"UNTHINKABLE"

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 24, 28 July 1939, Page 9

"UNTHINKABLE"

REACTION IN TOKIO

REASON NOT UNDERSTOOD

(Received July 28, 12.50 p.m.) TOKIO. July 27. The Foreign Office spokesman said that the abrogation by the United States of the trade treaty with the United States was "unthinkable."" Official notification had not been received by Japan, and he could offer no reason for the action. ' ,

The Foreign Office spokesman said it was most difficult to grasp the underlying motive of the denunciation of the agreement America's reasons for the denunciation were very brief, and the action was highly susceptible to interpretation as a political moye. Japan, however, was ready to negotiate if the United States desired a new treaty conforming to the new order, in Asia. ' J

Observers say that the abrogation foreshadows economic and commercial steps to combat a Japanese attempt to create a new order by force. Japanese industrialists regard the immediate effect as negligible, but as opening the way to more drastic action.

Reuters' Tokio correspondent says that Mr. Roosevelt's action has torpedoed the notions of the Japanese people with regard to the American attitude towards Japan. A long campaign of misrepresentation had led to a belief that America did not object to Japan's policy.

The Stock Exchange has slumped badly, stocks falling as much as three yen.