Aug. 1
Madness alone can permit the present Sino-Japanese tension to Jead to major hostilities, Both sides are vehemently announcing the inevitability of war and appear to be taking measures in accord with that determination The world, as a whole, recognizes the relentlessness of Japanese aggression. It sympathetically discerns China's physical handicap. Although, admittedly, it can do little or nothing to sway the course of events, its opinion, as froely expressed, may show the way to peace. Apart from the serious economic consequences fof the burden of 'a continental campaign. Japan has much "to gain by restraint Whatever criticisms may be levelled against her, she would at least be entitled to her share of gratitude for an eleventh-hour settlement. [Such a termination of the crisis would redound more materially to her advantage than. engagement in an extensive "punitive" expedition which would inevitably involve heavy expenditure of lives and money, weak' though the opposition might be. China, on her side, Is fortified in the effort to secure Peace by the knowledge that her distressing] dilemma is widely recognized, both within and without, A decision to refuse to plunge thousands of her people into the horrors of war which, in the long run, could have noth~ ing for her but destruction and slaughter, would be a signal act of wisdom. It would bbe more: it would show that China has a Government which can achieve the most dimmeult of alt feats of statesmanship—the display of moral courage in facing and acting on unpalatable facts for the ultimate good of the nation and the proper discharge of its own primary responsibilities, as custodian of the people's welfare. Even now the frantic demon Strations of apprehension emphasized by] spontaneous movements of masses of the population to points of imagined safety would justify any government in the conviction that 1 peaceful settlement is the greatest boor which it can bestow upon the nation.
The discussions between Mr. Shigeru Kawagoe and emissaries from Nanking suggest that all is not lost, In the last week General Chiang Kai-shek has had the opportunity of personally consulting some of the chief representatives of China on the policy {o be followed by his Government. It may bbe assumed that there has been plain speaking and, better still, plain recognition of the facts. However bitterly Japanese aggression may be resented it can hardly be denied that its extension would be encouraged rather than stayed by physical resistance from the Central Government and would be accompanied by such complete destruction of China's resources: that all hopes of national reconstruction might have to be indefinitely postponed. The ills of compliance with Japanese demands may bbe great and disconcerting. They would not be mitigated by resistance—indeed they might well be enhanced. The last state of China might then be worse than the first. No-one can fail to sympathize with General Chiang Kai-shek and his colleagues in their poignant situation. They have done their best to state to tie people the conditions under which resistance can be successfully offered to the resent aggression, Those conditions have included the acceptance by the people of certain responsibilities for @ united, sustained and effective effort. It has been made painfully apparent that, however willing the spirit may be, the flesh is weak, not perhaps from [any lack of patriotism but rather because of the physical disabilities inherent in the present polity. No doubt the Government has en-Geavoured to make what use it can of its available resources to pul the country into position of defence. Events since the begin-Ding of last month have deprived that position of whatever strength it had, for the situation,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.