New Britain herald., 1919-07-21

0hdhCuhg III lo9'-lS9S must include not only the attitude of the United States government but also the atti- Jude of MT. Lodge on the question of the ~German performance. Did the Mckinley administration nrotoct aSalhst GeTmanN's acquisition of l<ia- ochau bay and certain economic con- sessions in the hintcrland Did, Sen ator Lodge use his influence in the Senate to have Germany's act con- demncd by resolution? Did he even deliver a speech at that time stiema tizing Germany's conduct in the far East as immoral?
 It is singular that d man could sit unmOved while a robbery was aking place before his eyes. and not become voca in manifesting his horror of it until T years afterward when the title to the stolen goods was being transferred from the original high WaNman 10 another strong arm operator. et this putativc case seems to represent Nr. Lodges position As seen at the time of it's perpetration, the crime of Shantung left MT. Lodge stone cold: T years afterward he IS moved 10 intense dignatiOn bN the memory of the punishment of China for the two murdered German mis- sionaries, and of the German war ships that coerced the Pekin govern- ment into granting to Germany nav al and commercial base on the Shan tung peninsula
 That the atmosphere has changed Tn these 21 years is apparent We are happy 10 note this deep moral in dlgnation over the spoliation of China more than two decades ago. It is worth while to remind ourselves just what happened when the original crime of Shantung took place. In 1894, China and Japan went to war over the control of Korea and one of the results of Japan's victory was the seizure of Port Arthur which the Jap anese government in the treaty of peace sought to make permanent. Russia, Germany and France by ~prompt intervention forced Japan to give 1t back to China. Then, on Oc- tober IS, 1897, a Russian fleet en- tered Port Arthur and what had been
 gwen back 10 China by Japan now became Russian.
 In the very next month most oD- portunely for the kaiser. the Ger man missionaries were murdered by Chinese in Shantung, with the result
 
 took possession of kiaochau bay cx- actlN as the Russian squadron had taken possession of Port Arthur. The treaty by which China signed away lease of kiaOChau for 99 years was completed in the following March. Complete information of all these transactions in China was sent to our government from Pckin by Minister Denby in the winter Of 19S7-1S9S The threatened partition of China was a topic Of discussion throughout the certain concessions to Germany and a world. Our government made no for maj protest against it. Senator Teller or Colorado, d membe of tho party 1h opposition, said in an interview January ,, 1898: Tt is our duty to prevent the dismcm berment of China We should join with Great Britain in notice to Russia and Germany that dlsncmbermert will not be permit ted. But we have no record that Senator Lodge publicly took that po- sitiOn.
 Our government in that period had it's eyes on the Philippine islands in case of war with Spain. The war with Spain came r April 1898. But as the late MT. Roosevelt afterward wrote:
 Ut has been said that it was a mere accident that Dewey happened to be in command of the Asia tic squadron when the war with Spain broke out. This is not the fact He was sent to command it In the fall Of 1897 because, to use the very Ian- euage employed at the time, it was deemed wise to have there man who could go into Manila if ncces- sary.'"
 MT. Roosevelt could write with au- thority on the point. for he was the assistant secretary of the navy prior to the Spanish war, and he it was who, on February 25, 1898, sent this dispatch to Dewey on the Asiatic sta tion:
 |" Keep full of coal. Tn the event of declaration of war with Spain, your duty will be to see that the Spanish squadron does not leave the Asiatic coast. and then offensive operations in the Philippine islands
 It was not until his annual mes- sage to congress in the following De- cember. more than a year after the Russian seizure Of Fort Arthur and the German seizure of kiaochau and when our war with Spain was all over and an American army occupied the city of Manila, that President Me- Kinley told congress: "Thc United States has not been an indifferent spectator Of the extraordinary events transpiring in the Chinese empire.' IL certainly hadn't as our acquisition of the Philippine islands in the mean time had demonstrated. It was no ac- acquisition, for, as Secretary of War Algcr afterWard stated in his book: The determination to send an army of occupation to the Philippines was reached before DeWey's victory OcCurred.''
 Such NaS 1he atmOSnhero of the