JAPAN: Russian Trade

A demand for the resumption of trade relations with Russia has broken out again, and seems likely to assume a serious complexion.

The Socialists, who have hitherto made all the noise, have now been joined by organized business concerns. The Socialists are, of course, out for the full recognition of the Soviet Government and its auxiliaries in Greater Russia, while the business people want only trade relations to be reestablished.

Representations were recently made by Gisaku Takigawa, President of the Kobe Chamber of Commerce, to the Government in Tokyo, asking for the resumption of trade relations as means of improving Japanese commerce. For this step Takigawa has been suspected of Bolshevik sympathy, and, it is reported, he was put under police surveillance.

The Chicago Tribune, however, reports that the Japanese Consul General at Vladivostok is negotiating with officials of the Far Eastern Republic for the removal of Russian bars to trade. The suggestion of exchanging trade commissioners is put forward, the Japanese to be stationed at main Siberian ports and at Moscow, and the Russian at Tokyo and important Japanese ports.