JAPAN TO-DAY

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20504, 21 May 1938, Page 25 (Supplement)

JAPAN TO-DAY

ECONOMIC RESOURCES A DIFFICULT POSITION (Special to Times. LONDON, April 2. Miss Freda Uiley, author of “Japan's Feet of Clay,” gave a most interesting address to a group of students of economics at Gordon Square recently. Rear-Admiral ScottHill presided. Miss Utley stated that it was a mistake to consider Japan a Fascist ,State. Japan was more comparable to Russia under the Czars. Her main difficulty in attempting to compete with the economic imperialism of the United Kingdom and the L T nited States of America was that she had no heavy industry exports and no financial resources available for colonial development.

The starting point of the present war arose from the fact that China had been getting unconditional commercial loans from foreign countries, i.e., without having to submit to foreign control. Japan wished to crush the growing unity of China before it became too strong. Her intention was not necessarily to conquer, but to disunite the various parts of China. She wanted political control in order to get loans from the United Kingdom and the United States with which to develop the country. Cleavage In Kingdom In Japan itself the war was accentuating the cleavage between the big trusts and the landowners on the one hand and the petty bourgeoisie on the other. The trusts were opposing totalitarianism and the petty bourgeoisie, the army, and the young officers all supported it. This divergence of views also appeared in the suggested methods of financing the war. The trusts called for borrowing and taxation of the middle classes, while the other sections suggested higher taxation of the upper classes. The dominating feature of Japanese economics was the position of the big trusts like Mitsui and Mitsubishi, which were organised both vertically and horizontally and controlled not only industry but also the banking system. Their size could be seen from the fact that Mitsui alone controls 40 per cent of the foreign trade of the country. These trusts were almost entirely family affairs, immune from any public control, and they had a very firm grasp of the smaller Industries through the banks. As ar. instance of the terms on which they dealt with the small man, a special relief proposal had been put forward which would allow the latter to obtain loans at as low a rate of interest as 15 per cent. Bmall Men Suffer The smaller Industrialists were be- . ing caught between the trusts and the banks on the one hand and the discontented workers on' the other. About half of the population of Japan consisted of farmers paying fixed rents in kind. The rents were fixed at such a figure that the average peasant had to find a subsidiary income of some kind, either by indenturing his son to industry or his daughter to factory labour. Unless he did this he was unable to buy the necessary fertilisers from the-trusts. The land-owning officer class was utilising the peasant discontent to agitate against big business. On the industrial side Miss Utley quoted a number of figures to indicate that the extreme weakness of Japanese engineering and heavy industry. Bicycles, for instance, were produced mainly in small family factories, employing some five persons each. The motor-car production was only 5000 per annum, compared with Italy's 50,000, and these were mainly assembled by American companies from Imported parts. Japanese production of machine tools was also very poor. Summarising Japan's trading position It could safely be said that twothirds of her imports and one-half of her exports were handled by the United State?*and the British Umpire, and. accordingly. these countries could, if they wished, exert irresis-

tible pressure on .Japan. Some SO per cent of Japan's trade was financed through London and this indicated the way in which pressure could be put upon her.