AGAINST THE ARMY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 13, 15 July 1937, Page 24

AGAINST THE ARMY

REACTION IN JAPAN

HER POLITICS EXPLAINED

NEW TENDENCIES

Eastern minds, realising the sanity of the liberal spirit, welcome any evidence of its expression among the nations most recently entered on the world stage, says a writer in the Melbourne

"Age." There is therefore some cause for sincere exchanges of kinship between Australia and Japan over the result of the recent Japanese General Election. The returns were most noteworthy for the fact that the People's Party doubled its strength compared with the previous Parliament, Although it has only 37 seats in a House of 4UO, its support will be able to tip the scale between the two major political parties; it is probable the members will aid the middle-class salaried and professional party—the Sciyukai—which is almost on a par with the strength of the rural conservative party—the Minseito. General Hayashi, the Premier, is sure to have trouble in forming a Ministi'y which will have the confidence of the House. Prominent officials of the two great parties have criticised his election speeches and past political actions, and it is almost certain they will not contribute Cabinet representatives under his leadership.

The voting also seems to indicate a setback for the large-army advocates. It was a clash between the ex-Army Minister (Mr. H. Terauchi) and a prominent member of the middle-class party (.Mr. K. Hamada) that precipitated the election. Early this year Mr. Hamada followed the Finance Minister's Budget address in the Lower House with a fiery attack on the Government. He accused the Government of being a tool of the army, which he declared was aiming at a dictatorship. The Army Minister interpreted this criticism as a slur on the army. ■ The exchanges grew bitter, and it was rer ported that Mr. Hamada offered to commit hara-kiri if the verbatim report on his speech could be proved to contain a contemptuous attitude to the army, provided that the Minister staked his life on the reverse being the case. DISSOLUTION ASKED. At a Cabinet conference the same day the Army Minister demanded the dissolution of the Diet. Cabinet refused, and instead resigned in a body. It was a tactical move, for the Army Minister was then obliged to explain tj the nation his high-handed attitude. He did not find a responsive public when he complained that he found it impossible to work with the political parties. According to a recent army estimate, the Japanese political parties are "steeped in hopeless conservatism.! Instead of giving their attention to ad-J ministrative reforms, they are merely protecting partisan interests." Recent history of the political parties explains the reason for this outburst. For some time after the assassination of Premier Inukai in 1932, the political parties proved very pliant to the army's demands, but last year open criticism was heard in Parliament and echoed in the electorates. There were rumours that this sterner stand of the parties had been paid for by the business community, and the army, of course, made the most of the suggestion. Just at this time a group of Osaka business men launched an organisation called the Political-Re-search Association with the object of providing the wherewithal' necessary to secure political action to promote business rather than military activity. This campaign of the Osaka business men was an expression of the growing spirit of dissatisfaction with Parliament commented on' by a writer in the "Oriental Economist" this year, thus:—"lt has been our personal experience since last year to sense in Tokio, Osaka, and other parts of the country a growing feeling of unrest amon.g citizens of all classes towards the Government, which seemed to centre in the army. This sentiment was by no means restricted to men of business, but was shared by people of obscure towns »and villages." GIFT OF DEMOCRACY. The fighting services occupy a peculiar position in Japanese national life. Dependent on the Diet for finance, they own no master save the Emperor. He has supreme command of the army and navy. This is the pride of the fighting forces, and is apt to give them an exalted idea of their importance, and a consequent reluctance to submit to the control of democracy.' There are certain signs, however, that the military cliques realise the necesjsity of wooing the people to prevent [popular criticism becoming too outi spoken. They may be flirting with ithe idea of a dictatorship, with the j Emperor as not only the spiritual head, but the supreme law-giver subject to no sovereignty of the peSple. But no i such reactionary display is at all i likely. On March 14 this year there {.took place in Japan the 70th anniversary of the promulgation of the Charter Oath of the late Emperor Meiji, the most illustrious of modern Japaniese rulers. Political philosophy in Japan teaches that the Constitution was a gift of this noble Emperor. It was not wrested from a tyrannical monarch. The Constitution cannot be amended except by the Imperial will. On the anniversary this year of the Oath, the Diet unanimously passed the following resolution and submitted it to the throne:— On this auspicious occasion it is proper and desirable that the members of the House look hack upon the past and fully recall to mind the imperial wishes underlying the Oath, so that in future they may even more appropriately express their faith in the Constitution and exert all efforts in harmony and co-operation, and, by their conduct and achievements, help to illustrate the beauty of the Constitution throughout generations. The Charter Oath was granted in 1868, the first year after the ascension 'to the throne of the Emperor Meiji, land a free trans]atian of its five articles is as follow:— I.—An Assembly widely convoked shall be established, and all affairs of the State shall be referred to public opinion before final decision. 2.—The national development shall be actively developed by the harmonious co-operation of all classes. 3. —All subjects, civil and military officers, as well as other people, shall secure a suitable position, and never grow weary in their life. 4.—Conservatism shall be abandoned; justice and equity shall regulate all actions. s.—Knowledge shall be sought all over the world, and thus shall be strengthened the foundations of Imperial polity. SERVANT OF THE THRONE. This teaching of the past that describes Parliament as a servant of the throne, perhaps explains why a Japanese election is generally a lukewarm affair, the fireworks being reserved for later. The labourers and peasants no doubt felt they had a stalwart defender of their humble needs in the occupant of the throne. The army dso has kept aloof from party politics, preferring to make demands on the economic sinews of the nation through their Cabinet nominee. There is however, a growing political consciousness among the working class, and it is likely that the added strength of this