Washington. and . Tokyo Senator Pittman's denunciation of Japanese policy
is unexpected in its vehemence and it, of course, gains considerable . force .from. the fact that Mr, Pittman is Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate. Nothing that he said regarding-recent Japanese action on the mainland of Asia is unreasonable or excess- ive, but it is unusual for persons in responsible positions to say quite so bluntly. what plain men are- thinking-. There is a certain division of opinion in the United States as to the wisdom of so outspoken a declaration at- this moment. Its effect is to relate discussions re- garding America's neutrality policy rather to Pacific than to: Atlantic problems. Senator Pittman is dis- turbed by the belief that Japan is determined to exclude all possibility of American interference with her projects in China (the article on " Japan's Island Wall " in The Spectator of January 31st may be re-read with profit in that connexion) and intends to maintain the rights of the United States to trade with China or any Other victim of Japanese aggression. There can be no question that that argument will considerably strengthen those sections of the Senate and the House which are indisposed to abandon any of America's traditional maritime rights —though it should always , be possible to distinguish between insistence on trading with an aggressor and insistence on trading with a victim of aggression. * * * *
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