MIDWAY AIR BASE
ALARMS JAPANESE
TOKYO, Nov. 14 (AP)—Lonely-
Midway island, United States naval
outpost in the Pacific, became a
target of Japanese anxiety today.
Domei, the Japanese news
agency, said Japanese naval circles
were "extremely nervous," over reports from Washington, D. C, that
the United States contemplates the
establishment of a powerful air
base on the tiny island.
Major-General Edward M. Mark-
ham, chief of United States army
engineers, recommended on Thursday that a sea-plane base should be
established at Midway island for
use in Pan-American Airways'
trans-Pacific service.
Although described by navy officers as primarily a commercial
project, its potential value from the
standpoint of national defense was
also stressed.
Treaty Violation Feared
Japanese naval officials, Domei
said, feared such a step indicated
the United States planned to terminate the non-fortification clause
of naval treaties.
Japan recently announced its in
line to the Japanese Mandate islands, west of Midway, where large
scale commercial harbor development has been in progress for some
Japanese circles were represented
as contending that any such American development of Midway island
showed the United States was still
against Japan.
Japan Fears Encircling
Conversion of Midway into an,
air base, it was pointed out, would
advance the United States navy's
base of operations about 800 miles
closer to the Japanese empire, giving America a battle formation encircling Japan with Luzon on the
south, Midway on the east, and the
Aleutian islands on the north.