Evening star., 1951-03-25
American taxpayers since VI day.
mostly in food and clothing.

AiIltl lCdIl Taxpayers SlllCe V-J Qdy
in food and clothing.
Since June Is Japan has acquired
a new function. AS a staging
area for American and U. N. troops
destined to action against what
ever troops the Kremlin chooses
to throw against them in Korea,
the Sun Kingdom has earned its
way and even made little money
through the manufacture and sale
of touriSt-style gimcracks to gull
lible foreign soldiers.
A treaty of peace with Japan is
important in that it provides
Japan with a basis, under inter-
national law. to challenge the ac-
tions of other nations as a free
and sovereign state, and to make
treaties with one or all of them.
The important part Of peace
treaty comes in the days following
After that period
when legal pressures can no longer
be enforced by the victor, the
actual reckoning will begin.
Democracy probably will be the
first victim in Japan.
Democracy is as alien a concept
to the East as the Hindu caste sys-
tenn would be in Nebraska. There
is no concept of equality in the
Oriental mind, no comprehension
of the principle of self-govern-
ment, To the japanese, whose
Emperor is also a reigning god,
the philosophy of democracy is a
denial of their religion; a heresy.
AS even intellectual japanese have
said, do you go into your
churches to argue with your God
or to worship him?"
The japanese are now practic-
ing an ancient Oriental truism:
do what your conquerors de-
do it cheerfully, for they
have beaten you. Only your pri-
vate thoughts are free" Up un-
til 1941. a large percentage of
urban japanese wore Western
style clothes. In that year, they
were put aside and the japanese
returned to their native costumes
which they had, in any event, al
ways worn in their homes. The
switch from "d'mok- -krasi' to the
feudalism will be much
easier than donning a>kimono.
Lacks Raw Materials
In this, the japanese will un-
doubtedly be assisted by the
U. S. S. r. When and If the Ko-
rean arena ceases to contain a
war and the troops Of the United
States and the United Nations
have been withdrawn, Tokyo's
statesmen will face a new world
where they must scratch for a
living. Even presuming that the
taxpayer can support a
deficit of indeterminate length in
Japan. the japanese will still be
laced with the fact of a marginal
standard of living, and an eco
nomic position in Asia where they
must compete with an industrial
world without heavy industries
and without raw materials.
Even China will be in q superior
position in the manufacture of
goods previously a japanese
monopoly, although the factories
appropriated or otherwise &C
quired from previous Western in
terests may not constitute an en-
during threat under Chinese man
agement and technical supervi-
sion.
Nevertheless, Japan is now a
small kingdom without raw ma
terials. food and textiles. These
must be secured in order to carry
on even that marginal existence
which now maintains. If Japan
cannot secure them from the
United States under terms so
favorable that they amount to q
gift, she must get them from
other sources.
Before the war, food and raw
materials came mainly from
tor Manchuria), Ko-
rea, Formosa, Thailand, Indo-
China and China itself. The
United States supplied steel scrap:
the inundated islands of the Gill
bert, Marshall and Mariana archi-
pelagos yielded nitrates and
p h osph tes. Petroleum was
bought on the market and refined
in Japan, although Tokyo relied
upon the United States for high
octane gasoline during the latter
days of the China invasion.
Must Bargain
Certainly. at the present time
Russia would lose nothing by
promising Formosa to Japan;
even Korea as well. Manchuria
might be different matter, in
asmuch as Macs regime has been
theoretically blessed by the return
of Manchurian factory ma
chinery. No one can, however
restore the South Manchurian
railway which was largely crippled
by the American Air Force during
the war, nor the Korean branch
ruined by the Air Force during
the present struggle in that
country.
Essentially, however, the U. S
S. R. is the only nation able to