The Meeker herald., 1919-08-23
Shantung

Twenty years and more ago two
German missionaries were murdered
in China. The Kaiser Immediately
sent fleet under his brother, Prince
Henry, to exact reparAtion, and
China, helpless aud overawed by Ger
man power and threats, made .
treaty that gave Germany full CON-
troll for ninety-nine years Of Shan
tung, including the great ports Of
Kiaochow and Tsingtau. and extern
sive mining and railway concessions;
but the treaty stipulated that with
out the consent OF China, Germany
should not transfer to any other pow
er the rights that the treaty confer
red. That WAS in 1893.
On August %, 1914, Japan entered
the war just ended. Having directed
Germany to evacuate all its possess
sions in China. 1t attacked, and ten
weeks later captured and occupied,
Tsingtau. With Tsingtau went the
the rest Of the territory occupied by
Germany.
The Entente Allies made treaty
with Japan in which they promised
to uphold the right of Japan to sue
coed to the rights of Germany In
China. 1t was the price they paid
for the support Of Japan in the war.
Japan nevertheless publicly announ-
ced that its purpose in expelling Ger
many from the peninsula was to re-
store the province to China. In May,
1916, it made an agreement with
China by which 1t was to make the
restoration, on terms that Japan it.
self had prepared and dictated; but
the terms were expressed in language
so vague that, interpreted rs it will
be by japan alone, it can be made
to leave Japan in almost il not quite
as strong n position in Shantung a.
it would have had il it had not nom
inally restored the territory to China.
The settlement by the Peace Con-
fernce leaves the whole matter IN
tie hands of Japan. In effect, the
Allies who made the secret treaty
stand by their bargain. President
Wilson consented to the arrange
ment. Undoubtedly ne was placed
in most difficult position. II he had
oppOsd approving the treaty, he
would have been in hopeless min
ority In the Council, for Great Bri-
tain, France and Italy were against
., tv,, n 4, lad h<,
Allies to vote with him that Shan
siIould- restored nnconditionaily
to China, japan would not have sigu
ed the treaty. he were really op-
posed to the demand of Japan, but
yielded the point in order to get his
way in other matters, he took n way
that it is easy to criticize but that
almost any man in his position would
have taken. Any other course would
have wrecked the conference. Com
promise of some sort was necessary.
But that does not make the deci
sion just Every right-thinkingm man
will hold that it is not just. We do
not permit man to take even a
thief by the throat, dispossess him of
his stolen goods and retain them for
his own use, even though he offers to
restore the loot to the owner on con
ditions. Shantung was wrestled
from China without right or justice.
Japan did we'll to recover it from the |
original highwayman, but it had no
right to profit by German rapacity.
Now the United States is in the
same position that the President oc-
cupied In Paris and must face the !
same problem. Shall we, too, consent
to the compromise and agree to the
wrongful provision in the treaty, or
shall we refuse and wreck the mea-
sure, which contains good as well as
evil? Stiff opponents of all compro-
mise, and the more or less partisan
opponents of the President at every
point, will say no; but great many
of us have learned that we cannot
always have everything our own
way.-Iouth's Companion