Press translations [Japan]. Editorial Series 0349, 1946-02-03.
Date3 February, 1946
translation numbereditorial-1090
call numberDS801 .S82
Persistent Identifier
EDITORIAL SERIES: 349
ITEM 1 Authorities Inconsistent in Arguments Against Non-Payment - Provincial Newspaper Chubu Nippon (Nagoya) - 30 Jan 46. Translator: J. Wada.
Full Translation:
The argument of Mr. OUCHI, Hype, which vas presented in public to the minister of
Finance at the and of last year, in favor of
the disavowal of the Government's pledges, has increased in merit, when we consider
the present state of inflation. To the
current national debt of 130 billion yen, will be added a new debt of more than 100
billion, - 45 billion for indemnities to
munition industries and several tens of billions for compensations to the companies
whose plants and equipment will be used
for reparations.
The Allied directive of 24 January prohibited the Government's from borrowing from
the Bank of JAPAN to make good its
financial deficits. This attests to the propriety of arguments in favor of the denunciation
of the war-time commitments. We
may well contend that such an enormous national debt will finally invite national
ruin, directly aggravating inflation and
indirectly making the balance of finances unfavorable in view of tae large amount
of interest-payments.
In face of this crisis, the Minister of Finance has held out, in practice, against
the disavowal of pledges. He has done
nothing more than block the indemnities, the estimation of which has never been accurate.
Moreover, he went so far as to pay a
high interest-ra[illegible]of 3.8 per cent. A new directive which prohibits the payment of interest to
frozen indemnities shows us again the lack of [illegible]on the part of the Government.
Be that as it may, the Government's police to compensate, for the losses of the munition
companies, is far from being fair and
democratic. They had already enlarged their equipment under governmental financial
protection and had obtained large profits
during the war. Moreover, just before and after the end of the war, they received
the entire value of their finished and
half-finished goods, in addition to the amount insured for war a damage.
Now, when we are threatened by vicious inflation on one side and by financial collapse
on the other, the Government should
take some steps which will be tantamount to non-fulfilment of pledges. We cannot,
agree with the opinion that the enforcement
of the three new taxes will confiscate the indemnities, because the amount to be collected
by these taxes is too small
compared with the generous indemnities received by munition companies.
The main reason why the Government cannot decline to pay indemnities is that the
current Cabinet has too many capitalistic
tendensies. The next reason is its blind faith in the maintenance of financial capital.
The third reason is that the
Government is as self-centered as ever, in spite of its pledge to bring about political
and economic [illegible]. The first and third reasons will dis[illegible]ear in time. As
EDITORIAL SERIES: 349 (Continued)
ITEM 1 (Continued)
for the third, some awakened financiers profess that even if the loan advanced to
[illegible]ition companies
prove a dead loss, they can maintain business by the operation of accumulated funds
and a reduction in the rate of
dividends.
The above-mentioned argument deserves further discussion. However, we want to point
out a couple of events reported on 24
January. One is about the reparations problem. When about four hundred important factories
in the homeland were named for
removal as a result of Mr. PAULERY's report, the Ministry of Finance declared its
intention to allow several tens of billions
of yen in national bonds to compensate for removal, without clarifying the means of
valuation, the sale price or the
reconstruction price or the value of profit-capitalization. The other concerns a reduction
in the interest rate of national
[illegible]. The report says that the authorities have decided to consider lowering the interest
on
national bonds from the current 3.5 Per cent to 2 per cent, in the anticipation that
at the end of next year interest payments
will amount to more than seven billion yen, with more than two hundred billion yen
in capital.
Readers must have realized the theoretical contradiction between these two decisions.
The former indicates an opposition to
the non-fulfilment of the Government's war-time commitments and a lack of cautiousness
in the estimation of indemnities. On
the contrary, the latter advocates a onesided reduction in the interest rate on national
bonds which are protected under bond
laws. Again, the former disa[illegible]roves of non-payment even in the face of the speeding up of
inflation, while the latter approves of non-payment to save interest payments as small
as 1,700,000,000 yen..
What is in the minds of government officials who present such inconsistent logic?
The liquidation of national bonds and
conversion to lower bonds is the fundamental basis for sound finances. [illegible]enforcement of this is
urgently needed not only to alleviate the burden on the Treasury but also to promote
economic reconstruction by the lowering
of interest on industrial funds. However, in order to take such steps, the mere anticipation
of the Diet's approval of reform
bills to that effect is not enough. The authorities are not qualified to decide, with
the self-cente[illegible]dness peculiar to bureaucrats, such a change as will affect the fundamental and universal
foundation
of JAPAN's economy before they have presented their ideas for debating at the epoch-making
session of the Diet to be convened
after the general election.
Apart from the Diet's approval, the authorities should first consult public opinion
and examine all platforms of every
political party, and then draft a bill. It is common sense in democratic politics,
When the Labor Party Cabinet of ENGLAND in
1927 converted more than half of seven billion pounds of national bonds into lower
priced bonds and the other half into
non-red[illegible]mable bonds, the authorities left to the people the alternative of the two kinds of
bonds, and. succeeded in inviting people to take the one which the Government desired.
This is a very good example of fair
parliamentarianism for our bureaucrats.
After all, the fact that bureaucrats consider themselves [illegible]to plan on and effect such important
problems as influence the whole economy shows a lack of genuine understanding of democracy.
If they truly realize the current
economic crisis and have the confidence and courage to denounce pledges, they should
go farther to reexamine the whole system
of war-time indemnification in order to be consistent in their policies.
- 2 -
EDITORIAL SERIES: 349 (Continued)
ITEM 2 Difference in Thought Through the Years - Yomiuri Hochi - 31 Jan 46. Translator: T. Naruse.
Full Translation:
At his reception, held on 27 January, Mr. NOZAKA, the prominent communist, stated
as follows. "The majority of those who are
gathered here are above 40. But in our camp, people in their twenties and thirties
have little experience in theory and
practice, and their thoughts have become blank. Therefore, filling up this blank will
be a duty of us elderly persons
……”.
In the period of TAISHO after the Great European War, the waves of democracy swept
over all the young men's circles in JAPAN,
and developed into communism in the first stage of SHOWA, Those in the forties and
in the fifties at present are those who
were in school or engaged in the labor movement at that time. A person in his thirties
[illegible]from
university after the outbreak of the Manchurian Incident. Consequently, they know
no social movement excepting these patriotic
ones which merely flattered militarism. Hence, their lives, to the end of this war,
had nothing to do with democracy.
Apart from the problem of whether communism and socialism are good or not, those
who have been washed or effected even a
little by the waves of these thoughts, or have engaged in their movements, have got
into the habit of thinking matters over.
But the others are unfortunate and have grown up without the habit of thinking, being
confined in the frame of thought control
by the military clique and bureaucrats.
People of 50 and 60 have grown up in the golden age of capitalistic economy. But
people above 70, just as Messrs. OZAKI, and
KOJIMA, the prominent politicians, for example, had passed through age of their struggle
in which they risked their lives for
the free civil rights to establish party politics, fighting against the clan ascendency.
Therefore, they have an iron
will.
The Japanese boys and girls have met an unprecedented national crisis, and they are
now being washed by the waves of
democracy. Furthermore, they will form the habit of thinking having sufficient training
from now on. Ten or twenty years after
this, therefore, JAPAN will arrive at a rich age of thought.
ITEM 3 Popular Expectation for the Coalition the Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party - Tokyo Shimbun - 1 Feb 46. Translator: M. Kato.
Full Translation:
No agreement has yet been reached between the Social Democratic and the Communist
parties with regard to the formation of a
democratic front, and there are certainly enough reasons for both parties to disagree.
The Communist Party expressed the view
that on urgent problems, if not on fundamental policies, agreement can be reached
through their talks and thus a joint front
can be formed. The Social Democratic Party is of the opinion that so long as the basic
policies of the Communist Party are not
clear even to that party itself, as well as to the general, public, an immediate co-operative
move with the Communists is not
to expected.
Although this disagreement may be pardonable after considering each party's standpoint,
it only serves to give us the
impression that the formation of a joint front is deadlocked. Since the Communist
Party has changed its policies for the
better by throwing away its former sectionalism and adopting the policy of "Being
Loved by the People" there is a ray of hope
in the solution of this problem. The time is already ripe for their coalition. In
the local districts, instances of
- 3 -
EDITORIAL SERIES: 349 (Continued)
ITEM 3 (Continued)
movements in concert with the other party have already been reported pertaining to
the (solution of urgent problems. This
trend clearly shows that there if much possibility of a concrete combination of both
parties. Thus, the perfect conjunction of
both parties is not necessarily impossible. Co-operative movements, either regarding
basic policies or pressing questions, of
these two parties will form the chief influence on the "Democratic Front". The general
public is therefore expecting adequate
steps to be taken by the leaders of the two parties with respect to the time and method
of the coalition of both parties, why
do the people at large expect it? The answer is simple enough.
Nothing at present is mere pressing for the people than the question of social unrest.
The people have not yet reached the
constructive stage of a new society by their own hands. They are only looking forward
to the stabilization of their social
life to be realized by new leadership. This is the desire of the majority of the Japanese
people. They therefore will not
choose the party. So long as it serves the purpose, any party, whether it be Social
Democratic, Communist, Liberal, or
Progressive will do. However, popularity has centered around these two parties to
such an extent that popular attention is
being given exclusively to their every move.
Of course, this may only attest to the low level of popular political consciousness.
It is a case of the people's minds being
stirred as in the presence of a popular star in a theatrical performance. It my be
said to be caused by mass psychology. At
any rate, the leaders of both parties are responsible, in consideration of this fact,
for elevating the political level of
those supporters as a, means of answering the popular expectations.
It must be borne in mind that the coalition of both parties implies this important
task of enlightening the public. This fact
likewise leads to the conclusion that in case of antagonism between these two parties
in the discussion. of urgent problems
revealing their, defects, the separation between the parties and the general public
may occur. Such instances have been
recorded in political history as in the instance of the old political parties. Prudence
on the part of the two parties is
necessary in encouraging the populace. But depending or the slogan "Popular Front",
or "Democratic Front" is not
desirable.
To give an example, food control by the people is not as yet fully appreciated by
the masses.
The singular incident at ITABASHI of arbitary distribution of hidden foodstuffs is
now well known. Of course, it will be a
great disadvantage for the Communist Party to be judged by the people on this incident.
The popular expectation for the
elimination of social unrest along with political and social stabilization is based
on the expectation of their conjunction.
The public has less regard for the essential character or the substantial nature of
these parties. With full appreciation
then, of these actuality, can't the prudent actions of these two parties lead to their
coalition?
DISTRIBUTION "X"
- 4 -
Loading...