The Washington herald., 1919-07-28
BY JOHN LLOYD BALDERSTON.
tCopyTigAt. 1913, By the Mcclure Newspaper


Syndicate.)
The Pacific Coast. unlike other sec
tom Of the country. is wide awake to
the new position OF the United States
as a world power.
But while the States along the
Pacific did their fair share in the war
against the enemy in Europe. It is no
longer TO Europe but to Asia that
they look when they discuss our for
eign policy. the peace treaty and the
league OF nations. And out here Il
am writing this story in Sesttle) they
debate these things with more vigor.
more knowledge and more realism
than Americans who live inland or
along the Atlantic seaboard
The Coast believes that the rest OF
the country is making a mistake in
continuing to regard Europe as the
center of world politics. Looking
across to Japan. not in enmity, with
little trace OF the ignorant Jingoism
OF prewar days, the Coast feels that
the war in Europe, and the subse-
quent peace treaty. has displaced the
center of political gravity. Exhausted,
Balksnized by the dissolution OF three
of the four mightiest empires in ex-
istence, Europe offers less danger to
the peace of the world than Asia
That is the view of the Coast.
At the end Of a long trip through
the country to size up opinion on the
peace treaty and the league Of ma
tons, I have no desire to wind up
with war scare" story. There is no
hatred Of Japan out here, although
the old view on the immigration ques-
ton remains firm. The venerable in
vasion bogy, now that we have
trained army and the man in the street
realizes what sea power and difficult
ties Of transport mean, has been laid.
The Far West is taking long looks
ahead, however, and when a man Is
asked out here about the treaty or
the league. his answer is usually the
counter question: What about Jap
am"
Willing to Try League.
These remarks apply TO the Coast.
For the rest of the Far West. I found
opinion very much the same as in
the Central States. In Colorado. Ne
braska. Utah. Montana, there Is little
interest in the territorial or economic
details of the peace. but a great de-
sire. just as exists in the Middle West
for a league Of nations that shall end
the war, and apparently a great belief
that Wilson has brought home the en-
bryo OF such an organization. '+At any
rate, II can't % any harm TO give it a
trial," is a common remark. and I
feel after visiting Kansas City. Den
yer. Salt Lake City and Butte that
politicians hailing from these regions
will do well to put their ears to the
ground before opposing Wilson'S views
on the settlement.
II Is as the inquirer approaches the
ocean that the new note becomes ap-
parent Most of the rest OF the coun-
try. behind the Eastern seaboard. is
satisfied with the humanitarian aims
and lofty concentrations OF the PresI-
dent, and is ignorant, because unin-
terested. about the way the general
formulas OF idealistic statesmen have
been worked out In practice. But the
Coast States. to perpetrate an Irish
bull, are, from Missouri They want
to be shown how the principles Will
son enunciates are being applied in
the Orient Their interest in the hard
facts before them tends to make them
skeptical OF the value OF a league Of
nations which can permit the Shan
tung clause in the peace treaty
Sees Chance For Japan.
The Coast observes. Russia having
collapsed. that Japan stands forth in
a welter OF chaos. the only real gov
ernment between San Francisco Bay
md the frontiers OF France. The Coast
believes that opportunity for expan-
sion. for world power. greater than any
ever spread before a single nation, is
now Japan'E, and believes Furthermore
that Japan Is human. And the Coast
looks to Washington for some idea
OF American Asiatic policy. II sees
American soldiers in Siberia with no
very clear idea what they are doing
there. and observes with anxiety the
rapid and disquieting growth OF anti
American feeling in Japan. The Kor-
can riots with ther sequel, allegations
against American missionaries of stir
ring up trouble. have aroused much in
terest. and the report OF Japanese
atrocities against the Korean popula-
ton issued by the Presbyterians. It is
felt here. cannot but accentuate the
annoyance in Japan.
The Coast feels that we have no
Pacific policy. In dealing with a great
power which knows exactly what il
wants and how 1t proposes to act to
satisfy its desires, the United States
displays enough opposition to be pro-
foundly irritating without having a
clear-cut notion OF American aims
Vague talk about John Hays open
door. that the japanese have been
slowly shutting for years; feeble efforts
to preserve the integrity OF Siberia:
loud verbal protests, later withdrawn
in Paris. against the japanese occupa-
tion of the Shantung peninsula: in all
these cases. the Coast feels, Washing.
ton has suffered complete diplomatic
defeat.
Resents Asiatic Policy of Q. s.
That the American people know little
and care less about the world policy in
Asia is a grievance which the newly
aroused world consciousness OF the
Coast cherishes. In democracy like
the United States IL is usually inpos-
sible for a government to adopt a
strong policy without the support of
the people at its back. and the Coast
complains that straightforward pol
Icy cutting across the path of inter-
est Of an Oriental power cannot be
because of the lack of
knowledge displayed by those States
east Of the Pacific slope Accordingly,
I is felt out here, the prospects of ul-
innate trouble are made more serious