THE PERPETUAL CRISIS

Like an ominous, glowing bed of coals, the Japanese crisis smoulders on, now fanned into a momentary flare by an incident such as the recent shooting in Vladivostok, now outwardly dampened by propagandists. No clear-thinking citizen can maintain that it is a local issue, restricted to California; the problem is one that affects the entire future of the United States and its immediate foreign policy.

Sentiment on the western coast is obviously much stronger than elsewhere; the frankness of its expression is only matched by the average attitude toward us in Japan itself. Circumstances are inevitably leading to a point where further "Gentleman's Agreements" will be useless and a "show-down" on both sides must ensue. Our present relations with Japan offer far more potential troubles than did our relations with Germany a decade ago; and instead of diminishing the serious aspects of the case are multiplying as time goes on.

There are several specific factors which tend to create discord between the two nations. Japan is immensely over-populated and her expansion is a necessary step in the course of events; the Japanese resent our racial discrimination against them; there is commercial conflict to be reckoned with; and most important of all, by a systematic "education" through the medium of newspapers and motion pictures, an utterly false impression about each other is cultivated in the two peoples. At home, we are fed upon the sensationalism of cheap dailies and periodicals and anti-Asiatic films; those who have investigated conditions in Japan report the same situation there. Propaganda in one form or another is an incalculably powerful weapon; and when it fosters misunderstanding of the character, the aims, or the common sympathies of two distinct races, it is a highly insidious evil.

Just how near to war we are drifting with Japan is interpreted by the jingoists on the one extreme and the uninformed on the other. At the moment, the aftermath of the World conflict is still fresh, and is likely to continue so for many years; it is a temporary safeguard that may ultimately lead to world peace and friendship. But the only road to amicable relations is a fuller comprehension of what the "other fellow" stands for, what he desires, what his difficulties are, and how his temperament corresponds to one's own. Before the fire breaks into flames, let us cease dodging vital issues, and candidly seek the solution by broader intelligence as to our common interests.