Mobilization

The Japanese War Office solemnly declared last fortnight that a "state of war" existed in the empire. A general, instant mobilization of war industries was ordered. General staffs assembled, industrial leaders sat alert at their desks, all factories were ordered to produce "war materials." Martial as the mobilization sounded, it was in reality no more than what occurs annually on Defense Day in the U. S., when for a few minutes railway presidents and corporation heads exchange potent telegrams with the War Department at Washington. But Japan's Defense Day served to remind U. S. citizens in Hawaii, last week occupied with the inauguration of a new Governor (see p. 11), of the strategic importance of their position. More peaceful was last week's news from Tokyo when His Majesty the Emperor Hirohito ratified the Kellogg Treaty for the Renunciation of War (see below).