The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1919-04-25
AMERICA AND CHINA

limited States of America VIII Con-
stitute the Best Of All Safeguards
for the Future Peace of the Pacific.
"The storm center of the world has
gradually shifted to China. Whoever
understands that mighty empire So
cially, politically, economically, relig-
ously, has a key to world politics"
wrote John Hay twenty years ago, an
American statesman who had given
many of his years of diplomatic life
to the analytical study of conditions
in the Far East.
Militarism in the German Empire
grew more rapidly than the world
realized, and so brought on the great
storm with Central Europe as its vor-
tex. but John Hay was no false proph-
ct and the trend of world thought and
world life that called forth his utter
,ance is still existent and is prograss-
ing as relentlessly and consistently,
with as unerring an aim, as in the
days following the Boxer rebellion.
Germany, with her master science and
INSCRIPTIONS master, outstripped the
slower moving tide of Eastern affairs,
usurped the stage of international
life, and brought down on her head
the holocaust of righteous indigna-
ton from the just peoples Of the
earth
But John Hays voice was as one
crying in the wilderness and, while
the situation in China is in no way
analogous to that in "Mittel Europa,
certain it is that China, with her
teeming millions, millions of men and
millions of resources, is destined to
play a major role in the drama of the
nations
Whether that drama grow into a
tragedy or remain a happy, livable
comedy rests with the nation power
ful enough to guide the destinies of
the father of civilization"
China is filled with lovers of peace,
dwellers in the vale of the Golden
Rule. Voluntarily she would never
wage war save as forced to defend her
national honor, her territorial integri-
ty or her existence as an independent
power. The gage of battle would nev-
er be lifted by this slumbering Asiatic
giant unless so thrown down that it
threatened her very life-that danger
exists.
Nations in contiguity to China are
apt to see in her but an opportune
path to their own aggrandizement;
are exposed to the peril of believing
that with the crushing of China their
own power and influence would wax
greater; are prone to take the myopic
view which brought the world into the
hell and horror from which she is
just now emerging.
China is not strong enough to stand
alone. Weakened by centuries of las
situde and comparative stagnation.
she has seen the world steam forward
while the Chinese junks have stirred
the waters of the Yellow Sea pro-
PEELED by the believing sails which
first brought Columbus from the
shores of Spain in search of this
same China, Columbus, the man who
dreamed and dared while China only
dreamed.
China must have an ally or a mas
ter. Her need is great, and if that
need be not filled by some power
strong enough to protect the pregnant
bud until it bursts into full bloom,
the canker worm will enter and de-
stroy. With the fall of China the
harmony of the Pacific would be
wrecked The peace of the Pacific
rests on China and the protector
which, with no Interior motive, would
be strong enough to hold in leash the
dogs of war
Such a protector is naturally the
United States of America. There are
but three strong nations whose shores
are washed by the waves of the Pa
cific: America, Japan and Australia
The last, Australia, is bound insep-
arably to England by ties of govern
ment, of trade and of consanguinity
Japan has earned the distrust and
fear of her near neighbor. Never
would the Chinese ally themselves to
a people who have shown by all their
dealings in the past that they regard
ed China as their legitimate prey. Al
though she have the best of motives,
Japan could not be trusted. Her
need and her desire for expansion are
facts, not theories. The temptation,
were she sponsor for the Asiatic re-
public, would be too great. America