Big Brother Hayashi

Wrinkled 85-year-old Prince Kimmochi Saionji, last of the Genro (Elder Statesmen), had the same two eminent callers again & again last fortnight. They were harassed Premier Viscount Makoto Saito and his Minister of War, General Senjuro Hayashi. Discord, scandal and sickness have jolted five men out of Saito's Cabinet. Hayashi wanted to be the sixth. Cause was his younger brother Yukichi who had been adopted as a child by the family of Shirakami and taken that name. The General felt that he was still responsible for his brother's acts, whatever his name, and Yukichi, as Deputy Mayor of Tokyo, had been convicted of accepting a bribe to permit Tokyo Gas Co. to increase its capitalization. Five members of the Japanese Diet, two sheriffs and 16 Tokyo officials had already got mild sentences for that crime, most of them suspended. But the judges clamped on Yukichi a sentence of ten months in jail and a 17,000-yen ($5,000) fine. Big Brother Senjuro could not help feeling that, as the public officer responsible for discipline in the Army, he should accept his responsibility for his brother's sins by resigning. Mildly the old Genro tried to dissuade him, pointed out that Brother Yukichi had been indicted before Hayashi was made Minister of War. Hayashi was firm. And last week, despite the Cabinet's unanimous protest, he resigned, rocking Saito's boat for the sixth time. Meanwhile a faction of young army officers was rumored busy building up Hayashi's resignation into a reason why Premier Saito's entire cabinet should resign. When Hayashi got wind of that, his temper changed. Prince Kanin spoke, against the resignation. With great relief Hayashi withdrew his resignation.

The Tokyo Daily Asahi published an article tartly advising General Hayashi: "A simple apology is not enough atonement for the trouble you have caused. . . . your task is to continue getting soldiers out of politics."

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