Arizona republican., 1921-03-28
JAPAN CONTROLS .127 ISLANDS IN PACIFIC THROUGH LEAGUE MANDATE
American Possessions In Pa cific Surrounded By Is- lands Awarded Japan By League Of Nations

WASHINGTON, March 27.-Ameri- can opposition to Japanese mandator- les in the Far East is not confined to the Island of Tap, but, as indicated on February 21, 1921, in the note of for mer Secretary of State Colby to the League of Nations. to all of the islands In the Pacific ocean north of the equa- tor which formerly belonged to Ger many. These gems of the oriental seas,' of which Tap is one, aggregate l2f and are comprised in four groups, namely the Carolines with 62, .he Mar shall with s2, the Marianne Cor La drone) with 25 and the Pelew with eight. They form kind of strategic semi circle around the Philippines.
 While chief interest in the discus sions of the allied communications conference. which began in Washing ton on October 8, 1920, to determine the allocation of these islands. has cen tered in Yap is overshadowed by the larger international aspect of the con- trol of all the 127 islands. The con tention of the United States depart
 ment of state has been that Yap should be internationalized.' The allied communications conference, attended by representatives of the five allied
 powers, becoming deadlocked in Feb ruary, 1921, the questions were re-
 ferred to the foreign relations commit lSc ol tllt OillltQ States ScndIe. DdI6 of the resumption of the conference has not been announced.
 Opposition to Japan's mandate over
 Tap. expressed by MT. Colby to the
 President and members of the council of the League of Nations. included the declaration that Yap Constituted an indispensable part of any scheme or practical arrangement of cable com
 munication in the Pacific and that it's frnn Inc, s-t, at
 be hampered or controlled by sry ons power.' Under the mandatory agreed to by France and England, full pow CT of administration and legislation"
 over Tap was vested in the Tokio gov
 ernment and Tap was to be considered
 "an integral part of the empire of Jap
 an" Another objection by the United States is that it sees in the Yap situ-
 atiou>the possibility of a foreign na-
 tion exercising censorship over its
 communications to Europe and Asia. l The fact that the former German operated cable from Shanghai. China.
 which passes through Tap was taken
 over by Japan and it's oriental termi-
 nus removed was another occasion for the American protest. Control over Tap by Japan was granted by the Par l is peace conference on May :. 1919. when it was decided that the mandate I for the Pacific islands north of the | equator formerly belonging to Ger
 many should be awarded to the Toklo government and the mandate for those
 south of the equator to Australia and
 New Zealand.
 It is not generally known that the Island of Yap was originally called Guap or Wap. a cognomen given by Spanish navigators. who discovered 1t
 in the 16th century. Until 1885 Yap, like all the other of the Carolines. was
 owned by Spain. Germany at this time cast covetous eyes upon Tap. realizing
 that it was well situated for communi- cation with Japan. China, the Philip pines, the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea and that it was a convenient station on the trans Pacific route via | Honolulu to San Francisco.
 Suiting action to desire the German gunboat Iltis. in that year. raised the German flag on Yap and other islands.
 It created considerable excitement in
 Madrid and an appeal was made to the Vatican with the result that the Pope
 decided in favor of Spanish sover- 1 eighty. Fourteen years later, after the Spanish American war, Spain sold the Carolines, including Tap and the Pel-
 ew and all of the Marianne Q-s-
 drone) Islands, except Guam, to Ger
 many for s4,20O.00o. The United