The sun., 1919-09-18

~eosA ~ must serve tno WnOio human
race. I suppose 1 could not command
words which would exaggerate the
present expectations Of the world
with regard TO the United States.
Z We cannot desert humanity. We
are the trustees of humanity. And
we must zee that we redeem the
pledges which are always implicit In
so great trusteeship.
cannot conceive q motive ade-
quate to hold men of from this thing.
Takes Up Japan's Case.
Let me take the point In which my
initial sympathy is most with them,
the matter of the cession to Japan OF
the interests of Germany In Shantung
in China. l said to my japanese col
leagues on the other side Of the sea
that am not satisfied with this set
tlement. think It ought to be diff
ferent. But when gentlemen propose
TO cure It by striking that clause out
Of the treaty, or by ourselves with
holding our adherence to the treaty.
they propose an irrational thing.
II was In 1898 that China ceded
these rights and concessions to Gea
many. The pretext was that some
German missionaries had been Killed.
Ny heart aches. must say, when 1
think how we have made an excuse
Of religion sometimes to work deep
wrong. The central Government OF
China had done all II could to protect
those German missionaries. Their
death was due to local disturbances.
to local passions, to local antipathy
against the foreigner. There was
nothing that the Chinese Government
as a whole could Justly be held re-
sponsible for. But suppose there had
been7 Two Christian missionaries
are killed, and therefore one great
nation robs another nation and does
a thing which is fundamentally un-
christian and heather. For there
was no adequate excuse Tor wha'
Germany exacted Of China
I read again only the other day
the phrases In which poor China was
made to make the concession. Sne
vas made to mako that In WORDS
dictated by Germany-in view OF ner
gratitude to Germany for certain
services rendered: the deepest ny.
pocrisy conceivable. She was obliged
TO do 30 by force.
Then Russia came In and oblisei
China to cede her Port Arthur ana
Ia Lien Wan, not for quite SO long
a period, but upon substantially the
same terms. Then England must
needs have Wei Hei Wei as an equiv
alent concession to that which aao
been made to Germany. And pfes-
emily certain ports and territory pach
of them were ceded upon similar
principles to France. EVERYBODY sos
in except the United States ana said
'If Germany 10 going to get sorne-
thing we will get something" WhyT
No one Of them was entitled to u;
no one OF them had any business IN
there on such terms. And then' when
the Japanese-Russian war came
japan did what she has done In this
war-she attacked Port Arthur ana
captured Port Arthur. and PORT
Arthur was ceded 60 her as conse-
quence Of the war.
No protest was made by the Gov
ernment of the United States against
the original concession of this Shan
tung territory to Germany. Ono OF
the hirhest minded men of our his
tory was President at that time
mean Mr.. Mckinley. One OF the
abiest men we ever had as Secretary
Of State. Mr.. John Hay. occupied that
great once. And in the message Of
Mr.. Mckinley about this transaction
he says that inasmuch as the
powers that had taken these terri-
tories had agreed to keep the doors
open for our commerce there was no
reason why we should object. Just
so we could trade with these stolen
territories we were willing to let
them be stolen.
Which Of these gentlemen who are
now objecting to- the cession of the
German rights In Shantung In China
were prominently protesting against
the original cession or any one of
those original cessions? II makes
my heart burn when some men are
50 late In doing justice.
Explains Treaty Deal.
Now, in the meantime, before we got
into this war. but after the war had
begun, because they deemed the as
sistance OF Japan in the Pacific alb
solutely Indispensable, Great Britain
and France both agreed that II Japan
would enter the war she could do
the same thing with regard to Shan
tung that she had done with regard
TO Port Arthur-that IL she would
take what Germany had In Shan
tung she could keep It It was Ger
many's right In ShantunG and not
the Chinese that we conceded by the
treaty to Japan, but with q condi-
ton which was not insisted upon at
the cession ot Port Arthur. u:,on q
condition that no other nation In
doing similar things In China has
ever yielded to Japan. IS under sol
emn promiee to forego all sovereign
rights in Province OF Shantung and
to retain only what private corpora
tons have elsewhere In China
Coupled with this arrangement is
tn. League Of Nations, under which
Japan soiemniy undertakes with the
rest Of US to respect and protect the
territorial integrity Of China And
back Of her promise is likewise the
similar promise Of every other nation
that nowhere will there come q dis
regard for territorial integrity Of the
political Independence Of that great
helpless people.
Il ig the FIRST time In the history
of the world that anything has been
done for China. And. sitting around
our council board In Paris, I put this
question: May expect that this
will be the beginning of the retroces-
sion TO China OF the exceptional rights
which other Governments have en-
joyed thereT' And the responsible
representatives of the other great
Governments said: "Yes. you may
expect It,"
Your attention is constantly drawn
to Article X, and that is the article
the heart of the covenant. which
guarantees the political integrity. moi
only of China but OF other countries
more helpless. even. than Gina But
besides Article X. there IL Article
XII, which makes II the right OF every
member of the league to draw atten-
ton to anything anywhere that ID
likely to disturb the peace Of the