The Cordova daily times., 1921-05-16
MANDATE0YER ISLAND OF TAP
 ECONFUSINC
BY COL. WINFIELD JONES

Correspondence).- What is the real situation over the League of Nations mandates and particularly over the Island of Tap, claimed by the Jap anese under one of the mandates?
 Considerable confusion exists in the public mind concerning the dispute over Yap. The issue has been furthec clouded by advocates of the Yer. sailles treaty and the League of Ma tons, in and out of congress. These men say if the senate at the last congress tad ratified the treaty, and necessarily the league, as both were bound together, their would now be no dispute over Yap. Hence i, is reasoned that the opposition o; the the league caused :he loss of Ameri- can rights over Tap, aud that if the United States had entered the league this country would hs:a had its equal voice with the other victors of the World war about mandates. In other words it is claimed that the "loSs of American rights" lies a: the dt or of those senators who defeated the Yer. i sailles pact and the League of Ma I tion. Such arguments have been &C., cepted by lot of people who have reasoned from false premises.
 The first thing to be understood ! clearly, now and hereafter, is that l the United States has not lost any of it's rights arising out of it's partici- patton in the World war They never l have been lost and will not be lost | if the Harding administrator and the senate insists on these rights. Both administration ana senate give every indication of auM insistence.
 Before the United States entered the World war the allied nations that were both defeated in Europe by the 1 Germans and their allies made secret | treaties by which they agreed to divide up the territories and over seas possessions of the Germans, in event the Germans lost the war. The United States knew nothing of these secret treaties. According to Presi- dent Wilson's own statement, he knew nothing of the secret agreements about dividing enemy territories when he arrived at Paris. The Versailles treaty agreed that the United States and the other allies should be on an equality when it came to dividing the spells of war. But MT. Wilson agreed to the disposition of enemy territory in accordance with the secret treat ies entered into before the United States came to the assistance to Great Britain, France, Italy and Ja- pan For the sake of putting through the patchwork of the League of Ma tions MT. Wilson agreed to the dis position of enemy territories in con- formity with some of the secret treaties. This surrender however, was not a surrender by the United States of any right it had in an equal division of conquered German territory. It was merely Mr. Wilson's s personal surrender. The senate re- fused to agree to everything MT. Will son had done at Paris and the Unit ed States therefore never agreed and has not agreed to division of enc my territories as arranged by the secret treaties. Wilson had no aA,- thority to surrender any rights of the United States and the quarreling statesmen at Paris well knew that he had no such authority
 It follows that despite all the se- cret agreements in the world, made by Great Britain, France, Japan and Italy regarding disposition of terri tories taken from the enemy, and MT. Wilson's alleged surrender of American rights" the United States has not lost the right to have an equal voice in the disposition of the seized German possessions. That is the reason why the state department does not recognize the Japanese mandate over the Island of Yap.
 The time has now come when the four great powers are face to face with an American administration that is strong and resolute. This admins tration backed by a congress equal
 ly strong, is determined not to sur render any American right won in the
 World war If the four powers be-
 lieve different they will soon be disillusioned. The visionary inter nationalism of MT. Wilson has been succeeded by an Americanism, virile and strong, that will not yield to
 any wrong cooked up against the
 United States by the League of Ma