The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-11-16
Japan's Case at
the Conference
Ambassador Shidehara Makes
a Plain and Sensible
Statement

+ Cambridge. Mass. Nov. s.
Whatever the problems OF the ar
r:;t.lient conference, an agreement
:or limitation of naval armament
Ought to be comparatively SIM
pie matter says Ambassador
Shidehara of Japan. one o. Re
J country's delegates, writing in the
current issue OF The Har:ard Grim
son.
The ambassador bases his state
Dscnt on the conclusion that the
v;i l.tt only three g;e;4 na*ai
I.awcrs each on different con-
.;.iyQt and with none" II lac real
interests of one conflicting vitallv
with The others.
" the same time the an6asSa-
GO: takes opportunity 70 oatl:ne
!aran'S case at the arms confer
ence. her relation TO China and the
far eastern situation, as we'll as i:er
place in the world.
He writes:
The Japanese delegation come
20 the Washington Conference
confident that the nations assem-
; blcd there Will achieve a substan-
;;2l measure Of success and that
valuable understanding Will re-
suit, enabling the several princi-
pal nations 10 live in future with
i"ss suspicion and distrust, and
consequent armament. This is the
least that can be expected But
We Japanese are hoping that, as
President Harding said at York
town on October 10, The time has
come when there must be recogni-
ton Of essential cooperation among
nations, devoted, each of them, in
It's own peculiar national way, to
the common good, the progress, the
advancement of all humankind.
We japanese are primarily con-
cerncd, as America is, with a limit
,;tion OF naval armament, and it is
on this matter that I speak with
, confidence. What agreements can
be reached for the limitation of
30 estimate. But as far as the
seas are concerned an agreement
ought 10 DC q comparatively simple
matter for the obvious reason that
there are but three great naval
powers left in the world and that
each Of them belongs to a different
continent separated from the 9TH
err; by d great, ocean. and with none
Of the real interests of one con-
ficting vitality with the others. For
these reasons it seems to me that
only a most arbitrary attitude on
the part Of one or another country
. can defeat the main purpose Of the
conference. and none will be arbi-
trary, for the peoples as we'll as the
governments OF all three most
! earnestly desire agreement.
There is an unofficial, I might
say public, American point Of view
that any agreement must be con-
tingent upon settlement of Far
Eastern problems, and to some
Americans those problems seem
greatly involved and fraugh+ with
possibilities of grave danger. 1t
is hardly within my province as the
representative Of another govern
ment to point out to any Ameri-
cans how needless is this alarm.
but as your president has invited
us 10 an open and frank discussion,
and as the Crimson" has left me
I tree to say what will, l am sure
it viii not be taken amiss ii I point
out the fallacy of such contentious
as have been launched in the Unit
ed States by the doubters and by
the comparatively few actual enc
mics Of an understanding.
Intelligent and well informed
naval men in every country know
that the great war left the United
States proper absolutely unassail-
able. No power in the world is in
a position TO attack your country
without bringing grave distress
upon itself. For more than one
hundred years you have lived with
out hostile foreign soldier with
in your borders, and today no ma
ton IN Europe would dare attack
YOU even il any had the will to do
so. Yet Europe is only 5000
miles away while Japan is twice
as far
But the baiters of Japan are
not content with that argument.
They declare that Japan could
take the Philippine Islands. In
the same category they could in
clude Honskong and the extensive
British possessions in East Asia,
and also French IndoChina and
other European possessions in the
Pacific. But. as matter Of fact.
these various eastern possessions of
Western nations could be consider
ed by Japan a far greater menace
to her than she is to them. Japan
however, is confident that no wes-
tern nation has any designs upon
her independence.
These facts, though do not end
/ the argument against Japan. Her
persistent detractorS. in their pro-
cess OF 'piling on the agony, in
form their hearers and readers Of
/ the plan Of nlilitarist Japan to
] take control Of China and organize
that country's millions into Yel-
low Peril. The phrase was first
launched by the Kaiser Wilhelm
and was used subsequently in the
United States by his agents in an