I have just had a very interesting Japanese point of
view put to me. I am far from endorsing it, but, con- sidering the source from which it comes, it is, at any rate, worth presenting. Japan, it is argued, is at the moment under military domination. So long as that continues the international outlook is hopeless. But it cannot continue indefinitely for financial reasons. Japan has a black time in prospect. Her last budget showed a- deficit of close on 900,000,000 yen, in spite of a number of 'favourable factors which will not recur. • Aniericaif cotton, for example, was bought while Japan was still on gold, and it was found possible to flood the Orient with the products cheap. The silk export trade was stimulated by the devaluation of the yen. There -hap; pened, moreover, to be a particularly good rice crop last year. Next year's budget must. bring. crisis,- and the odds are it will bring the militarists down and more Liberal elements back into their own. Hence, so it is contended, the right policy is for the League to play a waiting game, since to force an issue now might mean driving Japan out of the League, into which it would be very hard, even for the Liberals, to bring her back: On the other hand, if the Liberals are given, say, a year to get back into power, everything will straighten itself out. This, obviously, is the argument of a Japanese Liberal, and it must be taken for what it is worth.
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