Norwich bulletin., 1919-03-01

In accordance with the statements 1 or purpose made at tfle lHsinfling of
 her operations against the German 1 province of Kiao- Chau. China, in 1914, Japan today declares her willingness
 to return the province to China. How | ever she maintains that in return for I her magns nimity' she must have
 certain confessions in the Shantung | peninsular formerly belonging to the 1 German empire and mentioned in the secret notes exchanged between Japan
 and China in May, 1915.
 l China. who is now. at least. getting
 on her feet. after the lengthy read justments following her revolution and after almost all her resources had l been torn from her by the imperial aspirations Of the European nations,
 wants to have the opportunity to be-
 come free nation with the right to develop and progress unmo,ested by
 foreign interference and encroach. | Naturally she wants Japan to live up
 to the agreement by which Kiao-
 Chau is to be returned to her. On
 the other hand, she protests violently, 1 in fact so violently against the
 Japanese demands on Shantung that | the peace conference is turning it's eyes with frank fear toward what 1 seems to be developing into a highly dangerous eastern question.
 l The Chinese delegates at the peace conference have etrnha tirs.4-.-- rpf'r~ad the Japahese demand, but Japan dis | regarding the presence of q body 10 adjust disputes of this nature. is open lv menacing China. The Chinese delegates say they fear Japanese ag-
 gression and the Japanese desire to 4 control the vast country of the east How is it possible for Japan to con- trol China merely by holding some formerly German concessions in Shutting? Iii order to understand this question we must examine the neriod of Germany ascendancv in ehantung.
 When on November 1S97. Franz Mes and Richard Heule, German ,nis- sionaries in China, were murdered by
 g Chinese mob. the imperial German
 government saw fit to accent the
 crime as an excuse fo. the German occupation If the scene of he crime
 that is Shantung. Accordingly. the Germans a few days later. set fortf
 their demands as follows: That ar
 imperial tablet be erected on tht
 scene If the crime; thar aH indemnitH
 of 5000 taels De paid to inc famil'
 of each missionary aud of 500 taeli
 he paid for each Of the tl,rea chapo''
 destroyed by the same mob: that the
 governor Of Shauturg e dismissed
 that Germany he paid inc expenses O ; her occupation of the territory; tha Germany be given inc sole right tt build railways and oran coal mines in Shantung. and that Germany b
 gra p-.cd a naval base at Kiao-Chau. 1 WFnu China acceDtpd the first thre, and denied the others, che exDecte'
 outside help, hut England was bus
 in South Africa. America in Cubi
 and France with the Treyf'1s case
 Germany sent q fleet which forced "corference." TtC requ,! was thc Ktso-C -Chau, Tslng-tat1 and the island within a radius of nty miles wer
 leased" to Germany for q reriod 0 ninety -ri..e Nears; railroad and min , n% Tichts were given 10 Germany while China also pledgo1 herself | , help Germany first in anv cnterpris
 which tninht come up; Kta0 Chau wa , given to Germany as q naval base i
 pavment fer the expenses ot the occu ! patton.
 So great was Chinase sentimen z against Gertrany's methods that som authorities are of the opinion that tn | whole incident was one of the nos potent causes of the bloody Boxe rebellion.
 On March 6. 1s9s Germany wa :. granted the right to hutid two railwa , lines, whereUron the "Sschantun s Eisenbahn ':"slischaft" was organize $ with capital Of 54 900 600 marks Q spur of the road covered rsingtau an :, Tsinaufu On March 21. 1900, the roa !, to Poshan Coal Field was also ac l quired.
 When Poultnev Ptgrlow visite Q l Shantunp in 1898 he sni1 thnt t'' Q harbor of Tsingtau was hardly wort a anything compared with Chefoo ( 1 the larger port. in 1903 inc trade ( i, Tsingtau was 14.59S,411 taels, as com