JAPAN: A Sad Decision

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After 60 days of labor, the Greater Tokyo Reconstruction Board decided to discard plans for a magnificent new Tokyo, advised by Dr. Charles A. Beard, director of the New York Training School for Public Service. At the same time it was announced that only $250,000,000 is to be spent on reconstruction instead of the $3,500,000,000 originally planned.

Dr. Goto, "Roosevelt of Japan" and present Minister of Home Affairs, resigned when he heard the news, but was subsequently persuaded by Premier Count Yamamoto to remain in office. Dr. Beard, foreseeing the drastic cuts, left Tokyo in despair a week previously. The press expressed keen disappointment, but the Tokyoans were reported to be interested only in "the earliest possible resumption of former activities."

Thus, apparently, Tokyo is to rise once more as it was—a fire-exposed city with haphazard streets and multitudinous ramshackle buildings.