Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY. DECEMBER 16 1937 PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S DEMAND

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 16 December 1937, Page 8

Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY. DECEMBER 16 1937 PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S DEMAND

i FOR several years no step quite j Iso drastic has been taken in the! realm of international politics as . President Roosevelt s Note to the j j Lmperor of Japan. Appeals by | the Washington Government; have proved to be ineffectual; j therefore the American President I is reported to have forwarded his j communication to the Mikado! | personally, in the hope that that | j autocratic ruler will direct his, i Government to lake effective | 1 steps to prevent a repetition of; i those incidents which have called forth the President’s protest. Ihe text of President Roosevelts, momentous communication is not iavailable at the time of writing;, j but this is probably the first time; |in the long history of Japan that, its Lmperor, the Sun of I leaven, has received an abrupt demand to come down to earth like an ordinary mortal, and redress wrongs for the committal of which certain of his subjects have ! undoubtedly been responsible.; | United States Administrative ofll-. jcials have stated that nothing; short of an apology from 'the; j Lmperor 1 lirohita, coupled with 'assurances that the Japanese! j Government will take effective, j measures against repetition of a] similar incident, will satisfy Presi-; I dent Roosevelt." The demands j jare just. They are made in the; I interests of civilisation. But sup-; ; pose the Japanese Lmperor re-j fuses to make a personal apology? ; ;ln that ease, what course would | j the United States Government i pursue? Furthermore, the British. ;Government supports the Gov-, ' eminent at Washington in the ‘policy which it has adopted in j |dealing with a series of regrettable incidents which has set the American Government at naught, and j [has gravely endangered the cause! !of peace. The despatching of the ;Note is likely to have several irn-j Iportant results. It should let the: I Japanese Government know ex-! jactly the nature of the United, States Government’s well-ground-! ed grievances, and it should in-; dicate clearly the means whereby | the Mikado can set matters right, J and prove his nation s right to be; ; called civilised. What if the semi-: I deified head of the Japanese re-; I fuses to respond appropriately?; In that case, what would be Presiident Roosevelt's next step? It is; quite impossible to answer that; iquestion. Much would depend upon Congress’s willingness to [follow the President. In American comment, we are told, the spirit !of war was conspicuously absent. If Congress and the Government [were agreed to force matters to [a conclusion befitting their rights :and dignity, there are several things which they could do with a : view to bringing the Mikado ancli his Government to a proper I understanding of their responsi- j bilities. The opinion in the United ; States is that the Mikado’s: apology ‘‘must be designed to>, halt what the United States Gov-; ernment has come to regard as a, travesty of world peace." If the; Mikado and his Government do; nothing material in the direction' indicated, what course will the [ United States Government then \ pursue? There is no doubt that; the sentiment of the British Com-; monwealth of Nations is with the United States Government, in the position in which it has been placed by Japanese unwarrantable aggression.