Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-10-27
ENGLAND-JAPAN
ARE WILLING TO
ABROGATE PACT
Prepared to Substitute Anglo
japanese Alliance With
Tripartite Agreement.
WANT U. S. IN TREATY
Special to Indiana Daily Times
and Philadelphia Public Ledger.

BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27.-It is learned
on high authority that Great Britain and
Japan will offer at the Washington con-
ference formal substitute for the Anglo
Japanese alliance. The proposal will
take the form of an expression Of readi-
ness to abrOgate the existing pact, pro-
yided the United States is willing to en-
ter some kind Of a tripartite arrange
ment covering Far Eastern affairs.
The British and japanese governments
will not invite America to enter an am
plifed and triple alliance. They are
fully aware of the antipathies of the
United States to alliances" in general
They know that no American President
would even venture to submit Il treaty Of
alliance to the United States Senate. What
the London and Toxic statesmen will put
forward at Washington is the suggestion
that everything vital to American, Brit
ish and japanese interests in the Pacific
can be safeguarded by a "gentlemen's
agreement" an exchange of notes, sol
emn declaration by governments or ma
tlonal legislatures, or in some other form
that Is not a parchment alliance If the
United States is prepared to consider
such a proposition, the Anglo-Japanase
alliance viii be tossed t. the scrap-heap
an Informal tripartite compact In the
FaR East the probability is the alliance
viii be continued, though perhaps in a
modified form.
EXPECT DEMAND TO
CANCEL TREATY.
Both Great Britain and Japan expect
70 be confronted in Washington next
month with a pretty clearly defined
American demand for cancellation of
their Far Eastern alliance. Neither of
the partners is blind to the fact that
American statesmen look upon the pact
as u potential menace to the United
States. There is little disposition in any
responsible American quarter to doubt
either London or Toxic assurances that
the alliance under no conceivable cir
cumstances can be used for war against
this country.
Our objections to it are Of a totally
different character. They concern the be-
lief, held by close American students of
Far Eastern developments, that under
cover of the alliance Japan Is tempted
into activities IN China, and in the Pa
cific in general, that she would not ven
ture except under the cloak of British
prestige" In other words, there is q
widespread conviction among our Asiatic
authorities that the alliance affords the
japanese what football players call I'm
Japan can plunge down the Far East
ern gridiron with a minimum risk of
obstruction. Bluntly put. there is a
definite suspicion that the open door in
China and Siberia would be far less Of
a myth than it is today, If Japan were
deprived of the moral support of the
British empire.
NORTHCLIFFE Is
AGAINST ALLIANCE.
har Of - +fuhn -hr
share the view Lord Northcliffe has Just
expressed in the East-that the Anglo
Japanese alliance has outliyed its useful
ness But the British empire has two
reasons for not wanting lightly to
abandon it. In the first place, the Brit
ish are inspired by a lively sense Of
gratitude to Japan for the benefits the
alliance during the nineteen years Of its
existence has conferred upon John Bulls
imperial fortunes. The British are dis
inclined to cast Japan aside as If she
were a squeezed lemon. On the other
hand many Britishers, including Domin-
ion statesmen, conceive that ii is vitality
important to keep Japan within the
comfy of nations and to not drive her
back into the seclusion Of a merely Far
Eastern power. India, turbulent and
restless, is close to Japan. Australia and
New Zealand would be at the mercy Of
a hostile japanese feet, acting as the
striking force of a humiliated and dis
carded partner Of former days. The
British at Washington, formally or pri-
vately, but certainly, will advance such
views. They seem confident they will
command fair and sane consideration at
the hands Of the American delegation
and the people of the United States
Copyright, 1921, by Public Ledger Com
pany.