The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-06-15

factories crowded together in
Tokyo alone. The fire hazard is
much greater in Japan for few of
their industries are housed in mod
ern buildings and flames cause vast
ly more destruction than in Ger
many; (2) it took us more than
three years of bombing over Ger
many to develop our latest scale
of bombing operations and our ac-
curate technique, and, during that
time, Germany was able to 60
underground and dispense her war
industrial operations. It has only
been about five or six months since
we dropped our first loads on Japan
and the very suddenness of our big
scale attacks and the terrible de-
struction has given the Japs no time
either to prepare adequate de-
lenses or to dispense their indus
try.
1t Is believed here that at least
on the Japanese homeland, destruc-
ton of Jap war industries can be
virtually complete with air power
alone. We moderated the Japs how
ever, at the start of this war on
many counts, and there is no actual
and factual knowledge on how
large scale Jap war industries are
being operated in Manchukuo or in
China proper held by the Japs for
the last seven or eight years.
Russian Participation
Offers Problems
The question of Russian participa-
ton in the war against Japan of
course is uppermost as this is
written. Informed sources here
agree that a declaration of war
against Japan is the only way in
which Russia may participate in
peace terms and realize her fondest
dreams of opening up her gateway
to the Pacific, and the development
of her richest territory Siberia
by eliminating the threat of
Japan on her eastern coast from
Vladivostok north along the whole
coast line of the sea of Okhotsk.
AS a matter of fact it is no secret
that thousands of Soviet troops are
concentrated along the USSR-Man-
churian border and that Japan has
pinned down thousands of her own
troops in this stolen puppet state by
fear of the concentration of Soviet
forces nearby. Russia could attack
Japan disastrously from her bases
at Vladivostok, which are closer to
Japan than London is to Berlin. At
the same time Japan could never
reach the heart of Soviet industry,
far away in the Urals and western
Siberia, even with long-range bomb
ers, for they are about as far from
Japan as Japan is from New
Guinea.
At the same time Russian ground
forces operating against the Japs in
Manchuria, and Russian bombers
operating from the many new air
bases which she has built in east
ern Siberia during the past few
years, could riddle Japan's war in
dustries in Manchukuo. Almost
daily, and particularly since Russia
gave notice of cancellation Of her
diplomatic pact with Japan on April
Is and which expires a year from
that date, Russian official organs
are becoming openly more hostile
to Japan and recent announcements
of Premier Stain give rise to the
belief that Russia intervention may
have been discussed at the Yalta
conference.
With the Allied powers agreed on
the dismemberment of Germany to
prevent her ever becoming capable
of making war again, the question
arises, once the Japs are licked,
what kind of government will be
established in this ambitious trouble
maker in the Far East.
Insofar as Japan is concerned, the
question of the emperor again
arises. Unlike China, Japan has had
little or no practice at self-govern-
ment. Only small quota of the en-
tire population has ever taken
part in any liberal movement such
as the formation of a Jap fedora
ton of labor, a tenant farmers
union or in political parties. 1t may
be that the nucleus of these move
ments in Japan could be used to Gre
ate the conditions of a democracy
in Japan, by keeping in mind the
fate of the Weimar republic in Ger
many after the last war.