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"After a lapse of 28 years," wrote Viscount Kaneko, "I do not pretend to repeat the exact word of the President, but their substance made an ineffaceable impression which can never be forgotten as long as I live:
" 'All the Asiatic nations are now faced with the urgent necessity of adjusting themselves to the present age. Japan should be their natural leader in that process and their protector during the transition stage much as the United States assumed the leadership of the American Continent many years ago. . . .
" 'If Japan will proclaim such an Asiatic Monroe Doctrine I will support her with all my power either during my Presidency or after its expiration.' "
Back to Asia. The idea having been thus pedigreed (and U. S. observers admitted that it sounded very much like the ideas that used to emerge from the Oyster Bay rocking chair during the early years of the century), it was carried one step further last week by swart, smiling mustachioed Kaku Mori, leader of the younger faction of the chauvinistic Seiyukai Party. Mr. Mori is not now a Cabinet member. He could and did speak so freely to the Diet that a frightened cable censor hastily mangled the last part of his address while it was being sent to the U. S.:
"Our national policy is, thus, that of a Far Eastern Monroe Doctrine. The League of Nations is not necessary to Japan. We have no occasion to poke our nose into Europe's affairs. We should concentrate our efforts on the stabilization of Asia. . . . 'Back to Asia' is the watchword of our party. We may be forced to quit the League and China may renew her campaign against us. We must prepare for repetition of the Shanghai affair, and it is impossible to expect improvement in our relations with the United States; they are likely to become worse. . . . Extraordinary measures, in which the army and the politicians cooperate, are needed."
"What do you mean by extraordinary measures?" asked a Diet voice.
"If necessary. . . ." Whatever Party Leader Mori thought was necessary remained a secret on the floor of the Japanese censor's office.
Araki. Censors were less alert in the case of Lieut.-General Sadao Araki, Japan's dry, spry little Minister of War, translations of whose article for Kaikosha, the Army Club magazine, reached the U. S. last week:
"The countries of eastern Asia are objects of oppression by the white people. This fact is undeniable and imperial Japan should no longer let their impudence go unpunished. . . . The United States loudly professes to champion righteousness and humanity, but what can you think when you review its policy toward Cuba, Panama, Nicaragua and other Latin American nations? Nowhere in the society of nations do we find the pacific spirit which we call Japanese 'kultur.' We must shake our fist in their faces."