The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1917-11-03

SfzSss&&Z swallow all the rest, and it has
not been mentioned at all.
Japan comes seeking the friend
ship of the United States because she has not an
other friend all the world because she occupies
position of cruel and dangerous isolation. Her
statesmen, when they look forward to that day
of the congress of nations which shall remake a
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 turn with any
comfortable certainty of suppOrt-unless it be
America. Can they win the friendship of Amer
lea, friendship based mutual trust and liking?
Only such friendship viii avail them.
Official Records Ignore Isolation.
The ssory of the isolation of Japan, of the
paradox of the member of the great alliance
against the central powers who is without a
friend IL 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-
SitOnS the waters of the far East which were
of undcubted assistance to the British admiralty.
The aggregate effort involved relatively small,
but it ranged Japan. her statesmen thought. on
the Winning SIDE and they felt they could afford
Indifference TO the bitterness and the hostility
thus ca ISed ia Germany.
Japan's Early Part in the War.
Then the months went by, with their ever
recurring stories of German success on land, the
statesmen of Japan We're haunted by the fear that
they had backed the wrong horse. Little by little,
therefore, they allowed the ardor of their cham
piOnshir of the allied cause to weaken. The gov
Of Japan did not move much as its
little finger when powerful section OF the press
over which it exercises complete control became
openly tOntemptuOus of the chances of Entente
victory when the attacks upon Great Britain grew
daily in volume and bitterness, when the Anglo
japanese houted and a strong pro-German
tone became everywhere apparent Nor did the
government of Japan associate itsef-save in a
tardy and lukewarm way-with the commercial
measures against Germany which the allies con-
certed AMI carried out Japan in those days Of
fered the extraordinary spectacle OF 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-
sentfu
DEVELOPMENTS outside Japan not of a sort
20 allay this suspicion and resentment. In
Fiaochau and throughout Shantung it 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 tie French found a hundred
little hindrances there-nOthing large enough in
any single instance to make digGtied complaint
possible. but enough all told TO exert very pow
erfuI effect.
In China generally the allies of Japan had to
realize that their preOccupatiOn with the conduct
of the war furnished an opportunity Wh1cn Japan
promptly and very cyncally took. Japanese ag-
gression became more marked than ever. Japanese
demands upon poor. disrupted China were unend-
ing The nations of Europe, and with them the
I-nited States could nothing in this but
desire on the part of Japan TO make profit out of
+he embarrassments of others-a selfish and IN
INST profit said the embittered critics The states
men of Japan were Indifferent to this criticism.
They saw German victory approaching, and they
wore strengthening themselves against that day.
bod ard sleeve
They had before them the possibility-indeed. 1t
was at one time probability-that separate
reace would he concluded between Germany and
y2rssia and that Immediately thereafter a Ger
observation-disclosures alliance would be
cluded a pact between countries contiguous in
torritorv a punderbund to be conducted the
or+ocrattc principle to which all were loyal
MachiaVeIIianism Astray.
And the months wore on, however. and 1915 drew
% close this faith in full German victory weak
mod The strategy of the allies was increasingly
.oherent and effective the Britain they had con-
,lomned was making gigantic effort and was
.cbievins an unexpected and admirable national
efficiency and there anxiety in the councils OF
Tokvo They had antagonized Germany, they had