The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1895-05-18
JAPAN AND THE PA.CIFIU.

Commercial conditions as well as
political seem to rule in the adjustment
of affairs between China and Japan,
says the Inter Ocean. From the purely
political standpoint Japan has as much
right to claim Port Arthur and the
adjacent territory as England had to
take possession of Hong Kong. Eng
land has held Hong Kong for years
without encroacbing on the integrity
OF the Chinese empire. Japan could
hold Port Arthur in the same way.
Under the treaty signed at Shi-
monoseki, April II, Japan secured the
independence of Corea, was to retain
the place she had conquered and to
control the territory in Manchooria,
between the Corean boundary line and
the River Lao, this including the
peninsula on which Port Arthur is
situated. The Island of Formosa was
to be ceded permanently to Japan and
there was to be q payment of a large
indemnity. The modification of the
treaty does not affect the independence
of .Corea, nor the ownership of the
Island of Formosa, nor the payment of
the indemnity, but under the treaty as
modified Japan gives up the claim to
Port Arthur and the peninsula and to
the territory west of the Corean
boundary.
Japan is as clearly entitled to the
possession of the territory in Man
chooria as Russia is to any of the ter
ritory she has conquered and absorbed
in Central Asia, but it is possible that
Japan is wise in yielding than in re-
sisting, because undoubtedly the Japa-
nese are more interested in Chinese
trade than they are in the conquest of
the country. 1t is not a, question of
right, but question of policy.
From the commercial standpoint
neither Japan nor America is averse,
to the early completion of the Trans
Siberian Railroad in Russia. 1t would,
under favorable circumstances, in
crease the Pacific trade of both
nations. The general tendency would
be to turn the overland trade that has
gone southwark toward the Black Sea
and from there into the Mediterranean
eastward toward the Pacific. To make
this road all that it should be Russia
must maintain friendly relations with
China, and to secure the trade that she
hopes to secure she must maintain
friendly relations with Japan. The
whole contest bids fair to resolve
itself into one for commercial suprem-
acy, and in such contest, which is to
a certain extent outside of politics,
Russia, Japan, and America must play
important parts. Japan and Russia
seem to see this more clearly than the
administration at Washington.
Japan's greatest development has
been within twenty-five years, and it is
believed by many that the result of the
war will break down. the barriers in
China and start that empire on the
road that Japan has travelled. Ger
tainIy the greatest statesmen of China
share this belief and will do all they
can to forward the movement. But
whether China enters the field as a
progressive power or not there is GER
tain to be increased activity in Siberia
and Japan. Siberia is 5000 miles long
and 2600 wide, and its southern limit
is in the latitude of Chicago. Vladivo-
stock, the Pacific terminus of the
Trans-Siberian railway, is little farther
north than this city and is as near to
the Pacific ports Of the United States
as are the seaports of China.
Looking forward to increased activ-
ity on the Pacific and to the develop
ment of great trade it was the policy
of Republican administrations to en-
courage the construction of Pacific
railroads, the establishing of steam
ship lines, and to increase American
influence in Hawaii and in Japan. The
present Democratic administration
seems to take little interest in any of
these things and to be antagonistic to
the policy of increasing American in
fuence on the Pacific.