Evening star., 1916-06-29

al around, to tho great benefit Of TIE
United States, whose merchants ask nCth-
ing more than q fair field and no favors.
It Is highly improbable thai japan VIII
f she succeeds permanently to 0ermanys s
privileges.
Japan guaranteed the territorial in
tegrity and sovereignty Of Chosen in all
second renewal Of the Anglo-Japaness
| alliance. Then the point was unob-
trusively dropped, and today Chosen is
an integral part of the Japanese en-
pfre. Japan also guaranteed the ter
ritorial integrity of China and the open
door doctrine in Chinese territory: to-
day the great Chinese province OF
| Manchuria is absolutely dominated by
Japan. and American trade is falling
off rapidly. Judging the future by the
past. as well as by Japan's actions in
Shantung in the past year. it is only
| reasona BILE to deduce that the door will
| be closed in Shantung also.
Such a course affects the United
! States gravely in two ways. In the
first place. the stability of an arrange
ment such as the open door doctrine.
| by which all of the powers agree to
treat foreigners on an equal basis with
| their own nationals. even in those Chi
| nese provinces which they dominate.
depends for its stability entirely on
| the good faith of all concerned. II
one OF the parties violates the spirit
| OF the contract. self-defense compels
| dll tne OtnSrS TO 90 likewise. q
| number of merchants establish a fixed
price for flour and agree not to sell
| below that price. the scheme works SO
| long as they all hold by it. If one OF
them cuts the price. all the others
have to follow suit
So in China, if one power again sets
up a sphere of influence, the others
will have to drop the open door and go
| back to their. own respective spheres.
The establishment of a sphere OF in
fuence is opposed to all American
theories of
Opposed to All com m ere
American Theories. .ion., reIa-
| tions. The American wants the gov
ernment to stay out of business. Give
him a fair chance and he can look out
for himself. The American govern
| ment. moreover. does not want to es-
| tablish a sphere of influence to domi-
nate in a helpless nation. Such pro-
ceeding is repugnant to all our ideas.
| The United States proposed and estab-
lished the open door policy.
Even if the United States should make
| a virtue Of necessity and enter the
| scramble for a sphere Of her own,
China has practically nothing left to
| give. Russia and Japan in Manchuria
| and Mongolia, now Japan in Shantung,
England in central China, France in
| the south, leave nothing but the metro
politan province of Chih-li. the heart
| of the Chinese government. the seat OF
| Peking, over which China can certainly
| not be expected to give up any rights.
| So return to the sphere of influence
he
American commerce in China
| 1t has been said that our commerce
| to China does not amount to much. We
are told that our trade with Japan is
much greater. that our logical course is
| to cooperate with Japan in trading
with China-or, as it might be put less
| euphemistically, in exploiting China.
| Aside from the ethics of the case. such
an idea is extremely short sighted. The
development of the tremendous nat
ural resources of China has hardly be-
gun. She is one of the richest countries on
earth. Her four hundred million peo-
pie are just beginning to demand the
| products of western industry. When
that demand rises, China will be the
greatest market the world has ever
seen. For the United States to resign
her right to free competition in that
market would be a costly and colossal
blunder.
One other aspect of the Shantung sit
uation is worth careful consideration.
Japan's course
Elimination of points to an
elimination of
Germany Is Seen. Germany from
the trade of the orient. The allies
have already declared their intention
of forcing German trade from all their
dominions That means India. Aus
tralia, Canada, most of Africa There
is nothing left but South America. In
other words. if Germany is to be elimi-