THE MICHIGAN DAILY
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&ember, Assocaled Collegiate Press, 1941.42
Interventionist, Non-Interventionist
Emits
AlvinI
Dvld
Daniel
James
EdIori;al Staff
Cei6 . . . Managing Editor
Dann . . . . . . 1klorial Director
Lacheubruci . . . .usnCity Editor
R. Hiet. . A c. Business Manager
B. Collins Associate Business Manager
NIGHT EDKORS: SAPP & BAKER
The editorials published in The Michigan
Daily are written by members of The Daily
staff and represent the views of the writers
only,.
-U.Jap Break
Began In 1931.
(Continued from Page 1)
'ways? The United States wants Japan to aban-
don her expansion program, which, at least in its
southward extension toward the East Indies, en-
dangers the safety of the Philippines and threat-
ens the sources of materials vital to the defense
and well-being of the United States and the
routes by which they reach America. She wants
Japan to withdraw her troops from Indo-China
and Ciina, where American interests and citizens
have suffered hurt for nearly a decade at Japan-
ese hands. She wants Japan to give pledges and
sureties against further aggression. She wants
the markets of the East kept open.
FROM JAPAN'S point of view the United States
obstructs the fulfillment of what many Japan-
ese consider their country's rightful destiny, to be
the dominant power of all the East, to control
farflung sources of the materials needed for her
industries and dominate the hundreds of millions
of 'Orientals who make up perhaps the greatest
potential markets in the world. Control in East
Aia, the Japanese say, is a matter of life and
death to them, while to Americans it can be only
a matter of national prestige or minor economic
interest.
More specifically in the later phases of this
crisis the Japanese have 'demanded an end to
the economic strangulation and military-encircle-
ment which they say the United States and her
associates have invoked against Japan and non-
interference with the settlement she hopes to
impose on China.
Washington has held that the economic and
military measurestaken to curb Japan can not
be lifted until Japan mends her ways and has
said that there can be no compromise which
would leave China at Japan's mercy. And in the
existing crisis, with the United States pledged
to the defeat of the Hitler world order, Americans
have held there could be no real accord with
Japan as long as she remained a member of the
Axis.
THUS EVENTS MOVED TO A POINT where a
break could be avoided only if one party
changed utterly its fundamental pdlicies. Two
opposed conceptions of what should constitute
the basis of international relations, of the #,vorld
order, were at stake.
Racial pride and national prestige are elements
not to be ignored.
The Japanese are a proud people, jealous of
their dignity, quick to resent racial slurs, holding
to an ancient code which rated death in battle
or by suicide preferable to dishonor.
Men experienced in Far Eastern matters say
that a realization that they can not win a war
with the United States is not enough to keep the
Japanese from going to war. It will not stop
them to point out that this course would be na-
tional suicide. They, or at least the stiff-necked
soldiers who seem -to dominate their national
courses, are quite capable of facing that.
The Japanese belief that their national pres-
tige and pride of race has received affronts from
America is indisputedly a factor in this crisis.
They resent bitterly our exclusion laws, which
they say class them with other races they consider
their inferiors. Many Japanese contend that the
whole course of history since the World War
might have been different had the white nations
admitted them a full equals.
HERE IS THE ROAD Japan and America have
traveled to their present collision:
In 1853 Japan, by her own choice, had been
shut off from the world for two and a half cen-
turies. Her seclusion was ended then by a flo-
tilla of warships from the young and growing
United States, which, having spanned the conti-
nent, was looking out from her new-won Pacific
coast for new markets in the Orient. Commodore
Matthew Perry, U.S.N., reopened Japan to the
world.
Japan subscribed in 1899 to the doctrine of the
open door in China, enunciated by John Hay,
United States Secretary of State. A year later
Japanese and American troops (along with Brit-
ish, German, Russian and others) fought side by
side in the rescue of the legations at Peking, be-
sieged by the Chinese Boxers. The great major-
ity of Americans gave their sympathy to Japan
when in 1904 she challenged the Russian colos-
sus. anneewa oa; ee flo-ated in th
Views n U. S.-
THOSE OF US who call ourselves intervention-
ists,who have been asking for war have now
obtained at least part of what we wanted. And
yet it is difficult to be entirely happy. For one
does not accept with wholehearted glee what may
be his own death warrant, the death warrant
of his friends, even though one knows that what
has happened, what is to happen, is necessary if
freedom and liberty and democracy are to sur-
vive in the world.
We realize that this is no time for flag-
waving, for band-playing, for emotionalism
of any kind. It is a serious time. It is a time
when every American must finally come to
the realization that we are at war with
fascism, not only in Japan, but everywhere in
the world. More than that, it is a time when
every American must stand ready to give
everything he has-even his life-so that this
generation and future generations may live
in peace and security free from the fear of
dictatorship.
WE ARE TOLD that this is a defensive war,
that it is an isolated struggle which concerns
only the United States and Japan. Such asser-
tions are based upon the false premise that any
war between first class powers today can be
isolated. It is wishful thinking to say that we
can not or that we should not extend the field of
our operations to include Nazi Germany and her
friends.
Far from a complete situation in itself, the war
with Japan is inextricably entangled in the entire
international scene. The island people declared
war, not only upon us, but also upon Great Brit-
ain--thus making actual allies of the two English
speaking nations. At the same time, Germany
and Japan are and have long been allies. It is
scarcely logical, then, to say that we are an ally
of England when she fights Japan but not when
she fights Germany; that the Nazis are allies of
the Japanese against Britain but'not against the
United States.
FOR THESE REASONS it is important that
we do not let our own involvement in war
in the Pacific blind us to the continued need
of Britain and Russia for arms and materials.
We must realize that every battlefront in this
world-wide fight against fascism is of equal
importance to us. Yesterday's events in no
way lessen the need for a Russian victory on
the Eastern front and an English victory in
Africa.
We must not deny vital materials to those na-
tions who are fighting with us. For the moment,
at least, they are our friends, they are our allies,
they are fighting our fight. We must help them
in any way possible-even, if necessary, by send-
ing men.
When we say these things, when we speak of
war and bloodshed and death we wave no flag,
we shout no patriotic catch-phrases. We speak,
rather, with a quiet, firm determination and pray
that democracy will prevail, that tyranny will
disappear. ,And it is a quietness, a determination
which grows out of a love for peace, but a greater
love forfreedom.
-Homer Swander
Japanese agitation and legislation in the western
states. In 1911 a gentlemen's agreement whereby
Japan undertook to halt the tide of migration
provided a temporary remedy.
The World War brought new frictions, al-
though at the end the United States and Japan
were associated together against the Central
Powers. But Europe's preoccupations encouraged
Japanese efforts to tighten her control on China.
Her famous twenty-one demands of May, 1915,
brought sharp condemnation from Washington.
In 1918 Japan and tle United States (with Brit-
ain and France) sent expeditions into Siberia
but Japan went farther than her allies approved
and more trouble arose.
One ,resujt of the World War was to embark
the United States on a vast warship building pro-
gram. Japan sought to match it. A naval race
followed which endangered the peace of the
Pacific. The Harding Administration summoned
the naval powers tp Washington and a truce was
effected in 192 in the Treaties of Washington
which restricted capital ship construction and
pledged the powers to keep hands off China.
HIS was the high water mark of Japan's co-
operation with the United States and with
the Western Powers' efforts to establish collective
security.
But only two years later, the United States
Congress passed, over the veto of President
Coolidge and the protest of Secretary of State
Hughes, a law barring the immigration of Jap-
anese as aliens ineligible for citizenship. This
ended the "gentlemen's agreement." The Jap-
anese were bitterly resentful.
But this came midway in a decade of liberal
government in Japan and as late as 1930 the
Japanese still were ready to cooperate in keeping
the peace. They signed the new Naval Treaty of
London, although not without a bitter struggle at
home. It was their last act of support for the
post-Versailles peace structure.
The agitation in Japan against cooperation
with the Western World took on the proportions
of a revolution in which the army fired the first
shot the night of Sept. 18, 1931, at Mukden.
THE MILITARY CAMPAIGN that followed
ended Chinese rule in Manchuria but it also
ended liberal, civilian rule in Japan. It was a
Military-Fascist rising against the existing order
not only in Japan but in the entire world. The
United States government, especially Henry i.
Stimson, Secretary of State, was quick to grasp
its significance. Other powersowere not. Ameri-
can efforts to stem the tide then set in flow came
to nothing more substantial than the Stimson
doctrine of non-recognition of Japan's military
gains.
Japanese Cbnflict
SUDDENLY, in spite of preparations for hypo-
thetical military situations and violent de-
bates on various diplomatic expediencies, we
have been slapped in the face by a fact as hard
as battle-forged steel and gruesome as shed
blood-WE ARE AT WAR.-.
Japan has committed herself to an incredible
project which is not only disastrous to her
plans of expansion, but leaves no alternative
for the United States but a concerted use of
its entire Pacific resources for the defeat of
the Nipponese military force and the reduction
of Japan to a minor world power.
ISOLATIONISTS and even some non-inter-
ventionists in this country did not favor in-
volving the whole United States in the defense
of the Philippines alone, or the supposedly vital
Dutch East Indies. A slow penetration or even
a direct attack on one or both of these areas
may have aroused considerable controversy in
this country over the necessity and expediency
of undertaking a task so costly in materials and
lives. But an e'normous assault on the Philip-
pines and Hawaii, and ships between the United
States and Hawaii, solidifies American senti-
ment toward the Japanese government and uni-
fies American determination to clean from the
Pacific a menace that is no longer an idelogicat
threat but an active military enemy.
Immediately. however, arises the question of
whether differences between the intervention
and non-intervention line of thought have been
abolished by the shocking change of events and
the answer is NO. Speaking as an individual
and unaffiliated non-interventionist, I deny that
the war between the United States and Japan
is necessarily the first step of a world wide
American battle against fascism. If Germany
announces the intention of materially sup-
porting Japan, or, if Germany actually attacks
American ships or bases, we will be forced to
extend our hostilities; but Japan's membership
in the Axis and our material support of the Bri-
tish and the Dutch in no way necessitate a de-
clared or shooting war with Germany.
W E ARE AT WAR with Japan. This is a fact
that must be fully comprehended for effec-
tive material and intellectual behaviour during
the immediate crisis. -But we must comprehend
another fact equally important-we are not and
have no reason to be at war with Germany. In-
terventionists will attempt to use the Japan-
ese war as a torch to ignite our participation in
a world conflagration of "democracies" versus
dictatorships. They will say we should cling
closer to Britain now that we are both at war
with our respective fascist enemies. This view
is not necessarily true. Aid to Britain should
continue for the same reasons it went on before
the Japanese war; but it must now be placed on
a secondary plane, for we have a war of our
own to fight. If we can double or treble our
production, our shipments to Britain can re-,
main the same. Otherwise, America comes first
and Britain second.
We not only can, but must conduct the war
with Japan as a struggle between Japan and
those nations on which she declares war, not as
a world battle between ideologies. If the other
Axis Powers choose to attack us, we will deal
with them as with Japan, but only by actual
defense of our possessions and people can we
justify the tremendous price we are about to
pay and cannot yet conceive.
-Emile Gele
churia, moved into North China, launched a real
war against China proper in 1937 and overran
nearly all her eastern provinces, joined the Axis,
took advantage of Hitler's triumphs to march into
Indo-China and reach out for the Dutch East
Indies. In the course of all this she harmed
American citizens and their interests in hundreds
of instances, most spectacular of which was the
sinking of the gunboat Panay on the Yangtze
River above Nanking Dec. 13, 1937.
SHE ALLIED HERSELF with Germany and
Italy in the Treaty of Berlin, Sept. 27, 1940,
especially aimed at the United States., She re-
affirmed this tie by renewing her signature of the
Anti-Comintern pact at Berlin Nov. 25, 1941.
The American government, for its part, de-
1 nounced on July 26, 1939, its treaty of friendship
and commerce with Japan. In the summer of
1941, when Japan was strengthening her grasp
on French Indo-China, Washington went a step
further. President Roosevelt froze all Japanese
credits in this country.
Britain and her Dominions and the Dutch
Indies followed suit. The result was almost an
entire cessation of Japanese foreign trade. The
flow of oil and scrap metal from the United
States and oil from the Indies which has fed her
war machine was shut off. Economically she was
isolated, with her Axis allies unable to help. The
economic measures were supplemented by mili-
tary moves of vast scope which in effect ringed
Japan on all sides with hostile forces-in China,
Russia, British Malaya, the Dutch Indies and
the Philipipines and Hawaii.
RUSSIA'S ENTRY into the war presented
Tokyo with a new threat. While Hitler was
plowing through the Russian armies this looked
more like an opportunity than a menace, but as
winter closed down with Russia still unbeaten the
Japanese hopes which rode on Hitler's banners
faded.
The economic pinch, the steadily growing
power of the military forces gathering in the
East, caused her to cry out against "strangula-
tion." A civilian government, headed by Prince
Fumimaro Konoye; resigned in September, ad-
mitting its inability to cope with the vast forces
loosed by the world cataclysm. Specifically, it
was unable to improve relations with the United
States. A military government, headed by Gen-
eral Hideki Tojo, took over.
FDR's Message
To Hirohito,
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7--)The
White House made public to
night the following text of the mes-
sage President Roosevelt sent Satur-
day to the Emperor of Japan:
Almost a century ago the President
of the United States addressed to the
Emperor of Japan a message extend-
ing an offer of friendship of the peo-
ple of the United States to the people
of Japan. That offer was accepted
and in the long period of unbroken
peace and friendship which has fol-
lowed our respective nations, through
the virtues of their peoples and the
wisdom of their rulers, have prospered
and have substantially helped hu-
man ity,
Only in situations of extraordinary
importance to our two countries need
I express to your majesty messages
on matters of state. I feel I should
now so address you because of the
deep and far-reaching emergency
which appears to be in formation.
DEVELOPMENTS are occuring in
the Pacific area which threaten
to deprive each of our nations and all
humanity of the beneficial influence
of the long peace between our two
countries. Those developments con-
tain tragic possibilities. The people
of the United States, believing in
peace and the right of nations to live
and let live, have eagerly watched the
conversatns between our two gov-
ernments during these past months.
We have hoped for a termination of
the present conflict between Japan
and China. We have hoped that a
peasce of the Pacific could be con-
summated in such a way that nation-
alities of many diverse peoples could
exist side by side without fear of in-
vasion; that unbearable burdens of
armaments could be lifted for them
all; and that all peoples would re-
sume commerce without discrimina- I
tion against or in favor of any nation.
I am certain that it will be clear
to your majesty, as it is to me, that
in seeking these great objectives both
Japan and the United tSates should
agree to eliminate any form of mili-
tary threat. This seemed essential to
the attainment of the high objectives.
MORE THAN A YEAR AGO Your
Majesty's government concluded
an agreement with the Vichy govern-
ment by which five or six thousand
Japanese troops were permitted to en-
ter into Northern French Indo-China
for the protection of Japanese troops
which were operating against China
further north. And this spring anda
summer the Vichy government per-
mitted further Japanese military
forces to enter into French southern
Indo-China for the common dfense
'of French Indo-China. I think I am
correct in saying that no attack has
been made upon Indo-China, nor that
any has been contemplated.
During the past few weeks it has
become clear to the world that the
Japanese military, naval and air
forces have been sent to southern
Indo-China in such large numbers as
to create a reasonable doubt on the
part of other nations that this con-
tinuing concentration in Indo-China
is not defensive in its character.
KUIBSHEV ussia. Dec. 6 ide- ski declared today tllat Polish soldiers
Eayed ' P Qn \\dyslaw Siky_ would be prepared to fight by Jan. 1.
Because these continuing concen-
trations in Indo-China have reached
such large proportions and because
they extend now to the southeast and
the southwest corners of that penin-
sula, it is only reasonable that the
peoples of the Philippines, of the hun-
dreds of islands of the East Indies, of
(Continued on Page 4)
--Extra Added
Cartoon
"TRIAL OF MR. WOLF"
)1
NEWS OF
THE DAY
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