It is hoped that Sir Geoffrey Clarke's restrained warning on the boycott or "economic sanction" agitation now being conducted in Great Britain will be duly heeded.. Apart from the high prestige of his office as President of the Federation of the British Chambers of Commerce, Sir Geoffrey carries considerable personal weight as a man of wide experience both in Europe and in the East, He was recently appointed to the Imperial Economic Committee with Sir Frederick Leith-Ross his firm support of the British Government's rejection of the boycott plan has therefore double significance. The cabled report of his comments shows that he expressly avoided examination of the Political issues arising out of the Sino-Japanese conflict, but rested on the broad ground of bitter experience gained from various experiments in the exercise of economic pressure for non-economic ends. Generally his attitude may be suspected to be inspired by the sound rule against mixing up politics with business, Recently British sporting authorities took the same line in turning down a motion for the boycott of the Olympic Games at Tokyo. It is satisfactory that an even more representative body of British opinion has firmly followed suit. Once again let it be stressed' that the demand for boycott definitely distracts attention from the fundamental issues at stake in this deplorable crisis and so militates against the eventual application of measures in correction and appeasement,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.