Too much importance should not be attached fo the report appearing in another column, regarding the increase in prices in Japan and the methods by which it is hoped to control them. The voluntary system at first evolved is reported to have proved a failure, and a scheme for compulsory control is to take its place, Such steps are inevitable in conditions such as have arisen in Japan since the outbreak of hostilities in China, and are not occasioned by any fear of the effect of the continuance of warfare or any anxiety concerning public opinion in Japan regarding the matter. It may come as a revel ton to those, who fancy they find some weaken-Ing of public opinion in Japan regarding the prolongation of military operations in China, all the cost that it involves, to learn that the determination to prosecute them to a successful conclusion is just as strong now as it was nine months ago, and that despite the fact that the Chinese have succeeded in offering resistance throughout that period completel at variance with Japanese expectations. Travel ers returning from Japan emphasize that th determination does exist and that nothing has yet occurred to change it. There is, however, they. said, no small amount of anxiety felt, particularly in civilian elreles, regarding the Fepercussions which may follow these "long Grawn out hostilities. That, anxiety must entirely divorced from Japan's will to war, for the former has no direct effect upon the latter fand is unlikely to, for the psychology of the ation is such that the worse affairs progress the more they will continue their struggle. There are certain dangers in compulsory price control, chief of which is the likelihood of friction aris~ ing as the control becomes more vigorous, while lack of proper caution may lead to obstruction of production and interfere with the ce-relation of supply and demand, with the result that the economic life of the nation may be seriously affected. The placing of a nation, in such Circumstances as the present, on a. war-time Satis is only a counsel of wisdom, and is not fo be regarded as a straw indicating the direction of the wind.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.