While government circles in Japan maintain a somewhat restrained attitude on the subject of the commencement of the application of economic sanctions by Great Britain und the United States, the Japanese Press adopts a belligerent tone. That was only to be expected. Tokyo will undoubtedly want to find out the full effect of the freezing of Japanese funds and credits by the two countries on the.one hand, and to ascertain exactly how effective her own actions of a Similar nature are likely to be. It is not expected that they will be very effective because of the simple reason that foreign funds and credits in Japan have for a long while been under control which has had the effect of freezing. From that point of view the common action of Britain and the Ni States may be considered to have much more significance than. the reply which the Japanese Government have made.
"Much has been made, in the Japanese Press of the contention that the application.of economic sanctions against Japan is d considerable damage to American interests, and in this connection the "Japan Times and Advertiser," considered as representing the views of the Foreign Office, claims that American businessmen with interests in Japanese trade have been badly shaken by the presidential order, that the great American silk industry has been disrupted and that some 175,000 men and women have been thrown out of work. In considering economic sanctions the main question to be decided is whether such application does more damage to the nation against which they are to operate than to the country applying them. No Government ever dreams it can make omelettes without breaking eggs, and doubtless Washington fully realized that economic sanctions would have repercussions in the United States such as the Japanese paper mentions.
But the fact is that the huge Japanese silk industry has also been brought to a standstill, and that the Japanese have been deprived of the most important means they possess of acquiring foreign exchange. The damage to Japan is consequently much greater than anything which can possibly happen to the United States in this connection, and it is on. balance that the action of the American Government can be justified. It will follow that should the conduct of Japan warrant the application of closer restrictions upon her trade that Britain and America will not be deterred by whatever ill effect such action might temporarily have upon their own interests. These latter are best served by bringing about a stoppage in Japanese aggression, for that is what the southward expansionist move really amounts to, and the permanent preservation of American and British interests in the Pacific is far more important than any temporary inconvenience to which they may be subjected.
It is not possible to accept the contention of the Japanese journal that the present "tension in the Far East is of the United States' own making" "There was no tension in this part of the world until Japan commenced to menace third party interests in China some four years ago. From the commencement of the "China Incident" the situation in the Pacific has gradually worsened. Both Great Britain and the United States have displayed.a degree of patience in the circumstances which is little short of amazing. Japan on the other hand has moved continually in a manner which has placed an inordinate strain upon the forbearance of the two great democracies. at patience is rapidly being stretched to breaking point. The application of economic sanctions is the first warning that Japan is in danger of going too far. If there are any in Tokyo who believe either Britain, or the United States are bluffing, they are likely to receive a rude shock if Japan pursues her present dangerous policy, for existing tension in the Far East is her responsibility and hers alone.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.