May 26.
The report published elsewhere in this issue to the effect that the Manchoukuo soya bean export trade will shortly be taken over and put under State control will be read with considerable interest by those who have been watching general trends in Manchoukuo ever since that country fell under Japanese domination. It will be remembered that, during the incident of 1931, foreign interests were assured by the Japanese that they would be scrupulously respected. They were consequently reassured and lulled into a false sense of security from which the final awakening came with a most unpleasant shock, It was soon to be realized that whatever assurances the Japanese might have given, they were not binding upon the Mai choukuo Government, a Japanese creation even now completely' controlled by them, so completely that to think of it as anything but a Japanese organ is to take 'a completely false view of the realities of the situation, That the Japanese did good in Manchoukuo is evidenced by the striking currency reform which brought order Jout of complete chaos, probably one of the most striking currency manipulations ever witnessed in this part of the world. But concurrently with the improvements which were being effected in Manchoukuo ran the fat first insidious and afterwards open raids on foreign interests which dismayed foreign observers who bore in mind the assurances which had been given them.- The establishment of an all monopoly was an outstanding, development which led to the elimination of those foreign firms who had built up the ai! trade in Manchoukuo, and the wiping out of extensive American and British interests.
There was for a time some talk of establishing a tobacco monopoly similar to that in Japan. but up to the present that has not materialized, though, of course, there is no knowing, when it might. The flimsy explanation in answer to protests was that this action was not taken by the Japanese, but by the government of] the independent state of Manchoukuo.
'That explanation deceived no one. Nor'
it in this instance, when it is announced that action with regard to the soya bean export trade will be taken by the government. It is stated in the report from Dairen that it is not yet clear how this proposed government control will effect foreign exporters, but, it is generally feared that the government will argue that the exporters' methods of distribution run counter to the best interests of the export trade and will decide on those grounds to eliminate them and their profits altogether. The reason given for this proposed State control is that the Manchoukuo government believes that by controlling the entire distribution of this product it can crease the country's export trade, That be-Nef will find little support from those who. realize that Manchoukuo can sell mo more soya beans or their products than the customer nations of the world are prepared to buy, and, as some of them are already developing culture of the bean in their own lands, the: time should not be far distant when' the demands made upon Manchoukuo for the. bean, instead of increasing, may be expected to decrease. This appears ta be particularly in the case of the United States where the culture of the soya bean has made undoubted regress. While it is true that at present Manchoukuo supplies 75 per cent, of the world's output of beans it may reasonably be expected that within a few years that ratio will have been considerably reduced. The establishment of a monopoly,—for after all that is what State control " amounts to,—eliminates competition and will adversely affect the fortunes of the farmers growing is crop. He formerly was able to sell in the best market, owing to the competition between the various foreign interests concerned. But with the establishment of the monopoly he will receive for his harvest, not necessarily the best price available, but only what the State chooses to give him. There {s consequently the possibility that the soya bean grower will under such a system be reduced to a state of agricultural helotry, which could never exist in the face of free and open competition.
Itmay be argued that the world will receive the beans just the same under the new system as they did under the old. That, however, is not the point. 'The foreign interests involved in the matter are those of the people who have traded for years in Manchoukuo in this product, profitable, it is to be believed to themselves.' It is the elimination' of the possibility of making that profit which is the infringement of established foreign interests of which complaint is naturally made. The profits which the oil companies made attracted the unfortunate attentions of the 'Manchoukuo government with the result that their interests were completely wiped out, and it Is undoubtedly the profits made by' the: foreign exporters of beans, and those owning mills for expressing their oil which has attracted the attention of the Manchoukuo Government and their Japanese advisers. It fs reported that there is comparatively little foreign trade in the product left at_ the moment, but there is still apparently sufficient to encourage the Japanese, through their agent, the Manchoukuo Government, to g0 back upon the assurances which have 0 frequently and so glibly been given. It has already been shown that similar processes are already afoot in north China. Reports appearing in the Japanese press indicate the plans which are being made for the development of that area. If those plans follow, with any degree of closeness, the details given in the reports, in a few years there will be seen the establishment of a system of monopolies which will reduce the major for-ign interests to a nullity. There is room for. all in China. Figures given in the House of Commons by the President of the Board of Trade show that British trade with China was, increasing up to the time of the outbreak of hostilities. "So was the trade of other nations, including that of Japan; but that apparently was not sufficient, and, having ruined the China trade by her military incursions, Japan is apparently endeavouring to save as much as she possibly can for herself by endeavouring to wipe out foreign competition. That is the only possible way of looking at the matter, and the conclusion to be drawn is that the assurances which have been so freely given are hardly worth the effort made in their utterance.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.