war
606
THE HONG KONG WEEKLY PRESS &
FUTILE PROTESTS
(Daily Press, October 27, 1937)
we
hundreds, nay thousands, of poor villagers who would be ready to come forward and tell of the damage done by the Japanese
and air force navy, army
to non-combatants. No, Japan, you can "fool all of the people some of the time" but even those who
Although we have by NOW unthinkable that the Japanese become calloused to the brazen would stoop to such cowardly falsehoods spread by the Japanese | acts! Yet there is not one, but propagandists in their ffort to win some sympathy trom the civilised world in their undeclared against China, feel constrained to express indigna- tion at the latest effort by their Navy Department, namely their plea of innocence in regard to the bourbing, by Navy planes.appear to you to be the biggest of open towns and cities which resulted, as we already know, in the deaths of thousands of
civilians.
We are indignant because it is such an insult to our intelligence for the Navy Department at Tokyo even to hope, for a mu- ment, that we would swallow" every
statement they make. The Japanese naval authorities the criticism strongly resent levelled by some Powers and the League Advisory Committee against the air raids." contending that these criticisms are no based on sure ground!
fools in the world refuse to be fooled all of the time, in spite of the fact that your Navy Depart- ment "hopes that the outside world will place confidence in the good faith of the Japanese Navy and show itself proof against reports of this kind.**
71
more
While the powers-that-be in Tokyo are busy, dividing their
sending time between troops to North China, devising 'more effective' ways and means of subduing a nation that J fighting gallantly to protect its territorial sovereignty, and deny- ing "malicious reports," Japanese propagandists are less busy trying to "take in" the world with their cunningly word- ed statements. of them even
the
nu
For instance one went so far as to
Reports and photographs pu- blished int our columus during the past few weeks, all obtained from authentic sources, showed what havoc amongst the civilians say that "in raiding their objec- these air raids had wrought in tives Japanese planes dive low, and other open cities. in the face of heavy anti-aircraft Canton Thousands have been rendered fire, in order to ensure that their homeless as the direct result of bombs hit their marks and noth- these unprovoked and barbarousing else." The reply to this is, assaults on a defenceless people, and yet the Navy Department in Tokyo has the brazen effrontery to protest against the criticism made against the despicable methods adopted by their air force.
go
one
The Japanese sea lords then
better.
They have formally and emphatically deni ed the report in the foreign Press to the effect that many Chinese fishing boat were recently sunk
October 29, 1937
THE DRUG TRAFFIC
Those sections of the Report of the Fifth Committee of the League of Nations on the traffic in narcotics, laid before the As- sembly at the end of September, which deal with the clandestine production of opium and similar drugs. make highly disagreeable all Governments reading for
which are alive to the dangers of the illicit importation of great quantities of cheap narcotics from what are now the chief centres of their production. These cen- tres beyond any question are Manchukuo and those parts of Northern China where Chinese authority had been undermined by the Japanese before the out- break of hostilities.
are
at
or
The drugs are manufactured in the Japanese concession in Mukden and in Dairen but bear marks of Chinese origin. The Japanese laws do not allow the export of drugs from or through Japan or Korea those there- fore which are exported to Ame- rica, Europe, and other regions
shipped Chinese nominally Chinese ports. The danger to other countries if this vast production of narcotics is allowed to continue unchecked need hardly be emphasized, and an offensive on a large scale is required unless the good work of undone and the world is to be the League of Nations is to be
repoisoned.
in
E! art!
the most
The contrast between the at- if the Japanese planes did fly titude of China and Japan to- low at all, the purpose was to
wards the 118e and sale of make doubly certain that their
narcotics is remarkable. In most
China ombs and machine-guns would provinces miss nothing, not even innocent drastic measures. even including civilians, women
and chillaren the death penalty, are being included. This statement is not taken against the vendors of made at random. for we daily opium, and there have been cases receive reports to the effect that
of the execution of addicts. railway stations, crowded with Manchukuo, on the contrary, the con-combatants, are attacked by traffic in drugs is an open busi- the Japanese "vultures."
ness, conducted under the aus pices of the Government's opium Yet the Japanese Navy De-monopoly. In Northern China
by Japanese submarines in Southpartment protests in a manner China waters." How can this be when the Japanese Navy is constantly under orders not to uttack defenceless craft? It is
that is so vigorous and so persis- tent that it is calculated to inspire nothing more helpful to Japan than resentment and suspicion.
In
Tientsin has been the centre of a vast distributive trade Con ducted under Japanese official protection.
(Continued on page 607)
October 29, 1937
The Drug Traffic
(Continued from page 606) The comparison speaks for it- self.
All that need be said here
is that it is disquieting to learn that a nation which still professes its desire to regenerat the Far East by its example should be so blind to the moral and physical damage which is being wrought under its aegis.
The Chinese, whether of Nor- thern China or of Manchukuo, have been been and still are the principal sufferers from this de- plorable state of affairs. But there are limits to their absorp- tive capacity, for the drug habit sooner or later impoverishes its victims and a large-scale produc- tion of narcotics requires an expanding market. Here lies the danger to other countries. And here too lies a new danger to the prestige of Japan, which has already been gravely impair- ed by the ruthless violence of its militarists. No Government, however powerful, can afford to incur the suspicion that it en- courages the development of the most disreputable of industries on an unprecedented scale.
DONATIONS
The Director of Ambulance has the honour to acknowledge with grateful appreciation and thanks the receipt of the following dona- tions:-
.$100.00
Messrs. Yuet Koo Chai (per
Mr. Fung Kong Un) Staff of the Needle Hill Nine, Shing Mun (per "S.C.M. Post")
21.50
Mr. G. Bixby (per Mr. W. R.
Andrews)
12.00
Mrs.
(per
A. Whittaker "S.C.M. Post">
3.00 Miss Mann, one hypodermic syringe
for Cheung Chau Hospital.
The Hong Kong Chinese Rellef Association acknowledges with thanks the donation of one thou- sand dollars from the Estate of the late Mr. Chan Kai Ming (per Mr. Kenneth Chan) $1,000.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT
607
U.S. WILL KEEP OUT OF WAR
"Unless And Until Others
Have Been Dragged In"
STANLEY DOLLAR INTERVIEWED
"American sympathy to-day is beyond question on the side of China, but if anybody thinks that that sympathy is going to find expression in America coming into this war as an active participant on the side of China he is greatly mistaken, if I have correctly interpreted the feelings of the average American.
This dogmatic statement was any rate among the great powers?" made to a representative of the asked the pressman. "Daily Press" yesterday by Mr. Stanley Dollar, grandson of the famous Robert Dollar, founder of the Dollar Steamships, Ltd., who is now in Hong Kong. Mr. Stanley
Dollar. a typical American univer- sity graduate, as exemplified in the şilm and Hollywood films-tall.
debonair-is on a round trip in the President Hoover which leaves Hong Kong to-day for the United States. He is a member of the Dollar Steamship Lines and does not intend to go in for politics. Ships, shipping and the sea is in his blood, he says.
war
Mr. Dollar discussed the situation as affecting the United States quite freely. There was no doubt, he said, that trade was hit. and shipping even worse, by the Sino-Japanese hostilities and there was a rising tide of sympathy with the Chinese people all over America.
"But the American people." he continued, "are, as a nation, totally against war so far as America is concerned, and I do not think they will take any sides in this war."
UNTIL OTHERS DRAGGED IN
As an afterthought, however, Mr. Dollar added these significant words: "At any rate not unless and until others have been drawn into it."
"But do you not think a policy of isolationism is quite incom- patible with the present order of things in this world? Aviation. wireless telephony and other mo- dern inventions-what one might call twentieth century progress- have made the world so much smaller that the nations are so inter-dependent and Inter-con- nected that it has surely become impossible for any one of them to be disinterested in the others. at
"America will stay out of trouble and do her very utmost to prevent trouble elsewhere as long as she can, replied Mr. Dollar, but if any- body expects her to rush into this Far Eastern trouble as an active participant he is mistaken. The Americans feel they had enough of war the last time and they will not be dragged into another one easily. They are a peace loving people and the great masses of the United States do not know and do not, I dare say. care to delve into the
of intricacies
international politics. But, of course, they are a very emotional people."
AMERICA NOT BOUND
As an example of this line of thought Mr. Dollar cited President Roosevelt's famous Chicago speech and said that the speech had not by any means created a favourable impression in the United States in so far as it tended to convey the impression abroad that America was committed to any line of action. On this score it had been very strenuously criticised in the United States.
With regard to conditions in the United States Mr Dollar said there had been a distinct decline in trade of recent months but the country was certainly sharing in the general prosperity since the Inception of the arms race a few years ago.
Opinion in America, he thought. while being against war, was fully alive to the necessity of being adequately armed, in a world armed to the teeth. purely for defensive purposes. To this extent the navy appropriations, huge as they have been, had not met with very great opposition, but it was not to be expected that America would go all out to create a record in the armaments race,
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