Editorial Says Whites Snobbery To Reap Harvest

CHICAGO -- "Before this phase of the world war is finished, the West will reap a bitter harvest for the racial snobbery which marked the attitude of too many whites in the East," thus does a brilliant and militant editorial in the Christian Cetnury [Century], an undenominational magazine, clearly analyze the war in the Far East and the hate the white man has engendered there.

Listing lessons for the white man's complacency, the editorial points out that "By this time even synthetic official optimism can hardly hide from the American people the extent of the victories which the Japanese have already won the Far East. The whole coast of Asia from Vladivostick south to within 200 miles of Singapore is now in their hands.

Chinese have Given better Account

"Both Britons and Americans can well afford to ponder the speed with which the Japanese have captured Hong Kong and Manila. Hong Kong, often called the Gibraltar of the Orient, had been expected to hold out for months. General McArthur had prophesied that the Philippines could hold off a Japanese invasion for an almost indefinite period. Actually, Hong Kong fell in 11 days and Manila in 25.

"Compare this with the Chinese resistance at Shanghai. There, although the Japanese position was infinitely superior and the Chinese equipment infinitely inferior, the Japanese conquest was held up for nearly three months in 1937 and for twice that long in 1941.

"The general tendency in Great Britain and the United States has been to make light of both the Japanese and Chinese forces. Well, now we see. So far by any given test of comparative results, the Chinese have given a better account of themselves than either British or Americans. Anglo-American complacency has been taught a swift and salutary lesson.

Why The Japs Are Fanatics

"In trying to explain the swift Japanese advance on Manila, American correspondents again and again referred to the 'fanaticism' with which the Invaders pressed forward under the murderous fire. Seemingly in the eyes of the correspondents no ordinary troops should have been expected to stand up to such punishment. The same characterization has recurred in reports from Malaya. Undoubtedly these reports are founded on fact.

"The Japanese have been fighting like fanatics! And what are they fanatical about? The answer is not far to seek. A major ingredient in their fanaticism arises from the slights which they are convinced they have suffered because of their color. They know that they have been regarded with condescension, frequently with contempt, caused by the white sense of racial superiority.

"The fact which gives the war in the Pacific its peculiar ferocity is that there the Japanese, fired with a feeling of racial outrage, faces the whites with a gun in his hand. His strength is as the strength of ten, not because his heart is pure, but because he is making up for years of what he has regarded as racial insult. Before this phase of the world war is finished the West will reap a bitter harvest for the racial snobbery which has marked the attitude of too many whites in the East."

Pittsburg Courier