The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1919-07-29
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOO MUCH

lOO MOCd
1t was only a casual reference that
Mr.. Taft made to the transfer by the
peace treaty of the. German rights in
Shantung to Japan, but for a casual
reference it was expressive. There
had been a deliberate exaggeration of
It's Importance, said the ex-president.
1t is not a subjugation of 10000, 900
people, or a violation of the birth and
burial place Of C~onfucius, or a Grape
of China" as has been v~ariously
charged.
Shantung is not the ceded area. 1t
is the province in which that area is
located. The coded area comprises
about lit square miles, and has a
native population of about 10000. AS
is characteristic of concessions by
China to other countries, certain rail
road and other rights in adjoining
territory go with the lease.
The bay of K~iao-Chau, which is in
cluded in the concession, sits rapidly,
and its commercial use has been prac-
ideally dOdlluOilCu Ny Silild PIiOi W
its seizure by Germany in 1897. The
principal part of the harbor in use
was the mouth of a stream which
went dry at low tide. Germany es-
tabiished its harbor at another locali-
ty in the bay, bought out the natives
along the shore and established a
modern city and constructed a rail-
real into the interior. The port was
made free.
The influence of Japan over Shan
tung province through requirement of
Kia-Chau is offset by the lease to
Great Britain of Wei-Hai-Wei, which
lies to the north of Kiao-Chau and is
also in Shantungs province.
Numerous concessions were exacted
from China by the great powers fol-
lowing the Chinese-Japanese war.
They had induced Japan to relinquish
demand for the Liao-tung peninsula
and had aided China with favorable
loans in paying the war indemnity.
Russia obtained a lease of Port Ar
Thu oiQ % al OllSCI 0lSdS litd
demanded and obtained a lease of
Wei-Hai-Wei of the same tenure as
that of Port Arthur. After Port Ar
thur was taken in the Russo-Japanese
war by Japan and held, the Wei-Hai-
Wei lease was made to conform to the
terms of the lease to Japan.
In the same year that Wei-Hai-Wei
was occupied by the British, Great
Britain obtained a ninety-nine-year
lease on an area back Of Hongkong,
thus charging her possessions and in
fluence in that portion of China.
France in the same year secured from
China a similar lease of Kwang-Chow
bay.
Essentially, there is no better rea-
son for denying Japan an assignment /,
of German rights to Kiao-Chau than t
there is for cancellation of the French {
and British leases which are identical
in tenure and similar in form, area :
and commercial and military impor- 9
t
Why work ourselves into a frenzy
over Japan and China? We virtually =
exclude her people from our own soil; D
We deny her right to concessions in o
Mexico or Central or South America;
We are being worked into a state of
lntipathy toward her control over and
exploitation of. Corea and would now Il
leny her rights that other nations
njoy in China. Here is a proud, am
'itious and energetic people SO adj
anced in c~ivilizing methods that they
and will develop unused resources g
the benefit of themselves and the ~
as well. For America to at m
ampt to deny Japan expansion either ia
rest, east,north or south, to attempt AZ
D confine her destiny to her own +,
ver-populated islands; in short, to in
ist that Japan becomes again the tn
ermit nation she once was is carry re
lg the big-brother-act pretty far 10
ortland Oregonian. s;
n ~ "a ca
GRATING THE SOLDIERS. br
Prompt and vigorous prosecution of III