all home
front services 10 resist invasion.
These two and Gen. Kenji Dol
hara bring into the government
the only aviation and political
figures with any pretenSions TO
power. All other cabinet posts
are held by rubber stamp civil
service officials.
IN CRISES, the emperor uti-
L Lies one of three classifica-
tions of government: "A" is the
coalition form 10 bring together
army and navy leaders who are
in disagreement over war policy
procedure. "B" is the dictator
type as identified the Tojo gov
ernment. &C. governments are
pontoon premierships.
Premier Suzuki was pessi-
mistic in his first statement tell
ing the nation over the radio
that the people can walk over
his body when the fighting gets
tougher This action. he said,
would aid our beloved sover.
eign."
I NOTE that Premier Suzuki is
Il represented as a moderate. A
parallel label was placed on the
Koiso-Yonai government formed
last summer after TOTO went
back to gardening.
Suzuki in his prime was a
navy war lord who opposed war
when he believed a plan unsuc-
ceSsful, but il can never be
shown that he was against war
If the strategy as il appeared 10
him would lead Japan to VIC
tory.
The term moderate" must be
qualified in assessing a Japa-
neSe leaders status whether a
businessman educated at Har-
ward. Yale. Dartmouth, Prince
ton or Cornell. a navy officer
or an army man. Assassina-
tions were arranged when army
or navy men were impatient at
delays.
/ regret that we did not use
our best available tactics TO
cause Premier Koiso and his
cabinet to kill themselves. They
would be dead today by self-de-
struction, had we bombed the
emperor's palace. Instead, our
psychological war planners have
permitted them TO remain alive.
WITHIN the code OF voluntary
w censorship respecting spec
ulation on Russo-Japarese rela-
tionS l venture that Moscow =
diplomatic move which paves
the way for war without requir-
ing such a declaration. has
plunged official Japan into a