JAPAN AND AMERICA

One of the most regrettable aspects of the Manchurian tangle is the setback which it is giving to sentiment for repeal of the Japanese exclusion act. In recent years the opinion has spread that the exclusion was unnecessary, and even unjust. The notion that Japanese immigration furnished dangerous competition for American labor was gradually being dispelled. The two hundred Japanese who would be admitted yearly by the quota system could hardly disturb American labor even in the depression.

Whether or not Japan's action was justified by China's treaty violation is beside the point. America and the world in general consider that it runs counter to moral law. In this country the feeling is that a Japanese whose only defect is his willingness to work hard for little pay can be a desirable citizen. But when the Japanese attack a dismembered nation struggling with the disasters of a flood, and refuse to join wholeheartedly in the peace-efforts of the world, prejudice is bound to influence people's judgment.

By all indications Japan and America were gradually drawing together again. But rapprochement would be extremely difficult now. The Japanese have always been sensitive to American criticism. They will have only themselves to blame if the stigma which the exclusion act puts on them remains many years longer in the present situation than it otherwise would.