June 3, Prince Fumimaro Konoye seems to have a good opportunity of stabilizing the political situation in Japan. The Army's prompt a ceptance of his unconditional appointment of General Gen Sugiyama {o retention of the War Ministry is '4 good omen, so too is the favourable attitude of the Minseito party toward his Cabinet. The new Prime Minister has indicated his intention to invite members of the political parties to join him in placing the Government on a national basis.
He wisely will make no demand for severance of political ties. Therein he perceives the best chance of establishing a truly national administration in a time of considerable anxiety. Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai, the impressively proportioned Minister of the Navy, will also remain in his post. Regret at the possibility of Mr. Naotake Sato's disappearance from the Foreign Office where he had made such good beginning will be modified by the feeling that if Mr, Koki Hirota returns there will be eon-' tinuity of the "new concept" policy toward China which first began to take shape during Mr. Hirota's brief tenure of the Premiership, It would be unfortunate if Mr. 'Toyotari 'Yuki could not resume' charge of the Finance portfolio, At the moment there is doubt on the subject. Mr. Yuki commands considerable confidence abroad as well as among business interests in Japan. If his retirement is inovitable it will be earnestly hoped that Prince Konoye will be able to fil the vacant post with an equally well-equipped financier. Generally the change of Cabinet shows that the country has been able to on-force its disapproval of General Hayashi's bland repudiation of the obligation to take note of the electoral verdict for which he had expressly asked. Cynicism politics has some limitations, it will be perceived. In the beginning of April General Hayashi definitely asserted that the General Election had been designed to "determine the will of the people". When he discovered that the Election had shown the "people's will" to be unfavourable to his policy, he at once endeavoured to advance the theory that the Government could disregard such perversity of thought. He arranged for the Diet to be summoned sooner than at first intended with the apparent desire to bring his opponents to a sense of their deficiencies. This defiance lost him the support of the Army: chiefs who, for various reasons, were not inclined to flout constitutionalism in the Hayashi mode.
In actual fact General Hayashi was more dependent on the Army than even the circumstances of his appointment suggested. His policy in. certain respects could not be said to be consistent with the known opinions of Mr. Sato and Mr. Yuki, neither of whom made any effort to conceal his belief in working with political support. Their leanings toward liberalism, have been plain and it will: be much. regretted if they cannot, continue in office under Prince Konoye, for their presence in his Cabinet would be a strong recommendation for it.
was all along recognized that. any reconstruction of the Govern ment" would have to be made, on "national" rather than party lines if stability were to be ensured. The Army has receded into the background. That is, no doubt, partly due to the fear' of being saddled with responsibility for the sharp increase in prices and its effects en. the cost of living to which increased taxation has added an adverse influence. The cares of the Finance Minister will be exception~ ally heavy. Therefore it should not be too readily assumed that the Army's change of heart is altogether from conviction. The unpopularity of the outgoing Government has developed toward the Army authorities a definitely critical note in public comment which previously was enthusiastically faithful to military policies, The rise in expenditure on defence services had already created grave difficulties for successive Finance Ministers and the recently enhanced taxation, which has affected urban and rural classes alike, is therefore attributed directly to' those policies. The meteoric rise in the cost of material on which the Army and Navy make heavy demands has created acute apprehension, for clearly the only way to secure financial equilibrium will be to effect drastic "cuts" in military and naval expenditure, That is why it is desired that the new regime should be not merely a "National" Government but the product of a true coalition in the real sense of the term, It will be recalled that Prince Konoye was called upon to forma Cabinet at the time when General Hayashi eventually stepped into the breach, In view of General Kazushige Ugaki's unhappy experience, the Prince probably felt that at' that time the dominance of the Army's views would make his position im~ possible, Hence he took the unusual' step of begging to be excused even though the request came from the Emperor himself. Now it will be observed that he has reap= Pointed General Sugiyama "uncondition ally" and the Army has hastened to approve. In the last six months the growing pressure of Eublic opinion has made itself felt, General Hayashi's, airy challenge has quickly resulted in defeat, mainly because the Army authorities, in this instance, appear to have'been shrewder judges of the political situation than he, so they. withdrew support of one' who, at the time of his appointment, was supposed to be specially in' their favour. Prince Konoye thus ac~ copts the Prime Minister's office with far greater freedom of action than General Hayashi could com= mand, The Army chiefs, at the outset, will be his colleagues and not his masters, If, as seems possible, he rallies to his Government the political parties who have had such unmistakable proofs of the clectorate's support, he may be able to give Japan the stability of administration which she greatly requires if the dangers ahead are to be over come without impairing national solidarity. Much depends therefore fon the composition of the Cabinet. The change of regime seems to have been effected in an atmosphere which does credit to the nation's commonsense. The question which remains is whether the military extremists will be content to accept a situation which may be regarded as a sol-back for their ambi Their reaction might, in certain circumstances, have an_unfavow able influence on Foreign policy. Prince Konoye's reputation as a statesman is, however, suMetently high to create confidence in his for welding the most un= ing clements of opinion into a coherent national whole for the country's good,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.