Show rm M need tune time for democratic roots to take hold in ill japan by y new analyst anil and commentator if NU service Ser rice 1616 1016 eye street NW washington D C washington recently one of 0 japans liberal newspapers took oc caslon casion to admonish its ita readers against r ing general mac arthur for f the emperor as an 14 object of rever ence the paper r pointed out 01 that 1 Iga macarthur cArthur was waa a symbol of democracy daiy but not a living god in so j doing the editor touched on a matter of deep significance to baukhage V the future of ja pan and one which poses one of the greatest problems of the occupation c J I 1 doubt it if most moat people realize it this situation was revealed to me by a very earnest and very widely experienced observer lust just back from japan the burd burden en of his 10 theme was the strange unreality 1 which seems to envelop the life c of f the japanese people uke like a 8 mist let me kne give vou ou as nearly as an I 1 am able the gist gilt of his bis impressions supple f by other current reports of on the spot observers the remarkably successful record made by Geff general eral macarthur in one years occupation of japan can be written down on the credit side of americas postwar undertakings it Is nevertheless only a be ginning unless the structure is completed on the foundation we have laid oil all of our work will go tor for nothing on the tha negative side we have disarmed japan and destroyed tits military machine we have taken over ltd its industrial power the business monopolies have been broken up on the positive side according to Alac Arthurs own report the average japanese no longer cringes in the presence ol of the police or other public authorities ills his home has bei be come his castles castle he registers his hl opinion on issues uncontrolled except jy by his s own conscience j he enjoys the right of assembly and p tie he worships as he chooses in accordance with his individual religious faith he enjoys the untrammeled right individually or collectively to demand correction of unjust labor practices electoral discrimination has been removed that Is probably literally true but it does not tell the whole story for according to my informant there are indications that the progress made tho the r reforms achieved in the political economic and social life of the country are arc only tommi and it will take a long time many years before those forms can be hardened into enduring substance the reason for or this is that thai the life of the individual japanese and acts of their gov government emmentt actually are arc dominated by III a supreme lne power which while it Is not constantly visible Is no less potent that la Is the power of the U S occupation forces recover from ii stunning loss at first the japanese were utterly stunned by the suddenness sudden nets of their crushing defeat gradually they hey discovered that they were being well treated and they assumed a cooper co oper active atrit attitude ude an almost servile loyalty obedience friendliness and an apparently complete sympathy with the americans 13 but ut that does not mean they actually have ab sobbed our culture socially political j y or ot cothery othery herrise lae nor doc docs s tt it mean 1 that hat thoy they have been able to build f up any real or lasting basting structure of 3 ther own an utterly exotic cratic culture has suddenly been superimposed upon them it would be absurd from froin the standpoint of human psychology or human expert ence to 0 o expect that japan an almost J feudal nation a land ot of powerful i tradition and a thoroughly oriental viewpoint could possibly about face A in a period embracing even M certainly not in years in addition to the wide gulf that V exists between and orient there are many obstacles which stand in the way odthe of the achievement T of a democratic japan let us look at at this conquered V country through the eyes of a man who had the opportunity to study firsthand first hand the rise and tall fall of hi democracy in germany under the tha weimar republic it so happened po that this observer also watched the attempts at the westernization of turkey after the last war both I 1 germany and japan lived in a atmosphere for centuries of course the germans belonged to western civilization but ever since 1870 they grew under what amount ed to a military dictatorship in a highly disciplined society a rigid class system with complete subservience to authority in these respects japan Is similar like germany after world war I 1 japan has suffered a crushing defeat has deposed an emperor has absolutely no training in democratic organization or democratic action no experience in parliamentary government as we ve know it political parties organized in the sense that we know them were utterly strange to both nations and both peoples lived under an economy and a society based on the support morally 8 ily and mater materially laUy of a huge army and navy these are some of the difficulties which the weimar republic faced and the young japanese democracy is facing strong antidemocratic anti democratic influences represented by big business and the aristocracy of blood and uniform common to Japan and germany are at least latent in the former but perhaps the greatest parallel danger in japan toda yand the thing that eventually destroyed the welmar weimar republics republic Is the economic situation produced by inflation many students of history feel that hitler never would have gotten even a start in germany if it hod had not been for the chaotic condition caused by the terrible inflation iffla lon ion today is one of japans greatest problems economic chaos breeds controls it is quite possible that the weimar republic even under the best conditions and with the material and moral assistance of the democratic nations nation which it did not get never would have succeeded on the other othel hand it niver had a fair trial for economic chaos forced the diem IT 0 X I 1 A i G E worship there was no time to establish in the minds 0 of the people or in the processes of government a real solidly built democratic philosophy it Is inconceivable that without a long period of idu education cation the japanese can evolve politically to the point which the germans never reached americas greatest bulwark of democracy to is conceded to be the public school A aholo nw curriculum must mu be laid down to toy the japanese at present the shortage of books is serious the old books are of course almost useless there Is likewise a shortage of trained teachers another factor essential to the growth ofa democratic government Is security without which individual effort cannot flourish sh today in japan no japanese work er cr Is s sure buro that his wage in tho the rapidly deteriorating currency will provide him a livelihood no mo industry indus trl aalst la is certain he will have purchasers and many are arc not sure their factories will be allowed to operate until the question of reparations Is settled in other words the japanese lives thinks nets acts by the grace of a superior force the american high command remove it and the antidemocratic forces will be let loose maintain it without a solid foundation of native grown democratic structure springing from the people themselves and you are merely removing a substitute for or a macarthur or an uncle sam or a mikado and another will quickly be found |