Future Policy

Although basic policy has been formulated and preliminary action taken toward the dissolution of the zaibatsu, further steps must still be taken. In order to make the proposed program completely effective the stock of the zaibatsu companies must be sold, the sources of credit expanded, the tax system overhauled, an efficient antitrust agency established, and the Japanese public opinion oriented toward a zaibatsu-free economy.

Certain holding companies have transferred their stock to the Holding Company Liquidation Commission, which has been instructed to liquidate the concerns and sell their assets. Acceptable new owners for these shares will have to be found. The obvious possibilities are the employees of the

concerns involved, independent investors, the state, trade unions, and cooperatives. The composition of the new ownership of the Japanese industry will, of course, be a major determinant in shaping the future Japanese economic system.

But in the long run the success of the zaibatsu program in Japan will depend upon the effects of these institutional changes on Japanese attitudes and patterns of thought. The resurgence of excessive concentrations of economic power in one form or another can be prevented only by the development of an informed and independent public opinion conscious of the dangers of such concentrations of power and a government responsive to such public opinion-such a development must be our long-range objective in Japan.

US GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1947