UNKNOWN

Dunstan Times, Issue 3352, 20 December 1926, Page 8

UNKNOWN

• I, ati o2s' JL E A G U E. spun den i ol tlio H^^Hjj^H|HH[^Kibunc.) In rat ions and re t ion s on lire part press go lor anyI he groundwork tin' ncague of Nation: her problem of rapHMBlßßßj^Binpillation and her small Don trim 1 , the American the White Australia ’ / K Washington Agreements upan to respect and defend integrity of China, and legislation and scniiSouth Africa, have hedged JaBBjßHn'uund with political har be cl-wire ftWKglcments. Japanese scan the of the Facilic horizon without able to find one, place where inn are welcome, as immigrants, alHTiough the lands washed by that ocean HfioJd millions upon millions of uiipoputracts. W In Japan last year there were inure f babies born than in all of North America. Central America, and South America combined, with the exception of the United States, and the excess ol births over deaths in Japan was 800,001). The babies burn in Japan in 1925 were 790,000 more than the entire population of the "Dominion of New Zealand. If New Zealand were entirely without population, the Japanese could populate that land to its present density in nineteen months without decreasing the population ol Japan itscll by a single soul, so rapidly is tb<j Japanese race growing. The bidiics born in Japan in two years equal in number the. total immigration into the Dominion of Canada, in the last quarter of a century. H Canada were without a single- inhabitant, the Japanese, at their present rate of increase, could lill that great Dominion as full of people as it is today in 10 years from excess ol births over deaths alone, and could do the same for Australia in live years. Where upon the face of the earth will these increasing millions ol Japanese find a foothold:-' If the hints and suggestions to be heard in Japanese (Government circles, and in the inspired press mean what they seem, the problem will in the not too distant future lio put up to the League of Nations to solve. The stage is being set at Geneva, for the most important struggle that the League of Nations has yet entered, with an element to be injected that pro bably few of the statesmen concerned in the future of the League as yet suspect. ft has been made plain that Germany will launch a campaign for the return of her colonics, and she will base her claim upon the incontrovertible fact that she must have sources of raw material and areas whereto she she may send her increasing numbers of people. Despite the fact that her borders have shrunken. Germany today has a population equal to that of the dav she launched her grey divisions across'the Belgian border. She will demand, as only just to her as a member of a world brotherhood, a place in the <’■ sun. The population ol Italy is outgrowing the limits of her land, and there no longer exists the open door to the United States. The fiery Mussolini, in a score of speeches during, the past few months, has demanded of the world the right of Italy to expand abroad. It is self-evident that any demand from Berlin for a return of colonial territory will be followed from Rome with demands that the League of Nations, when finding some outlet for Germans, should equally consider the needs of Italians for colonial markets and territory. And Japan, with her permanent seat upon the Council of the League, will listen to these demands from Germany and Italy with the power of veto in her hands. Is it reasonable to suppose that Japan will listen to the needs of Europeans without thinking of her own more pressing needs ? Is it believable that she will forego the power her right of veto gives her and agree to a restoration, in part or whole, of the German colonies, and fall in. with any plan that will relievo the pressure of'population in Italy, without demanding of the League some solution of her own problem ? “It is no secret that our need lor emigration lay back of our demand at Versailles for a recognition of the demand for racial equality,” says the Osaka “Mainiclii,” the mouthpiece of the overseas expansionists of Japan, and it is a certainty that Japan will demand the equality of her people with those of Germany and Italy vyhen the time comes to settle the colonial needs of the latter two. There was an outburst of resentment and denial in the Japanese press when, in a formal statement to the foreign correspondents, the spokesman for die Foreign Office stressed the tact Unit the present Japanese Government had abandoned all idea of emigration In lands where Japanese are not welcomed in favor of a policy of subsidising and encouraging home: migration, from congested sections into the less desirable and more scantily populated places of the Empire. Such a declaration appeared to I lie Japanese public as a surrender of wbat 1 be editors regard as inviolable rights, the right of a people to exist, the right of a son of Japan to seek a living anywhere in fair competition, • (lie right of a Japanese to be considered the equal of anyone. It beenuie very evident Unit wlnit the Foreign Office told the foreign correspondents was for foreign consumption only, to dissolve foreign mis- , picion of Japan, to allay apprehension, and, possibly, bo cm hie Japan at Geneva. to advance her claim lor equal recognition with Germany and Italy, without having hostility to her ambitions engendered in advance. Administration leader-, in Japan are, on (lie .surface, surprisingly indifferent to the problem of over-nopula Lion a nd the shrinking food supply. When questioned, they reply in worths that aie trifling. The Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, for instance, advanced the astounding theurv, with a careless wa\c of Ins hand, that "God will not send more people to Japan than he is read.) to provide food lor.’ while within the year 500,000 Chinese died in miserable starvation within two day’s travel of the Japanese capital, and also announced that no teaching ot birth control in Japan could be tolerated, because. while machinery could be pui- - chased at any time, man-power can come only through population. !t is beyond the realm of good sense to suppose that those responsible tor the well are and the future of one of the great Bowers are content to put their reliance in such arguments as these. It is reasonable to believe that back of the present persiflage is a maturing plan, waiting tor the oroper moment to he unlolded. Then the League ol Nations will bud itself face to fuel' with the German and Italian problems on the one hand clamoring for solution at the hands of the delegates, and faced with the alternative of a Japanese veto unless side by side with I lie problems ol Europe those of Japan are taken up. Brazil , -.Juild up the entry of Germany into I be, || J eagnc'. but, was forced out. Japan can--5 aol be forced to yield on her issue

both because of the importance of Japan as a world Power, and because she will be able to show that her colonial needs are equally as pressing, if not more so, than those of Italy and Germany. The League will be upon the horns of a dilemma. To refuse would be to drive Japan into isolation and independent action; to agree to open some place around the Pacific would be to open up fresh questions of the most dangerous nature. Wbat could be offered Japan f 1 A mandate over New Guinea ? That would drive Australia and New Zealand into a frenzy. A. free hand to acquire and colonise Manchuria? That would be to act aggressively against one League member in favor of allot her, in favor of tho strong over the weak. It would be an action calculated to intensify American opposition to the League. Possibly colonies for Germany and Italy are in sight in Africa, with only helpless people in the way of any territorial readjustments, but there arc no colonies available around tho Pacific, excepting the former German Samoa and New Guinea, the one under mandate to Now Zealand, the other under mandate to Australia, and neither could be abandoned by Great Britain to Japan without a dangerous weakening of the bonds which bold together the British Empire. Western Samoa, also, is far too limited in area and resources to be of value to Japan in placing her surplus millions. 'Plms if Japan .brings forward her problem, as seems likely, the League faces an impasse. Japan’s request could not be refused a bearing because Japan could wreck the League through vetoing any consideration of the certain claims ot Germany and Italy, and on the other hand, Japan’s request for colonies could not be granted because there are no colonies available of a size to meet tho requirements. 11l the meanwhile, practically a million every year is being added to the Japanese population.