The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-11-03


the reader a background Of Informal
tion on the coming armament confer
ence David Lawrence. the famous
Washington correspondent, tells why
China is an international problem.)
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3.-China has
always been a problem common to. the
six great powers-Great Britain, United
States, Germany, Japan, Russia and
France.
Time and again efforts have been to
float six-power loans or tive-power loans
among banking groups of all the major
countries in an effort to help put China
on her feet Little by little the nations
of the world have been encroaching on
her domain. Her undeveloped resources
have been tempting to the alert business
men of other countries.
Concessions have been obtained in all
sorts of ways from the helpless Chinese
government which in recent generations
has really had no strong central govern
ment. but has moved along with curious
Indifference as local governments and pro
vincial authorities have sprung up within
the immense empire.
Railways Are Important.
The possession of railways means a
=
operates them in Canada. 1t insureS ac-
cess to the mines of the interior for the
bringing out of valuable freights. Brit
iSh. American and German capital have
been content to develop railway enter
prises without assuming to obtain pOItI-
cal control for their respective govern
ments of any territory in China. The
much-talked-of province of Shantung,
with its immense territory, was never
coded to Japan at the Paris peace confer
ence but the port which IS practically
the door to Shantung province was given
Japan. as well as jurisdiction over the
railway To the interior, including 80
mile strip on each side of the railway. 1t
is true the Germans had that very right
and japan, was asking only for that
which Germany had forfeited through her
defeat in the war. Japan vas asking
for those rights as her reward for ousting
the Germans from kiachow and the Far
East
But that brought the rub. Would the
japanese be content to operate as the
Germans had? Indeed, the Germans en-
tered into working agreements with Brit
ish and other European business men in
the Far East. 1t was purely Il CONNER
cial not a political proposition. Would
the Japanese keep it commercial or use it
to penetrate politically and get hold on
the administrative independence of China?
Chinese Distrust Japan.
The Chinese thought So They openly
said so. That's the basis for their opposi-
ton to Japans acquisition of one inch
more of a foothold in China. It's ques-
ton Of faith. of trust or suspicion. The
Japanese protest that they never break
their word. that they have only disinter-
eSted motives and seek merely place for
commercial expansion for their already
yer-pOpulated country. But the Chinese
viii not listen. Sharing the Chinese sus-i
picions are practically all the British,
French and American business interests
in China. They are violently auti-Japan-
csc. They expect their respective govern
ments to use their moral and physical
power to keep the japanese from over
stepping the bounds of commercial neces-
sity. They insist that the open door shall
mean an open door and no discrimina
ton.
Who VIII Keep Door Open?
Who win keep the "open door" open? q
Who will enforce the understanding
The British government knows it cannot
do it alone. VIII the United States heIp?|
That's why the British are not anxious
to announce at this time what they viii
do with the AnglO-Japanese alliance. One
school of thought insists that the alliance
be abrOgated because of the stimulus it
gives the japanese politically and com
mercially, but another school of thought in
the British government wants to know
first whether the moral and physical help
Of the United States can be counted upon
if the alliance is given up. In other
words. it Is contended by the latter group
of statesmen that the Anglo-Japanese
alliance gives the British government a
certain intimacy with the Japanese gov
eminent which makes it possible to hold
Japan back gently but firmly and exercise
quietly an influence which might never
be publicly acknowledged or needed if the
alliance were broken and if Japan felt
that she must eventually seek the hand
of reconstructed Germany or resuscitated
Russia to assist in fulfilling her ambitions
in the Far East.
VIII L. S. Make Treaty?
Does America stand ready to enter into
treaty which viii impose certain mu-
tual obligations? Great Britain is wait
ing to see. The United States pledged
herself under McKinley's administration
and has reiterated her eagerness many
times since under Mr.. Roosevelt and Re
publican secretaries Of state to maintain
the territorial integrity and administra-
tive Independence Of China VIII the
Harding administration say so in a formal
treaty? Mindful of the fact that the Re
publican party denounced article 10 in
the Wilson covenant because it was in