The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1919-09-22
WILSON ON COAST
TALKS OF JAPAN
SHANTuNG ARRANGEMENT DOES
NOT PLEASE HIM, HE SAYS,
BUT WILL WORK OUT
LEAGUE WILL RIGHT AFFAIR
Our Representatives Will Have Power
To Call Case To Attention OF
All Powcrs-Cordial Greet
ing At The Pacific

1 WhClC oh hic fttldhIlS w oSAiS VIVA
presented itself to President Wilson
in San Francisco, the metropolis OF
the state represented in the senate
by Hiram w. Johnson. But, once
again, as has always been the case,
the logic of the chief executive and
his forceful eloquence won the plain
people, regardless of how their po'
litical chieftain stands. The ordinary
citizenry of that part of California is
for the league Of nations and for the
quick ratification of the peace treaty,
with the league included.
| Many think that Woodrow Wilson
and Hiram Johnson will be the con-
testants in 1920 for the presidency of
the United States; but majority OF
those who are forwarding the candi-
dacy of California's favorite son wish
he had not made the league his issue,
or, now that he has done so, they
wish he would drop it here on the
Pacific coast, just the same as in the
middle west and the east. The people
want peace right now, peace that
will be permanent-and they want to
get things settled and start in doing
business.
Dislike Shantung Provision
Because the Pacific coast is
more interested in Japan than is any
other section which the president has
visited, he devoted the greater part
of his early addresses in California
to the question of Shantung. He ad.
mitted that the settlement in regard
| to that peninsula was not to his liking,
but asserted that it was the best set
Element that could be effected when he
was dealing with the other great pow,
ers in Paris. Il said to my Japanese
colleague on the other side OF the
sea-and, therefore, am at liberty
to say to you-that | am not satisfied
with this settlement" The president
told two audiences on his first day
in San Francisco: Il think it ought to
be different, but, when gentlemen pro.
pose to cure it by striking that clause
out of the treaty, or by ourselves with
holding adherence to the treaty, they
propose an irrational thing"
Gives History OF shantung
The president told some OF the his
tory of the Shantung incident. In
1898, he explained, China coded the
territory to Germany, upon the de-
mand of that empire, because some
German missionaries had been killed
there. "They made an excuse of re-
ligion," he declared. Then Russia
took a port and then England, and
then France. When the Russo-Japan.
ese war developed Japan conquered
Port Arthur. America might have had
one of the Chinese ports also, Mr.. VIII
son explained, but President Mckin'
ley believed that inasmuch as their
doors were open to our commerce, we
did not want one and at the. same
time. we need not object to the other
powers having theirs.
| When the great war OF 1914 came,
the president said, it was imperative
that the Pacific ocean be kept clear
of German shipping and that the Ger
man possessions in the far east be con-
ouered. 1t was up to Japan, he said,
to do these things and Japan did. She
took Shantung and kept it, that be-
| ing her reward, by reason OF treaty
she had with England and France, for
her share in the war
| "Observe this" the president said,
| in explaining the incident, I'VE are
not taking this territory away from
| China. as some gentlemen have as
serted, but we are taking 1t away from
Germany Germany, not China, held
Shantung before this war-it was Ger
man rights, not Chinese rights, that
we're ceded to Japan by the treaty with
England and France. Shantung will
be returned, in due time, to China. ia
pan has given us her solemn promise
that this will be done. Japan will re-
tain only what private corporations
have in possession elsewhere in China
the right of concessionaires with
regard to the operation Of the railroad
and mines"
The president repeated that he did
not approve of this secret treaty, but
he was unable to overcome 1t. Then
he pointed out that, with the league
of nations in effect, the representa-
tives Of the United States might rise
and say: "This is against the cove
nant of peace-it cannot be DONE"
Then he went on: "And II occasion
arises, we can say, it shall not be
DONE"
No More War II League Wins
The rest of Mr.. Wilson's address
was devoted to the benefits of the
league to the weak nations Of the
world and the unlikelihood that there
would ever be war if the powers dis
cussed and arbitrated their differ.
ences.
San francisco gave the president a
cordial, though scarcely stirring, re-
ception. The greeting did not have
the warmth of Seattle, ST. Paul or st.
Louis, although there was generous
applause for the distinguished guest
wherever he moved More than one
hundred persons lined the streets lead.
ing from the Sausali to ferry as he
arrived. Then about fifteen hundred
women attended noontime luncheon
in his honor; and in the evening ten
thousand heard him at the Civic audi.