Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-11
Mr.. HUGHES REAFfIRMs
JOHN HAYS DOCTRINE

The Open Door Must BE Maintained and
chIns's Right 70 Have . Voice In
Far Eastern Discussions Must
Be Respected
CECRETARY HUGHES has returned un-
- equivocally to the position Of Secretary
Hay In defense Of the open door In China.
The occasion which has called forth the
statement Of the position Of the Administra-
tion arises out Of a protest made by tho
British, Japanese and Danish Governments
over concession to the Federal Telegraph
Company, an American corporation, to erect
wireless stations in certain parts Of China.
The Government Of China asked Secretary
Hughes on June q whether the American
Government intended to withdraw its sup
port Of the telegraph company.
Secretary Hughes replies directly that the
American Government has no intention Of
withdrawing. He intimatcs that the pro-
tests against the telegraph company's con-
ccssion ARE founded on assertions Of mo-
nopolistic or preferential rights In the field
Of Chinese governmental enterprise, which
cannot be reconciled either with the treaty
rights Of American citizens In China or with
the principle Of the open door,
As to the open door, Secretary Hughes
says that this Government whole -heartedly
ouppohto thht WHICH IL uub
ditionally regarded as fundamental both to
the interests Of China itself and to the com
mon interests of all Powers in China and
indispensable to the free development Of their
commerce in the Pacific"
Nothing could be clearer than this. When
the Powers were getting ready to partition
China just before the Boxer uprising, Sscrs-
cary Hay intervened with his series Of open
door notes summoning these Powers to re-
affirm their profession Of q desire to respect
the rights OF other Powers In their spheres
of influence and to respect the territorial
integrity Of China. The American Secretary
Of State put them In such O position that
they could not very we'll refuse to 20 on
record as favoring the open door. This was
in 1899. The American position was re-
affirmed in 1908 in the Root -Takahira
declaration, when Eiihu Root was Secretary
of State and Baron Takahira was japanese
Ambassador In Washington. II was thought
desirable to put Japan once more on record,
ns the Japanese were looking with greedy
eyes toward the undevelopcd resources Of
China.
Secretary Lansing wobbled on the open
door policy when he wrote to Viscount
Ishii. the japanese Ambassador in 1017.
that territorial propinquity creates special
relations between countries, and conse-
recognizes that Japan has special interests
in China, particularly in the part to which
her possessions nre contiguous
Japan and China assumed that this meant
that the United States admitted that japan
had special economic rights in China. The
Chinese Government even went so far as to
issue a formal statement setting forth Its
adherence to the principle of equal rights to
all nations and to assert that hereafter
the Chinese Government will still adhere
to the principle hitherto adopted. and hereby
1t Is again declared that the Chinese Gov
ernment will not allow herself to be bound
by any agreement entered into by other
nations"
The definite and positive reassertion OF
the American adherence to the open door
policy Is notice not only to Japan. but to
every other Power, that it cannot disregard
that policy without reckoning with this
country. We stand back Of China with our
moral support. We occupy the traditional
position of friendship for this great Oriental
people. n position which has earned for us
its gratitude and respect.
We have never sought sph~,s of inHu-
ence. We have never sought TO exploit the
Chinese. We have desired To co operate
with them In the development of their great
resources. And we have demanded that our
engineers and our capitalists should be al
lowed the same freedom that Is allowed to
the capitalists and engineers of other coun-
tries, and that this freedom be respected by
other nations safeyuarded by the Chinese
themselves, whose right to govern their own
country Is undisputed.
The Implications Of the note OF Secretary
Hughes 90 beyond the rights Of the Federal
Telegraph Company. They touch upon the
japanese ambitions in Shantung as the
successors of Germany. The Chinese rep
rcsentatives declined to sign the Versailles
Treaty because Of the Shantung section.
There was never any chance for the ratif-
cation Of that section Of the treaty bv the
American Senate. because 1t was contrary
to the open door policy.
China was never in greater nse,l of n
powerful friend than she is today. Her
people are divided among themselves. be-
cause they have not solved all the problems
growing out of the revolution which over
threw the monarchy. The exploiting vnl-
lures nre ready to seize upon her In the
hour Of her weakness. and they can be pre-
vented only by the insistence Of those who
believe In the ultimate ability OF the Chinese
to adjust themselves to the new political
conditions and have confidence in their
capacity for adapting their mode Of life
to the changing economic conditions which
will come when they have beHun on large
scale to develop their latent resources.
The right of China to voice in the
| settlement Of her own affairs Is recognized
by Secretary Hughes when he includes her
| in the invitation to a conference on dis
armament and the Pacific and Far Eastern