Japan's Budget Record Japan is achieving the kind of record
she might pray to be spared. Her draft budget, as just adopted by the Cabinet, amounts to a total of 2,235,000,000 yen, or £228,500,000 at par. That looks modest enough beside our own £800,000,000, but values in the two countries are not comparable. What is more to the point is that the Army and Navy Estimates actually account for more than 50 per cent, of the total, that this year's total estimates exceed last year's by no fewer than 746,000,000 yen, and that, as the limit of taxation has been reached, it is pro- posed to balance the budget by borrowing to the extent of close on 1,000,000,000 yen. Much, but of course not all, of this is the consequence direct and indirect of the Manchurian adventure, and the drain in that region still continues. It is a matter of elementary patriotism still to accede to all the demands of the generals in that sphere, but even if the business men submit the flames of Communism will certainly be fed—which will benefit no one inside or outside. Japan.
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