The Younger Element is not ox. pected to take such a defeat lying down, however. It is feared that, falling to achieve their end through regular channels, they will resort 1o the sword and the rifle, the machinegun and the armoured tank. Tt is because the High Military Command in Japan fears such a development that refusing to. ce-operate with General Ugaki, 'This is what they' mean when they say that his Premilership will "impede military discipline" and be "destructive of Army unity." Tt Is an unconscious confess sion on their part that they have lost control of their own followers, that they cannot depend on the Younger Element obeying commands when those commands are displeasing 1o them, 'One school of thought holds that it would be better to let the Younger Element take control and plunge on their own destruction as they would bbe certain to do, It Is contended that conditions will' not become better until they have become very much worse, This line of reasoning entirely overlooks the fact that, If given power, Younger Element might well entrench themselves so firmly that it would be impossible to dislodge them. The examples of Hitler and of Mussolini are apparently forgotten. Most Japanese and most foreign observers believe that it Is far better that the crisis come now and that the issue between militarist and civilian control of government be fought out at once, even though it may involve bloodshed and loss of life. Only by destroying the power and influence of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.