Japan's Naval Stormy About Petrel and His Views War Fhost Ov Owns Connesroswenr Tokio, Jan. 18.
Admiral Nobumasa Suetsugu, stormy petrel of Japan's navy, rapidly becoming a national Hero,
ype in newspapers, magazines name ib mblaaonod "in bold books and especially in full and! halt-page advertisements in. the dailies. The. irresponsible statenents" of this responsible officer, his cocksureness and his charge that Soviet Russia and the United States are. conspiring to besiege Japan are being devoured by the te for snatching copies of magazines containing Suetsugu's articles the—moment they appear on the news stands. So popular, in fact, has the admiral become since his appointment as commander of the combined fleets that not a copy of the January number of "Gendai," which contains sensational interview with him, is now to be had, Sales of the February issue of "King," another popular monthly, which also publishes an interview vith the admiral are so brisk that news dealers predict that all copies, totaling over n million, will be sold out within a fortnight, What irks the Ministry of Navy is that it is unable to deny Suet-statements or to muzzle the talkative admiral who is causing them considerable embarrassment. Time was, yours ago, when, as a cocky young lieutenant, Suetsugu nearly lost his job because of his lashing criticism of the battle cruis ser Kongo, pride of the Japanese navy. The infuriated general staff silenced him then but now Suet sug is the general staff, U.S, Navy a Menace Interesting excerpts from th "King" interview, which is in the form of questions and answers, follow:
Q:—What are your, views on the Pacific naval question?
Ai—Lot me be frank. A great country like the United States which is self-sufficient, does not need to have the greatest navy in to-day. ing but a the world possesses 3 menace to other nations. If the States did not have such an enormous navy, how much happier the world would be! Without big navy the United States would feel no inconvenience. Its possession of a large navy simply menaces others. Although Ameri. fea claims that its navy is to defend its national policy, protect. com: merce and safeguard its ferriter possessions, a navy capable of doing this is contrary to the princi ple of the Kellogg-Briand pact Sutiaw war which stipulates. that war cannot be made an instrument of peace. This is a great What is your unreserved opinion on disarmament?
'A:—Poople say that disarmament stops reckless competition in pre-ion for war, removes mutual picious" and.' envy, alleviates tional burdens and' eases the public mind, Though all this sounds plausible, it is not $0, When forced to accept a small ratio, a nation becomes uneasy about defence a has to continually worry about her weakness. Tt dissatisfied and mosphere among the Powers ned grows from bad to worse 8 the present. situation " be-on Japan and the United States. Under 'a small ratio, a nation naturally finds it necessary to possess the maximum strength—permitted. But it still feels uneasy and then thinks of exceeding the limit. This quite natural. But even with a large ratio a country does not feel absolutely safe. Ted to exceed the treaty limi planes and ey poison ax, which is prohibited by treaty. "Thus disarmament is after all ineveased nymament, The Uni. ted "States offers an example this. "In my opinion, no ment is the best poli all countries can make," proper defence preparations with the Knowledge of defensive strength of thers. Defence should be in. cord with the requirements of th country. Were this principle fol-Towed, there would be no reckless armament and no armament races. tone of the navy's greatest experts on this question.)
A:—After close study of the! German submarines captured in the world war and considering the methods of British submarines, our navy built a type adapted to its own purposes. It was able devise a submarine outstanding in the world for strength and effectiveness. As enemy. warships, not merchantmen, are the objects of attack, the men in our submarine service must undergo exceptionally severe training. The point on
been|in connection with submarines which 1 place the groatest emphasis is diving. "Dive! Dive!" That motto when it comes to submarines. Japanese submarines can stay down for 24 hours easily. Even in ordinary times they practice staying down 12 hours.
It is the opinion of some observers here that the flood of war articles now appearing in the Japanese magazines is aimed at minimising the effect of and "counteracting, the statements made by leading Tapancse diplomats, businessmen have been rethe United States during the past few months and who have almost invariably assured the public here that the United States, far from thinking of fighting Japan, is adopting an attitude friendliness.
Such assurances) began 0 dis sipate the fear in the min of the! masses that there was imminent danger of war, Of course it is admitted by all informed persons that the opinions Jof the advocates of a peaceful policy will have no effect on the military budgets now before the Diet, which will be passed in any event. The present deluge of war} propaganda, however, is not for the purpose of influencing the ict, but the people at large.
The question now, as far as the big navyltes are concerned, is one of keeping the public from feeling that the national coffers are Leing purged cly the military elements without sufficient cause.
American Aeroplanes In the "Gendai" articles, Admiral Suetsugu hints that Japan suspects Col. Lindbergh with having purposely prolonging his flight faiong the Aleutians and in the! north of Japan for purposes of espionage. Discussing the question of America's preparations for war with Japan, he writes:
"Perhaps America thinks that 'Japan cannot be handled so. easily. 'They' are' now bringing. aeroplanes to Canton in large numbers? they Gre reinforcing the air lines a Shanghai, Hankow, etc. At the resent moment. they are bring more to Canton and then to Amoy and. Foochow, constructing air bases along the coast up to Shanghai, Now in the north we remem-that Americans. several ti Attempted to cross the ry, point their frustrated attempts Were. sim pig. reconnoitring. They were purposeful, but the Japanese, being 'a race of" good-natured men, showed unstinted kindness to them, especially the country people were kindly disposed to them acting] As if they were thole own sons who were trying to fly across the big certain lieutenant made strange flight and returned.—(hi refers here to Lieut. Harold Bromley, a Canadien, probably not realising his nationality. Tt will be recalled: that Lieut. 'Thomas Ash, an American, failed to. take oft): "Then, what happened you think?' The Lindberghs came, and they delayed in the Kuriles for a week, #2 ras bad weather yesterday, and again to-day, They flew and again returned. it may. be imagination, of course, but it is equally possible that they recon-f/noitred in that part of the country. They are continuing since then surveying along the Aleutians, on large scale making use survey corps, telegraph corps anc aviation corps, ete. What does this all point to? Then they hay resumed diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.