Evening star., 1900-09-18
BIGGEST BATTLE IN RECENT HISTORY
Outcome Fraught With important
Results to This Country.
COM SU UPREMA ACY

| great stake-the surface of the earth. They
| want control because with it follow COM
| merc:al privileges. which are the twen-
| tieth century incentives to power, in place
| Of the land hunger and the military glory
| of the past. Chna's vast area is a prize SO
rich in potential outcome that every nation
| with possible say-so in its ACKNOWLEDGMENT
| waits eagerly for he award.
| But the self appointed arbiters of Chnas s
| destiny-the four great nations of Europe
| and the newly rejuvenated brown men of
Japan-have to deal in the present situation
! with a new figure in the diplomatic group
| the 'shirt-sleeved'' diplomat of the United
| States. Whether the delicate questions of
| diplomatic negotiations over China are to be
discussed and disposed of through the me-
| dunn of an international conference or
| through the slower channels of exchange of
| pourparlers from capital to capital. the de-
| tails will have absorbing interest for the
people of this country.
| Now that the United States has had time
| to take stock of it's interests in China,
| and to make an inventory of it's property,
real and tangible. as well as prospective. 1t
| begins to more nearly appreciate the tre-
mendous influence it ought to yield in a
| just and equitable settlement. Piercing the
| horizon of today and taking note of the out
look for tomorrow, this country sees that
| what is really going forward in China is,
| first. war for supremacy of the Anglo
| Saxon. the German and the Slav. and, sec
| ond. scheme to handicap this republic
| whose wonderful strides in commerce, whose
| business growth and enterprise, have star
| tied and pe.plexed the nations whose busi-
ness rival it is, in nearly every field of
| weaith-incrcasing industry.
| Greatest Diplomatic Battle.
For all these reasons, the United States is
| on the of the greatest battle in it's re-
| cent history with the diplomats of the
| world. The currents of commerce may be
| changed. A bIunder the part of the
| administration and the State Department
would be nearly irretrevabe. The piece
meal parceling out of the middle kingdom
| would naturally result in the abrogation of
the "open door" The widening of ter
rttoral spheres of influence on the part of
| Great Britain, Russia. Germany and France
would reduce American opportunity for
| trade development. and would make of
| China menace instead of a market.
Thorough appreciation of all these points
on the part of the United States gives add
ed interest to the proceedings as the dip
| lomats by slow degrees make their way
| towards the central arena, where will take
place the great gladiatorial contest in
| which pen and ink and words, words,
words, Will be the weapons.
! Shirt sleeve diplomacy is to have in
! this contest its severest trial since that
| historic day in the early sixties, when Sec
| rotary Seward sent to Napoleon III cable
| message with the bark on, which cost in
! tolls $1,000, caused France and Austria to
abandon their scheme to plant an empire
/ on this continent, resulted in the death of
| the abandoned Maximilian at Queretaro.
| and proclaimed to all the nations that this
| was to be throneless new world. Origin
ally "shirt sleeve diplomacy was a term
| used by political dilettaut1 to indicate con-
| tempt 1t was the invective of ignorance.
! That diplomacy stands today for statecraft
! directed to the accomplishment of practi-
American policy. Forcefuness and decis-
| ion characterize It, 1t neither splits hairs
nor cultivates intrigue. 1t will demand In
| China a stable government and an open
trade. 1t will bring to the settlement of
the great problem in the east the methods
of a nation that eats dinner at noon. 1t
will reject soft soap and hOneyed phrases
and back of it will be the whole American
people.
Outcome Big With Consequences.
AS he enters the list for this contest with
the powers the "shirt sleeve diplomat
bears we'll in mind that the outcome In
China will be big with consequences for
his country. The United States is now big
enough to shake the commercial world. and
China is the legitimate greatest field of fu-
ture American opportunity. We are to COM
pete in the twentieth century for fair
share of the trade of the 100000, 900 people
who live in lands washed by the waters of
the Pacific after 1t has left the shores of
Washington. of Oregon and of California.
These people want the products Of Ameri-
can corn, wheat, -four, watches, clocks,
lamps, bicycles, railroad cars, trolley cars,
locomotives, steel rails, wines, fruits,
meats textile fabrics. canned goods, min
ing machinery, electrical machinery, and
American diplomacy is to secure the op-
portunity for them and us, or it Will have
to acknowledge itself outwitted.
The sphere of influence policy as Is we'll
understood here. means the virtual serving
of notice to this country to keep out of
China. Every American merchant desiring
| a. tll,.a could
at a disadvantage as compared with mer-
chants having the extra territorial intiu-
ence of their governments to sustain them
and discriminate in their favor.
The shirt sleeve diplomat knows. too,
that while more than one-half of the
| worlds population has its abiding place in
the lands which look out upon the Pacific,
this is the greatest of all the nations bor-
dering upon this greatest of oceans. Other
nations have colonies overlooking 1t. The
| United States has homes. This country
must be, in the century to come, the fore
most of the Pacific powers. Great Britain
with all its island colonies, is thousands of
miles away. So are Germany and France,
while Russia reaches the ocean only through
| miles of a country half habitable at best
And, again, he has to keep always IN view
| the destiny of the United States upon the
Pacific If he is outwitted in the diplo-
matte contest by the predatory powers OF
| Europe this country Will have to police
| ships will have to be kept there in readi-
ness for any possible trouble at its back
| door with neighbors not too friendly at any
| time and made bolder by the acquisition of
points of vantage in China.
Changes in the Last Four Years.
| AS the diplomat without a coat proceeds
to business, he will strengthen his position
and stiffen his backbone by a careful re-
| view of the changes In the Pacific brought
about in less than four years. That long
ago the coast of Asia opposite the Pacific
shore line of the United States belonged to
China. We had then the same trade privi-
leges the other nations Then Germany
possessed itself of a harbor with contigu-
Gus territory. The Russian flag went up
over an important peninsula. Great Brit
ain and France appreciably broadened their
spheres and added to their holdings in
eastern China. These movements changed
totally the complexion of the opposite coast
of Asia Glancing at it today, the Amer
lean diplomat a startling transforma-
ton Trade barriers have been erected;
trade rivalries have been created. Stra-
tegic points in the warfare of commerce, as
we'll as that of quick-fring guns. have been
secured by the commercial rivals Of the
United States. And in this same period a
gnawing hunger for island TERRITORY in the
Pacific has possessed them all. Foreknowl-
adpe that the Pacific is to became the chief