Tuesday, 1 April 1930: Japan Announces it will Accept the Two-Thirds Ratio

Tokyo: 

The government of Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi announces that it will accept the terms of the London Naval Treaty being proposed by the United States and Great Britain, and instructs its delegates to the London Naval Conference to sign it.  This will preserve the requirement that Japan have a smaller ratio of capital ships compared to the U.S. and U.K. – a sore point among Japanese military leaders (although the ratio does improve).  The last treaty (with the 60% ratio) created a sharp rift in the Japanese navy between pro-treaty factions and nationalist admirals who wanted full parity with the other powers.  Many in Japan – in the military, the government and the public – view the reduced ratio as a national insult. 

Berlin: 

President Paul von Hindenburg gives Heinrich Bruening, his candidate to become chancellor of a new government, permission to dissolve the Reichstag and run the country under Article 48 -- the “emergency provision” -- of the German constitution, if the Reichstag doesn’t give Bruening a vote of confidence.  Armed with this, Bruening gives a curt speech in the Reichstag, telling the delegates the country needs work, not words, and action, not argument, if Germany is to dig through its financial issues.  Nonetheless, his speech is interrupted often by jeering from the communist delegates.

Elsewhere:

London:  More evidence of the Depression: the government announces that its plans to help the nation’s unemployed will cost the equivalent of US$350 million.

Washington:  More bad economic news:  William Green, President of the American Federation of Labor, testifies before Congress that 3.7 million are out of work. 

China:  Civil war resumes in China’s northern territories.  It has been brewing for weeks.  The governor of Shansi province has allied himself with a general who was a leader in Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist army until he led a rebellion against Chiang late last year.  The two have moved their forces into Kaifeng, capital of Honan province, and into northern Shantung province, in a bid to challenge Chiang.  So far they are unopposed by government troops in the area – many of which have reportedly joined their rebellion.