MILITARISM IN JAPAN

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 15 August 1921, Page 4

MILITARISM IN JAPAN

A PROFESSOR'S WARNING.

I SYDNEY, Aug. 1 [ {n appealing for a sympathetic and' helpful attitude towards China in what- ' he termed her extreme hour of Ixial, . l>r J. C. Keyte, an Englishman who ia- • now professor of philosophy at Shan— ; tung University, China, and who has- " spent over ten years in the East and •is now visiting Australia, made a. striking indictment of Japanese militarism. Addressing the Millions Club—a strong organisation of business- >. men—he declared that despite all they i heard to the contrary, Japan was stifl ,an autocracy, subjected to the auto--1 cratic power of the Black Dragon military caste, so that Japan would i never become democratic if the ruling powers got their way. The Japanese^ Diet was largely camouflage, and thepower of the members was mainly -fchat^ , of saying "Yes" to the decisions and desires of the Cabinet, which represented the Elder Statesmen. The press:, -in Japan was entirely under thedomination of the Cabinet, and was as.. much a Government bureau as if it«f. , director was drawing Government salary and his term of rule dependent on the whim of the Government. The* press could not publish a single item of news.that the Japanese Cabinet. I wished to suppress. , The destinies of Japan, proceeded'- | the Professoiy were absolutely in thepower of the Chauvinistic Party, and' they were the party seeking naval and' military domination. But it must everbe remembered that these militaryrulers were situated in a country , where there was neither coal nor iron,. • ! and all the raw material for warfare* • had to be imported. The northern parts of Japan provided but little for - ; the support of life, and even Southern Japan only grew rice. All wheat had to imported into Japan. .On the otherj 6ide of the Yellow Sea was China, so< | naturally rich that it easily provided' ' all the necessaries of life, whilst coal" ' and iron abounded in quantities cap--1 able of supplying the world's needs fofhundreds of thousands of years. Japanknew that without the consent of thei Western Powers ehe never could wage- : a first-class war so long as she wass deprived of the raw materials, but if"- ---; she got the coal and iron facilities oV >' China she would be independent of thei j Western Powers, so the Western Pow— '' ers should be exceedingly careful notto allow her, or to help her, to get; her hands on a weapon such as they , never had reason to fear in the past. . The only people .the Japanese feared' , and respected were the Germans, and' .j that because of their military and! I economic efficiency.