Steiger, Visiting Lecturer, Scores Belittling of Japanese as Dangerous

It is both ridiculous and dangerous for Americans to believe that Japan is a satellite of Germany and a mere junior partner in the Axis, G. Nye Steiger, visiting lecturer in history and head of the department of history at Simmons College, asserted yesterday.

Strongly disagreeing with those who claim that a German defeat will result in the collapse of Japan, the professor stressed the fact that history shows the Japanese to be capable of independent action and long range planning on their own initiative. He cited as evidence the fact that Japan started the policy of defiance of the League of Nations back in 1931, when Hitler was still an unsuccessful minority candidate; that it wasn't Hitler or Germany that prevented effective action against Japan at that time; and that as early as 1937, more than a year before Munich, and without any encouragement from Hitler, the Japanese defied the Western Powers when they moved into China.

Japan Not a Satellite

"Japan is no more a satellite of Germany than the United States is of England," the professor stated, "and I do not see that the fall of the Nazis will mean the collapse of Japan, or will even result in collective action by the United Nations against the Nipponese."

On the other hand, the professor asserted, the defeat of Japan will be a decisive factor in a victory over Germany, since it will make available to the Allied powers such quantities of rubber, tin, petroleum and quinine as will tremendously strengthen our war effort. He stressed also that the defeat of Hitler, while Japan is still strong, might be followed by a noticeable divergence of purpose among the countries now opposed to Japan.

In the general feeling of relief that would follow the destruction of Hitler, Steiger remarked, several of the Allied governments might lose interest in prosecuting the Pacific war to a finish.

Orientals Now Respected

Commenting on the general situation in Eastern Asia, he stated that the evidence of growing Occidental appreciation of the rights of Oriental peoples is the most significant development of the century on the Far Eastern stage. One of the basic difficulties in our policy toward Asia, he continued, has been our inclination to assume an attitude of superiority with reference to the inhabitants of eastern Asia, a superiority which does not actually exist. "We have been thinking in terms of Kipling," Professor Steiger remarked.

In the century and a half during which the West enjoyed certain powers in the Orient, the professor went on, the only real superiority that it possessed was one of techniques in manufacturing communication, war machinery, etc.

Now, he concluded, that the East has learned these techniques, the hasts of any political dominance has disappeared.