Jan. 30, Tt is doubtful whether Mr. Yosuke Matsuoka, Japanese Foreign Minister, would have made the bellicose statement which he did on Sunday if he had been fully apprised fof the manner in which the situation is changing in Europe. While it is just as well to take the reports of what is alleged to be happening in Italy with considerable reserve, there can be very little doubt that Talian masses now realize the severity of the defeats which have been inflicted upon their troops in northern and north-eastern Afviea as well as their deplorable failure in Albania, That aly is crumbling has been Apparent for some weeks now, and the failure of Mussolini to give his people news of vielory, the only food upon which dicta tors can subsist, must tend to hurry the process. Collapse has not yet come, but it Is apparent from the actions of the Germans that they expect It, and are making dispositions necessary to meet the new situation which will then arise. That will Undoubtedly involve the quiet. conquest of Tlaly and the assumption of power by Hitler, possibly through Mussolini, or some other Tialian willing to accept orders from Berlin.
What then will be the position of Japan?
ig. the British determination - that the dofeut of Italy shall be but. the prelude to the ultimate defeat of Germany, after which Japan avill stand alone without a single nation friendly to her. That will be the result of the decision forced upon the Jap~ nese Government by military extremists, whose knowledge of the science of war has never at any time qualified.them as interniatfonal diplomatic experts. That they still have faith in the potentialities of the Tripartite Alliance is apparent in Mx, Matsuoa's replies to an interpellation in the Diet, but Baron Hiranuma has let the ca out of the bag by threatening suppression of any domestic eritielsm of the alliance, show-Ing conclusively that there is such criticism, and Indleating uneasiness because of it. The deduction to be drawn ig that it is being slowly realized that the Japanese Government under extremist domination has eom= milled Itself to. membership in a combina tion two-thirds of which face defeat in Europe, 1 is all very' well for Mr. Matsuoka to insist that the question of whether there shall be war in the Pacific, or not, depends solely upon the attitude of America, whose policy he insists must be changed before there can be any betterment in the situa tion, That is wholly at variance with the facts of the case. There is no suytgestion that the United States will enter the war on the-side of Grout Britain and her Allies. Indeed there is every indication to the contrary. But there is also plenty to show that Washington will move if necessary to protect American interests in this part of the world, und will resist any atlompt further to change the status quo. Should Jupan persist in the policy at present dictated by: the extremist Clements a clash will become unavoidable, fund the blunder which she committed: when she entered the Tripartite Alliance will be repeated by precipitating a war which Span ig Ill-fitted to fight. "Can it be thought that Japan, entering upon her fourth year of war with China, with her economic system already under an almost unbearable strain is in any position to sock to ght a nation such as the United States with their enormous industrial potential and resources unimpaired?
The answer is so apparent that Mr, Matsuoka's declaration in the light of realities Is pathetic, Bluff and bluster will not help to improve relations between the United States and Japan. Indeed the only result will be that the task of. Admiral Nomura, the new Ambassador to Washington, namely, to bring about a better' understanding, between the two countries will have been greatly hindered even before he comences to carry out what, in the circumstances before Mr. Mateuoka's outburst, was already a difficult mission. It is not for the United States to change their attitude vis-d-vis of what is happening in the Pacific, but for the Japanese Government to realize that peace in this part of the world depends upon recognition of, and non-interference with the lawfully established rights of the United States in this part of the world. Until
exist.
does that the danger of war must always
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.