The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-10-30

terfere with Japanese liberty. We
are wholly willing that Japan
should have equally advantageous
in China and the Far
East with our own merchants. We
are honestly and truly pacific in
our purposes and from our own
point Of view eminently reasonable.
All we desire Is that Japan should
be equally reasonable. But this
involves the major as
that what seems unmis-
reasonable for US will seem
reasonable to the Japanese.
That was the whole trouble with
the Anglo-German situation, 1t will
be the chief difficulty with Ameri-
can-Japanese problems. What we
are undertaking to do in the Pa
cific Is precisely what Britain IN
dertook to do in the Atlantic and
the North Sea- But for British in
terHention Germany could have dis
posed Of French rights and aspira-
tons in Morocco without difficulty.
Destroyed by British Veto.
Casablanca, newly rising as the
greatest. African seaport from the
Straits Of Gibraltar to Cape Town,
would have become a German port
and the Shereefian Empire a Ger
man colony. It was the British
veto which destroyed the German
aspiration.
Let US concede that Britain was
FORCED to issue a veto in order to
protect her own safety. A German
naval base watching the Atlantic
and Mediterranean trade routes
of Britain would have been a mem
ace graver than anything Britain
had known since she broke French
seapower and colonial empire in the
eighteenth century. But the fact
remains that a declaration issued
from the platform of Guildhau in
London demolished German hopes.
expectations at least, in the Ger
man mind, rights. And to issue such
declaration II is essential that the
country speaking shall have the
power to enforce its will. This
Britain failed to have. 1t continued
to block German expansion, bur II
neglected to prepare for thu Inev-
table German thrust, challenge. at
tack.
Japan I'm Stronger Position.
Japan. as everyone sees. in much
the German position. She Is eveo
stronger by comparison with ali
otner Asfatic powers combined than
was Germany with respect of her
neighbors. Moreove1
she has a British alliance which ma,
served her purposes and enabled he.
10 march toward the full realization
or her own aspirations, which are
quite like those of GERMANY before
the world war. Indeed the world
war by paralyzing all Western
powers, save the United States
seemed to give Japan a free hand
70 complete her domination of the
Far East.
Yet, at the moment when tn.
realization seemed in sight, there
comes from the other side NJ IN.
racine warning voice, which nm
ton.
Assert Right to Restrict.
In undertaking to establish nv
rather to re-estabIish the intarrIl
ty of China we are not merely SssL
ing to circumscribe Janansss -
ture: we are literally under+aLire
to undermine her present We are
gong to Asia and challenging what IL
Ior tne Japanese as sacred a doctrine
as tnat which In our own hemis-
Pnere pears the name of Monroe.
we are asserting the right TO re-
strlct japanese expansion and to
cohnpel Japan TO accept our view
OF Japanese necessities and rights.
rms Is what the Briton did to the
German. And never was the Briton
aole 70 see the cause Of the Ger
man 1ury at this course. Always
the Briton insisted, and we echo the
same language, that what he advo-
Gated was the reasonable and sensi-
ole course. Indeed the German
fury left the Briton actually as
founded. He could not comprehend
the passion which his own calm as
sertion OF authority had evoked.
Even TO this day the Englishman
does not understand, nor Is there
any prospect that Americans will
understand the profound emotion
which the call to the Washington
conference has aroused in Japan.
Methods Threaten Liberties,
1t Is true that Japan has ex-
banded at the expense of China and
OF Russia 1t Is true that in China
and elsewhere Japan pursues a pol
Icy which threatens the liberties OF
China, that her treatment of the ma
tive populations Of Korea Is an Of
Tense against current notions of
right and Justice. It Is true that
japan Is fomenting dIscord in
China that she may extend her own
control. Her methods are evil and
hers detectives threaten the. liber-
ties of millions of people.
1t Is equally true that Japanese
policy leads directly to the monopo-
hzation of the Far Eastern markets
and thus to the exclusion Of America
from the larger part of that trade
which would be ours under normal
conditions. The difference between
japan and Germany lies in the fact
that what Germany dreamed of do
ing and was unable to do, because
of British veto, the Japanese have
done to an astonishing degree. Ger
many never got beyond the stage of
plans, Japan is far advanced upon
the road. 1t was the dream that
Britain wrecked for the German. II
Is the half achieved fact that we
are challenging in the case of the
Japanese.
Moral Advantage with U. 8.
Now, perhaps, the moral advan-
tage Is all on our side: In any case,
we assume that II Is. with quite as
much ease az the British assumed
It in the case Of Germany. It lie
true that We do not want to replace
Japan IN dominating China, that we