JAPAN: Sub-Sea Lord

Asia’s War Lord is that most repressed, overeducated and modest of monarchs, the Son of Heaven, His Majesty the Tenno or Emperor Hirohito of Japan. Last week to London from Tokyo flashed a stiff diplomatic note replying to that in which Britain last July 15 announced that she has “invoked the escalator clause” of the London Naval Treaty. In plain words this meant that because Adolf Hitler has torn up the Treaty of Versailles and is building Germany a forbidden navy, Stanley Baldwin has torn up the limitations on British naval building in the London Treaty. Unlike Herr Hitler, Mr. Baldwin has a perfect right to do this, as have President Roosevelt and Emperor Hirohito, for the Treaty provides that any signatory may take the imaginary “escalator” up to greater sea armaments upon giving due notice. Last week Japan in her bold reply similarly climbed aboard the escalator, announced that she is enlarging her submarine fleet to exceed that of either Britain or the U. S.

This will make Emperor Hirohito the world’s Sub-Sea Lord. Japanese, as they read this proud news, found last week in Tokyo rotogravure sections an appropriate picture of the coming Sub-Sea Lord’s youngest brother Prince Takahito almost totally submerged, swimming his horse across a river in Japan’s latest military maneuvers (see cut). Britain, the U. S. and Japan have now all given notice that they are retaining in their navies numbers of old warships which were originally to have been scrapped under the London Treaty.

In the oddest deal of Britain’s present effort to rearm herself as fast as possible, the Admiralty turned last week to a Sheffield steel firm, Thomas W. Ward Ltd., who recently bought the liner Majestic to break up for scrap. The Admiralty offered a handsome sum to buy the Majestic, seeking to turn her into a training ship. Ward & Co. were not unwilling to sell but pointed out that to fill other contracts they were in immediate need of metal. At this the Admiralty threw in two old British submarines suitable for scrap in part payment for the German-built Majestic, once “The World’s Largest And Fastest Liner.”