O'Ryan's Job

The only National Guard officer who kept a top U. S. Army command during World War I was Major General John Francis O'Ryan, whose 27th (Rainbow) Division helped to crack the Hindenburg Line. Mustached, militant John O'Ryan brought home a rank of medals, an avowed love of peace and a deep conviction that war is better than some kinds of peace. Now 65 and retired to his law practice in Manhattan, he recently collected money to buy munitions for Finland, begged the U. S. to declare war on Hitler, denounced peace-at-any-price.

Last month John O'Ryan's name, warlike as it was, nevertheless bobbed up in a peaceful--not to say appeasing--connection. He had a conference with Franklin Roosevelt, then set off for Tokyo on an announced mission of "trade and peace." Last week the U. S. State Department growled unappeasingly at Japan (and at Great Britain) for closing the Burma trade route to China (see p. 26). The department also told why John O'Ryan had gone to Tokyo. A Tokyo organization called the Japan Economic Federation (whose Manhattan representative is the Japanese Government's trade commissioner) had hired the General and two economists to survey Japanese-U. S. trade relations, submit an "impartial report." His fee (plus expenses): $15,000, plus an additional $5,000 a month if the survey lasts more than three months.

Said John O'Ryan, filing a statement under the law which requires foreign agents to register with the State Department: "I do not believe I can be classified as an agent of any principal. . . . My agreement with the Japan Economic Federation provides that . . . there is no obligation expressed or implied that the conclusions and report will conform with any views that may be held by the federation. ... [I assume] that this federation is an agency subsidized or supported by the Japanese Government."

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