Writher before Wax

Peering through his heavy spectacles, Divine Emperor Hirohito, the Son of Heaven, observed groveling on the matting before him last week his large, old-fashioned War Minister, General Senjuro Hayashi.

Impassive as wax, His Majesty gave ear. There had been another of those patriotic assassinations. The respected Army swordsmanship instructor, Lieut-Colonel Aizawa, after praying devoutly at the Imperial Family's Meiji Shrine, had called on the chief executive officer of the Japanese Army, Lieut-General Tetsuzan Nagata, Director of Military Affairs, and proceeded to run him expertly through the vitals.

Groveling War Minister Hayashi apologized profusely to the Throne, took the entire blame upon himself, writhed with conscientious anguish. The Son of Heaven understood perfectly when the War Minister did not hand in his resignation that General Hayashi and his crowd had taken the assassination in their stride, remained Army top dogs.

For some time the bull-necked War Minister has been weeding out of Japan's military elite officers hostile to his clique. Some of the roughest weeding, the most heartbreaking demotions and transfers of brilliant, high-strung fighters to humdrum posts, was done by General Nagata, assassinated last week to the high-strung satisfaction of an Army crowd younger than groveling old Hayashi's.

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