The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1921-11-09
FOUR QUESTIONS ST
AT ARMS MEET.
Upon Their Answer Depends
Fate of Disarmament
Conference

Washington, Nov. 9-England, ia
pan and China hold the fate of the
Pacific conference and the peace of
the world in their hands.
America will play stupendous part
in the proceedings, and success at the
armament parley here will depend a
great deal upon her. But hers will Oe
a steering job, job of ways and
means. whereas turn Of the hand Of
either of the other three nations may
flip monkey wrench into the works
and tear up the whole machinery.
This sums up the situation here on
the eve of the great conference to
avoid war.
Four Main Questions
Four questions are uppermiost here
and the ansWers-which only the
conference itself can determine with
accuracy are awaited with anxiety.
FIRST, will England continue to
clay with Japan and give Nippon her
moral backing, or will she support
Eer nationals in the Orient and else
where overseas, who demand a new
deal in the Far East?
SECOND, will the Japanese gen.
eral staff lay down the law to the
mikado's representatives here and
stand pat 'on its policy Of paramount
interests in Asia; or will the inf1u-
ence of liberal Japan be sufficient to
turn the tide in favor of genuine ap-
plication of the policy of the open
door" in that part of the world?
THIRD, will China, helpless to help
herself. allow her pride to prevent her
accepting the international assistance
she must have-if she is to survive
or will she draw back within her
ancient shell and work up anti-foreign
sentiment which in time would surely
bring intsrvention-and probable
clash between the intervening pow
ers?
IS FOURnH, will Secretary of State
Hughes be able to juggle these three
highly explosive bombs without let
ting one fall, reoonciling England and
Japan to the American ideal Of equal
opportunities in Asia, or will he find
the conflict of interests too great to
overcome?
These four points must each re-
ceive its right answer if the confer
ence is to be saved and catastrO-
phe averted
Profess Optimism
The delegation leaders themselves
profess optimism.
Lord Lee, of Fareham, first lord OF
the British admiralty, in an Interview,
stated England was ready to go the
limit on disarmament She would
stop only at the point beyond which
the safety tof the empire would be inn
periled.
Admiral Kato, Japanese minister
Of marine, said Japan would even
agree to cut her "eight-and- eight
naval program if Japan could be
shown that her interests would not
suffer by reason of such cut.
DR.. w. w. Yen, Chinese foreign
minister, told me China wants the
open door r,olicy carried out in China,
hut China would like to do the open
ing instead of having the great pow
ers break it Open-maybe to close 1t
again. s,,
washington atmosphere is filled
with ifs and butts. ,
Even American officials have issued
warnings against too much optimism.
Reduced to it's essence. the feelinG
on the eve of the conference is hope
ful" rather than ''expectant, 1or
though each arriving delegation gives
ont interviews announcing Willingness
amounting to eagerness to disarm
there, is always an If. :,
And what each of the powers really
intends i, do remains as dark mys-
itery as it was the day the conference
WAC nrOnOSed