JAPAN: Takahashi on Roosevelt

Japanese affectionately call 78-year-old Finance Minister Korekiyo Takahashi "Daruma" after the pot-bellied Buddhist sage, symbol of good luck. Just now he is carrying on with the most colossal and appallingly unbalanced budget in Japanese history. Since Japan quit the gold standard (TIME, Dec. 21, 1931) her yen has fallen to 36% of its par gold value but there has been no monetary inflation, no starting of the Japanese Treasury's printing presses. Last week Mr. Takahashi, who in his youth indentured himself to an Oakland, Calif, farmer to work for three years for a total wage of $50, voiced his sympathy for President Roosevelt, his hope that the U. S. may also be able to avoid printing press inflation, no matter how low the dollar sinks on international exchange.

"I am most sympathetic with Mr. Roosevelt," said Mr. Takahashi. "He is facing the more difficult situation. . . . Japan's administration is centralized, while authority in the United States is diffused between the Federal Government, the States and other agencies. Moreover the United States dollar is an international currency, while the Japanese yen is less important internationally and less subject to speculation. ..."

Latest statistics show that yen in circulation have slightly decreased since the Empire went off gold nearly two years ago. There has been of course an orgy of Japanese credit inflation, sponsored by "Daruma" Takahashi as the only means of paying Japan's war bills. Last week he sharply criticized only one point of President Roosevelt's recovery policy, the shortening of working hours under the NRA. To 78-year-old and frankly old-fashioned Korekiyo Takahashi this is nonsense. "What any nation needs now," he snapped, "is more work, not less work!"