The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-10-27

lueTe Is one reason Dig enough to
N% swallow all the rest, and 1t has
S not been mentioned at all.
Japan comes seeking the friend
ship of the United States because she has not an
other friend in all the world, because she occupies
a position of cruel and dangerous isolation. Her
statesmen, when they look forward to that day
Of the congress of nations which shall remake q
tortured world, know that as things stand now
they will find at the council board suspicion
where they desire sympathy. They know that
there Is none to whom they can turn with any
comfortable certainty of support-unless it be
America. Can they win the friendship of Amer.
lea, a friendship based on mutual trust and liking?
Only such a friendship will avail them.
Official Records Ignore Isolation.
The story of the isolation Of Japan, Of the
paradox of the member of the great alliance
against the central powers who is without a
friend, is not to be found in official documents,
but Its truth Is nevertheless indisputable.
When war came, three years ago, the states
men of Japan believed that Germany would be
defeated in six months. In other words, they
played" the allies to win, and win quickly, and
they acted accordingly. They demanded the evac-
uation Of Shantung by Germany, they invested
and took Kiaochau, and they made naval dispo-
Sitions In the waters of the far East which were
of undoubted assistance to the British admiralty.
The aggregate effort involved was relatively small,
but it ranged Japan, as her statesmen thought, on
the winning side. and they felt they could afford
Indifference to the bitterness and the hostility
thus caused in Germany.
Japan's Early Part In the War.
Then, as the months went by, with their ever
recurring stories of German success on land, the
statesmen of Japan were haunted by the fear that
they had backed the wrong horse. Little by little,
therefore, they allowed the ardor of their cham
pionShip of the allied cause to weaken. The gov
eminent of Japan did not move as much as its
little finger when a powerful section Of the press
ovar which II eYerciSaS pomnlatp control became
openly contemptuous of the chances of Entente
victory, when the attacks upon Great Britain grew
daily In volume and bitterness, when the Anglo
Japanese was flouted and a strong prO-German
tone became everywhere apparent. Nor did the
government of Japan associate itself--save in a
tardy and lukewarm way-with the commercial
measures against Germany which the allies con-
certed and carried out. Japan in those days of
fered the extraordinary spectacle of a country at
war with Germany, but notably pro-German in
feeling. Small wonder that, as this condition of
affairs and its inner meaning came home TO Great
Britain and France, they grew suspicious and re-
sentful.
Developments outside japan were not of a sort
to allay this suspicion and resentment. In
Kiaochau and throughout Shantung 1t soon be-
came clear that Japan intended a long stay, and
proposed also that much more than the lions
share of the benefit Of that stay should accrue to
her. The British and the French found a hundred
little hindrances there-nothing large enough In
ony single instance to make dlgnified complaint
possible, but enough all told to exert a very pow
erful effect.
In China generally, the allies of Japan had to
raalize that their preoccupation with the conduct
of the war furnished an opportunity which Japan
nromntlya and very cynically took. Japanese ag-
oressIon became more marked than ever. Japanese
demands upon poor, disrupted China were unend-
inc The nations of Europe, and with them the
Irn,ted States, could see nothing in this but a
desire on the part Of Japan to make profit out Of
tho embarrassments of others-a selfish and I'M
inst pro6t, said the embittered critics. The states
men Of Japan were Indifferent to this criticism.
Thev saw German victory approaching, and they
we're strengthening themselves against that day.
For they had another card up their sleeve.
They had before them the possibillty-indeed, 1t
was at one time n probability--that n separate
naace would be concluded between Germany and
Russia. and that Immediately thereafter a Ger
alliance would be con-
Guided. a pact between countries contiguous In
territory, a plunderbund to be conducted on the
srtocratic principle to which all were loyal.
MachlsvelIIanism Astray.
And tho months wore on, however, and 1915 drew
~ a close this faith In full German victory weak
aned The strategy Of the allies was increasingly
ooherent ana effective, the Britain they had con-
demned was making a gigantic erort ana was
achieving an unexpected and admirable national
eeBciency, and there was anxiety In the councils OF
Tokvo They had antagonized Germany, they had