The "disappearance" of 32 railway wagon loads of arms and ammunition from Vladivostok continues to furnish the Japanese press and the public in general with sufficient' weapons to attack the system which makes it possible for dual diplomacy to exist in Japan. The military authorities have admitted that a certain quantity of i arms has been "lost," and this admission is made the target for directing further attacks on them. No one seriously believes the fiction-like excuse put forward by the military clique, and the idea that a large quantity of munitions could get "Jost" so easily is thoroughly ridiculed, while it is also pointed out that such an excuse is a slur on the army. A significant aspect of the outcry against the General Staff is that the demands for curbing its powers emanate chiefly from those organs of public opinion that were formerly the warmest supporters of the militarists. The Vladivostok incident has led to a deep heart-searching, and the exposure of the objectionable system that makes generals and admirals only acceptable for the post of Minister of the Navy or of the Army and permits the General Staff to act independently of the Cabinet and the War Department.
The body of public opinion favouring the abolition of the General Staff in toto is daily growing, and the public antipathy to this relic of Kaiserism in Japan may be partially attributed to the somewhat misguided activities of the General Staff, which has caused Japanese diplomats and the Foreign Office in particular considerable embarrassment. The papers insist that the time for doing away with the General Staff has arrived and declare that more incidents similar to that which has recently occurred at Vladivostok will recur with uncomfortable frequency unless the military system is radically altered:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.