Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-09
JAPAN'S NEW OBLIGATIONS
SoUELCH "YEllOW PERIL"
Venerable 6osle Dies as Her New Duties
to China Definitely Align the
Island Empire With West
ern Civilization


ern Civilization
TT WAS hardly to be disputed that the
u American public as a whole has been
feeling rather blue over what has been
called the Japanese victory" at the
peace table.
Idealists recall the provocation under
which the island empire took up arms in
the world war. 1t was Germany's silent
refusal to consider the demand that she
restore the Kiao-Chau territory to China,
its original owner. Naturally, it was
assumed that strife begun as rebuke to
the retention of ill-gotten gains could
only be justified if the victory of the
challenger were crowned by the volun-
tary return to its first possessor Of the
region in dispute. This, Of course, has
been the Chinese contention and Ameri-
can champions of fair play have been re-
sponsively sympathetic.
For utterly different reasons they have
found an ardent ally in avowed advocates
of expediency as vital principle in world
reconstruction. The self-interest clans
are obviously a great deal more worried
over the alleged aggrandizement Of
Japan than over the so-called humiliation
of China. A gigantic struggle of white
and yellow races is ishectically foreseen.
If Hiram johnson spiritually repre-
sents the sentiments of California the
trepidation in that state must be extreme,
for the junior senator is so excited over
the imagined peril that he describes the
Endorsement by our commissioners of the
Shantung terms of the peace treaty as
signalling "the blackest day in all our
history" and then proceeds to falsify au-
thentic figures with zeal unmatched by
the most expert statistical juggler in
ward politics.
According to Mr.. Johnson, the mikado's
rule is to be extended over 40,000,000 un-
fortunate Chinese. AS matter of fact
only some 100000 inhabitants are in
volved in the Shantung cession and of
the $4,000 square miles in the peninsula,
but 200 are surrendered" to Japan under
a solemn bond with the league of nations.
The Chinanfu railroad, formerly con-
trolled absolutely by Germany, is now to
be under the joint jurisdiction of Japan
and China.
The senator's apparent inability to
handle facts is explicable. The old "yel-
low peril bogie has bobbed up again and
its periodic reappearances invariably
play havoc with clear vision. Hysterical
conjectures crowd upon each other The
course of reasoning runs somewhat
like this: "Japan's gains at Kiao-Chau
insure her complete dominance of the
East. That means that China will be as
clay in her hands and that she will be
enabled to utilize the vast human hordes
premacy from the yellow race to the
white"
Believers in this sort of rot had best
not pause for brcath-taking. Embarrass-
ing elements of truth might be injected.
They are indeed most lucidly interposed
in a current article by Clinton W. Gil
bert, Paris correspondent of this news
paper Examination of it will at once
reveal how unnatural is the alliance be-
tween the disciples of idealism and ex-
pediency in their horror of the Shantung
agreement. The former critics have per-
haps a passable case; the latter none
whatever.
Judged by the highest principles of
morality, the acknowledgment of Japa-
nese claims to Kiao-Chau is unethical.
The terms of the pact are, however, less
hard upon China than is often admitted.
Assuming that the league of nations will
function, a check on injustice in the ac-
qured territory, held under a mandate,
will be available. The region ceded is
only a very small portion of the Shan
tung peninsula, which is one of the rich
est in minerals and most fertile parts in
China.
On the other hand, the position which
Japan perforce assumes in taking control
is likely to result in complete alteration
of her status as great power. Mr.. Gil
bert insists that for the first time in her
history she has become western ma
tion." If this be true, and his arguments
on behalf of it are of impressive solidity,
the dreaded "yelow peril" is quite as un-
substantial as are Mr.. Johnson's popula-
tion figures.
Sponsors of expediency should heartily
welcome the Shantung decision, since at
a critical juncture the principle was ap-
piled in a way that foreshadows a new
bulwark of world security. The Peace
Conference had the option of rigidly
adhering to ideals containing conceivably
the seed of war or of establishing a prac-
tical solidarity of interest with auguries
of peace
To rejoice because the latter course was
taken cannot be condemned as wholly
cynical. An opportunity was at hand not
only to make friend of a potential
enemy, but to extend the harmony of
western thought to a point rendering an
international race war inconceivable.
AS Mr.. Gilbert points out, failure to