The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-15
Witte Agrees to Three
 Articles. CRISIS WILL COME TODAY Jap's Preponderating Influ-
 ence Recognized. Mutual Obligations Were GAvea te Evacuate Manchuria a.a Pledgss Taken to Preserve Integrity
 of That Province.
,RIsIs WILL COME TODAY

or the twelve articles which c0nSEltuto the Japanese conditions of peace having
 been agreed to by M witte and Baron
 Rosen on behalf of Russia, neither Of the two articles to which M. Witte in his reply returned an absolute nega4s tive was reached. The crisis, there~ fore, Is still to come.
 It may be reached tomorrow as the session of Sakhalin comes fifth in ths list. The three articles" as they are officially designed in, the brief commu-. nications authorized to be given to the press which were disposed of today are fin substance as follows: First-RusMas recognitfon<of Japanso "preponderating influence" and special position in Korea, which Russia hence- forth agrees as outside of her sphere of influence, Japan binding herself to
 recognize the sovereignty of the reign ing family with right to give advice and assistance. to improve the civil ad- ministration of the empire.
 Second--Mutual obligation to evacu- ate Mancuria, each to surrender all special privileges Tn that provinces
 mutual obligation to respect the ater- ritorial integrity of China and to
 maintain the principle of equal oppor-
 tunity for the commerce and industry of all nations in that province (opeu door.)
 Third--The cession to China of the Chinese Eastern Railroad from Harbin southward.
 There never was any question about the acceptance ont he part of M. coveringl in more emphatic form the |contentions of Japan in the diplomatic struggle which preceded hostiiities. The third is natural consequences of the result of war. The cession of the railroad. the building of which cost Russia an immense sum estimated by some at between S100, ,00O, 900 and $200,- 000.600 is to go to China. Japan and China therefore will arrange between themselves the method by which thes former is to remunr~atsd and tlsrouxhv ! this financial operation Japan mf&}8. | have a considerable portion Of h63 claim for the expenses of the war; liquidated The railroad Is ostensibly the property of the Russian Chinese Bank. although built by government money advanced through the bank and since it's completion operated, manag- ed and policed by the Russian govern ment.
 Japan cannot take the railroad her. self. To place herself in Russia's shoes regarding the railroad would be militarily to control the destinies of the provinces of Manchuria, which she has promised to return to China. But Japan is entitled to reimbursement for the expense to which she has been put in restoring the railroad to the present position of Linevitch's army, rebuild ing the bridges and narrowing the gauge, If China could not find the money some other power or powers might do so and the road would be- come hypothecated to the powers which advanced the money, as other Chinese roads are to those which ad- vanced the money for their construc- tion It was NJ. Witte himself. who organized the Russo Chinese bank in 1895 and who has always been consid- cred the real organizer Of the Chinese Eastern Company. Mir. Berg. the att torney of the Russo Chinese Bank. which owns practically all if not all of the shares of the road is attached to the Russian mission.
 Sessions Were Amicable.
 Both sessions of the conference today are described as "amicable." There were several slight jars. but none of them serious. The plenipotentiarfes are showing admirable temper. The change in the weather may be par tiaIly responsible for the serenity manifested at the conference table. but it would be perhaps too much to say that the fate of such gigantic nego- tiation had been affected by a few de- grees of temperature and a few thou- sand mosquitoes.
 Tomorrow. in the ordinary course of proceedings the first great stumbling block to treaty of peace should be reached as after Port Arthur and the leases of Liaotung which are included in Article 5. and which M. Witte Is undoubtedly prepared. with slight mod- ihcations to accept. comes Article 6. the cession of Sakhalin. But 1t is by no means certain that when this obstacle is reached it will not be postponed until all the articles upon which agree ment is easy or possible. are disposed Of If this course Is followed, and the
 ht taA Hewn for the opinion that 1t will. it will inc dicate a disposition to put of the real struggle to the very last and the long, CT the conference endures the brighter the prospects of a treaty are likely to become. Every day they sit." said very high authority. increases the chances of peace" Mir. Sato told the Associated Press correspondent tonight that he had come to Portsmouth hope full of a successful issue of the nego- tiations and that nothing had occurred to alter his optomism-
 The language of the three articles adopted today will form probably the text of the Treaty of Washington if one Is signed, subject of course to a final revision: Each side has agreed to the articles and they are included in the protocols of each daNs sessions which are officially signed by the pleni- potentaries the next morning. In ad- ditfon to the minutes kept py each side there is an abbreviated record of the discussions giving the arguments on each side of every point which are daily atested so that when the conferences Is ended the record of the proceedings will be complete Of course. the agreement. article by article. does not bind either Russia or Japan until Q final agreement Is reached and the treaty signed It is, however. signi- ficant that MT, Sato while specifically stating that he did not speak ofiicialiy gave 1t as his opinion that each power had now bound itself to the articles agreed to.
 In the discussion of the second ar ticle towering the evacuation of Man. churia) it is positively stated that Rus- sia won a victory
 Baron Komura, SO it is declared. wanted to limit the obligation to evac-