Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1917-11-16
<EE&

m ESl,,u. ana all or the HVe or the twenty
" KY have been guessed. and have, in
H$1pyLS fact. been publicly discussed But
"2D4S) behind the ive-Or the twenty
X NlS1 there is big enough to
Sx&ES@ swallow all the rest and 1t has
Se8 not been mentioned at ALL
Japan seeking the friend
ship of the United States because she has not
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 a
tortured world, know that things stand now
they will find at the council board suspicion
where they desire sympathy. They know that
there Is TO whom they turn with any
comfortable certainty Of support-unless it be
America. Can they win the friendship of Amer
ica. a friendship based mutual trust and liking?
Only such 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 indisputabe.
When 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-
uatOn Of Shantung by Germany, they invested
and took Kaochau, 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 relatively small,
bue y ranged Japan, as her statesmen thought.
the winning side. and they felt they could afford
indfet ,sce to the bitterness and the hostility
thus Gauss In Germany.
j. ans 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
had tooI, tbo 10 hI-t ittIa
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
which IL exercises complete 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 ioutcd and n strong pro-German
tone became everywhere apparent. Nor did the
government Of Japan associate itself-save in
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 country ut
war with Germany, hut Dotably prO-German in
feeling Small wonder that this condition Of
affairs and Its inner meaning came home to Great
Britain and France, they grew suspicious and re-
sentful.
ID, vrlopments outside Japan were not of sort
TO allay this suspicion and resentment. In
came clear that Japan intended long stay. and
proposed "lso TINT much more than the lions
share OF the benefit of that stay should accrue to
her The British and the French found hundred
little hindrances there-nothlng large enough i'm
nny single instance To make dignifed complaint
possible hut enough all told TO exert a very pow
erful effect.
In China generally. the allies of Japan had to
realize that their prcoccupaton with the conduct
of the war furnished opportunity which Japan
promptly and very cyncally took. japanese az
erosion became more marked than ever. japanese
demands upon poor, disrupted China were unend-
ing The nations Of Europe, and with them the
United States could see nothing i'm this hut Il
desire on the part Of Japan to make profit out of
the embarrassments Of others-a selfish and I'M
lust profit said the embittered critics The states
men Of Japan we're Indifferent to this criticism.
They saw German victory approaching, and they
were Strengthening themselves against that day.
For they had another card up their sleeve.
They had before them the possbiliy-indeed, It
ras at one time a probabty-that separate
peace would he concluded between Germany and
Russia, and that Immediately thereafter a Ger
man Russian Japanese alliance would be
GUIDED a pact between countries contiguous In
territory plunderbund to be conducted the
sutocratic principle to which all were loyal.
MaehiaveIiianisnn Actray.
And he months wore on. however. and 1916 drew
IN close this faith in full German victory weak
ened The strategy of the allies was Increasingly
coherent and effective, the Britain they had con-
aemned was making gigantic effort and was
achieving an unexpected and admirable national
efficiency and there anxiety in the councils of
TOKYO. They had antagonized Germany. they had
-~-"~~-'-'>"~-~~--~">~"~"