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Minister Hirota's next step was to set one group of Foreign Office assistants to studying whether or not the British quotas could be claimed as a breach of the Anglo-Japanese commercial treaty. Another group went to work on a schedule of anti-British retaliatory tariffs to be used as a last resort.
The League. The next problem in Koki Hirota's busy week was what to do about Dr. Ludwik Rajchman. So glaring are the things that the League of Nations ills to do that the world is apt to forget the practical international charity which the League attempts. Year ago it was the League-inspired loan to Austria that did much to ward off Hitlerism and keep Engelbert Dollfuss in the saddle. Since 1930 the League has been doing what it could for impoverished China. Eight months ago it commissioned its Dr. Ludwik Rajchman, Polish expert on China, to act as financial adviser to the Nationalist Government and handle reconstruction work in the Chinese provinces.*
Like most League attaches, Dr. Rajchman is an ardent liberal, instinctively opposed to Japanese imperialism. To Japan's chagrin he is also an able administrator. In a short time he had coordinated reconstruction work in seven provinces, persuaded the Nationalist Government to spend $15,000,000mex.—six times as much as in 1933—for reconstruction. Then he returned to Geneva with a strongly worded report demanding more money and moral support for China if that country is not to collapse before Japan.
In Tokyo Foreign Minister Hirota felt it wise to consult the Emperor's ear, venerable Prince Saionji, last of the Elder Statesmen, before tackling the League's work in China. This time the Hirota words were delivered to the world not through Spokesman Amau but through Rengo, the official news agency. First came a warning to frighten possible investors: "Financial conditions in China are most distressing. Chinese merchants abroad who have been remitting between 300,000,000 and 400,000,000 yuan ($100,000,000 to $133,000,000) a year to help Chinese finances have ceased remittances. Last year China's trade showed an excess of imports amounting to $200,000,000 and if this continues a few more years the Chinese Republic will be bankrupt." Then came the protest proper: "China ought first to readjust her debts before any more money is loaned. Unless such a readjustment is made an added burden will be placed on the Chinese which will tend to delay unification of the country and the attainment of order and prosperity. . . . This is what Japan cannot countenance as she realizes that it devolves upon her to be the Keeper of Peace in the Far East. ... If necessary the Japanese will take measures to cope with any situation likely to arise subsequent to international financial assistance to China."