The very courteous manner in which the Japanese spokesman disagreed, at yesterday mornings Press Conference, with this journal's editorial on the subject of journalistic honour, inspires the hope that it will not be taken amiss if it is pointed out that it is erroneous to state that this journal attributed the statement concerning the alleged bribery of two correspondents by the National Government to him. The passage in the leading article referred to When, that fact is realized, that the relation between Reuter and Central News Agency is a ud businesslike one, the Tokyo "Nichi attack upon the agency is reduced to its proper perspective.. 2 So is the charge made by the same paper that two foreign journalists have been bribed by the National Government, etc.
The original Reuter message from Tokyo, however, opens as follows:—
The Japanese Army claims to have discovered secret documents in General Chiang Kai-shek's official residence in Nanking proving that foreign correspondents have been paid subsidies by the Chinese Government, 1t that message from Reuter is inaccurate, and that agency is remarkable for the consistency Of its accuracy, then the Japanese spokesman would render a real service by making it known. If on the other hand the Japanese Army does in fact claim to have made such a discovery the onus of proving that claim lies with the Japanese Army, If indeed they have such evidence it should be produced, A most unwarrantable slur has been cast upon the whole foreign journalistic body in China, and the matter ought to be cleared up one way or the other. It may be that the "Nichi Nichi" pulled the trigger: the question, however, is who loaded the gun? The inference from the message is that the "Nichi Nichi" was inspired by someone, and if that someone is the service which is said to have made such discoveries, and, if a portion of the evidence could be produced in Shanghai so rapidly, why not the rest? The Japanese spokesman may rest assured that there was no garbling, and certainly no malice, nor was it intended that his honour should in any way be impugned,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.