The New York herald., 1920-01-30
No U.S.. Mandate for
Armenia or Turkey;
Powers See to That
Would Mean Displacing Britain
France, Greece and Italy,
DR.. Ellis Says.
nv WILLIAM r. ELLIS.


Events seem to have settled the question
LOT an American mandate for America in
the Near East While proponents Of the
mandatory idea have been arguing. agitat-
ling and pleading, there have been develop
ments in the Near East which now pre-
clude the likelihood Of any mandate what
Isoever in that part Of tho world for the
United States.
For time there was = vigorous cam
Ipaign to force America to accept man
date over Armenia, and that, too, before
even tho boundaries of Armenia are
settled. There was high politics. in this
scheme. as we'll as the perfectly natural
desire OF the Armenians to secure this
further assistance from the nation which
had already helped them in their suffer-
ings. The question has been threshed out
before the Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, and it IL now an open secret
that a mandate over Armenia by this
country is one Of tho impossfbilities.
Marines may be sent, II necessary, to
keep open the railway between Batum and
Erivan. that food may 60 to the hungry,
ians in this country to organize and return
to Armenia to fight, but not in American
uniform. This Is apparently tho limit Of
the Senate's concessions.
Many Americans. especially those famil-
lar with Turkey. have advocated a man.
date by the United States for all Turkish
territory. in order to set up autonomous
-
This Is In response to q call from practi-
| cally all Of these nationalities-Turks.
Armenians, Kurds, Mesopotamians Syr-
ians and Arabs. The native demand for
an American mandate has been we'll nigh
unanimous. 1t has seemed the ono way
out OF the dangerous Near Eastern
muddle.
Europe Grabs to Keen.
In the present state Of mind Of America.
such discussion could necessarily be only
academic. The United States is in no
mood to take a mandate over any inch
| or the earth's surface. Meanwhile. even
before most Americans were aware that
the all Turkish mandate had seriously con-
fronted them, the European nations had
IQuietly gone forward with their own pla
Roughly summa rized. the situation in
what used to be the Ottoman Empire is as
observation-disclosures remains Turkish
but in the control of the Interallied Com.
mission, with the French at the momen,
in highest favor with the Turks. Western
Anatolia, while nominally Turkish, is now
held by the Greeks. Next to them the
Italian forces are in occupancy. Further
east. in Cilca, the French are In posses
sion. The French also hold Syria, down tc
Palestine, where the British rule In Arabia
the Hejaz Kingdom, a British puppet
state, has been set UP. but it's claims tc
lead all Arabia are repudiated by the other
tribes. In Mesopotama the British rule
without any semblance of native self-goy.
ernment. In the Turkish Caucasus there
is much claiming of territory. but nc
sovereignty except that Of the Turks.
Where the European Powers have dug
themselves in, a S in the case of the British
in Mesopotamia, the French in Syria anc
Cecilia and the Greeks in Smyrna OF
Adm, there seems no likelihood that the,
will ever relinouish control. Each seems
rather to be scheming for larger acquisi.
tons.
"Keep OFF the Grass,
Each of these nations in it's newly &C.
qulred Turkish sphere has put up a sign
facing Americaward. marked, Keep Of
the Grass" They do not mean to surren.
der their sovereignty to America. Only
gravest reverses or hopeless international
entanglements would induce them to give
I up the prizes they have secured. TheiI
policy Is a partition of all the outlying
portions of the Ottoman Empire, with
Turkey itself in some form of nominal
control Of Constantinople and the ada
cent territory of Asia Minor.
The case of the Near East has changed
1t is no longer matter of some benign
western Power supplanting Turkey, in or
der to administer justice and perpetuate
peace and to take under tutelage the sub
ject races until they can attain maturity
That is what an American mandate would
have meant six months ago.
Today an American mandate would
mean the displacing of Great Britain
France, Greece and Italy. 1t would re-
quire such a degree OF self-effacement on
the part of these nations as no sane man
would expect of them They have def.
intely brushed aside the desires and de.
mands of the native peoples and have es.
tabished themselves in new spheres
which they expect to be permanent. The
modern mandate idea seems to have beer
definitely abandoned in favor of a return
to the old imperial conception. The spirit
and practice OF centuries could not be un.
1ra v.nd h1y E,trr -