JAPS WILL NOT TREAD ON U.S. TOES AGAIN

Northern Advocate, 29 December 1937, Page 5

JAPS WILL NOT TREAD ON U.S. TOES AGAIN

—COMMENT BY THE TIMES

(Received 10 a.m.) ; LONDON, December 28. “The Times”, states in a leading article; “The Japanese Government has rounded off a fortnight of strenuous apologies by'' presenting the American Government with a Note on : the Panay, which repeats its earlier expressions of regret. and goes on to say at some length that it was all a mistake. “It cannot be said that the Japanese explanations, although always plaus-. ible and sometimes obviously true, are consistently convincing. “The tone of the American acceptance was chilly enough to dispel whatever Japanese hopes there may be that any future incident would only have to be called an accident to be liquidated. | Significant Point. “Hereafter, the militarists, however | lightly they may regard the pledged: word of the Government; they serve,. will hardly dare to tread on American toes, .„ “A significant point in the Emper-’ or’s declaration to,the Diet, that ‘our armies are enhancing their prestige athome and abroad,’ is not that it isays; what is patently untrue about foreign opinion, but that it says what ,is partly untrue about home opinion. “It would be ridiculous to suppose that, with the launching of a ruthless war of aggression, all ideals, all enlightenment and ail wisdom had sud-' denly ceased to exist in Japan;” , U.S. Turning Point. The “Manchester Guardian” says:. “The sinking of the Panay may have been settled as a diplomatic incident, but it may also be remembered in his-, tory as the turning point in the development of American foreign policy. “Mr Roosevelt’s speech at Chicago met with little response. Nothing had then occurred to shock the American people to his realisation of danger, but the message that speech repeated today would have a very different response. “Possibly it will be different again in a few weeks, when, in every town and village of the Middle West, the film of the bombing of, the Panay. has been shown. “Mr Roosevelt will know, how to take advantage of this, lively emotion, but it is not likely that he will concern himself only with American interests.”