Bitter Reflection Made on Tokyo Reply to U.S.
London, Dec. 28.
It would be idle to examine in detail the mass of evidence adduced by Japan to prove what looked like wanton malice was really only gross recklessness or incompetence, says "The Times" in commenting to-day on the Japanese Note to America on the Panay Incident, The tone of Washington's acceptance was chilly enough, it says, to dispel Japanese hopes that any future incident will only have to be called an accident to be liquidated.
There is no doubt, the journal continues, that the recent outrages have not only stiffened public opinion, but the opinions of governments, and have shown the dangerous limitations of the Japanese military machine, Meanwhile, it adds, guerilla warfare is almost continuous, and the economic difficulties of the new regimes set up in China are more serious than their political and military counterparts. The regimes themselves are perfunctory and undistinguished, Japan presumably thinks it worth while to pay salaries to this seedy galaxy of turncoats and opportunists, but this policy does not inspire confidence in the methods whereby the military mind proposes to lead China.
The "Manchester Guardian" says that the United States Government, while accepting the Japanese apology, has made it clear that it does not, and will not, accept the Japanese story.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.