Evening star., 1922-09-15
BY EDGAR ANsEL MOWRER.

BY Cable to The Star and Chicago Daily News.
Copyright. 1922.
GENEVA, September 1.-THE tiny
island of Nauru, in the wastes OF the
Pacific ocean, may be chosen by rate
to test the effective moral power or
the league of nations, which. almost
unaided by the United States. is hght-
ing Americas fight against the entire
system of economic Imperialism ana
in favor of equality of commercial
opportunity or the "open door in the
colonial islands, which were the COM
mon war heritage of the allied anu
associated powers.
These lands as all know, were in
trusted under the mandatory system
to the several states. subject 10 tne
surveillance of the league OF nations.
Nauru with other Pacific islands, was
disposed of under the mandates,
Nauru being intrusted to the British
Empire for Great Britain, Australla
and New Zealand, the administration
being turned over to Australia
Rich in Phosphates.
Nauru, in spite of it's population OF
only a few hundred, is rich. 1t pro-
ducas 100000 tons of valuable phos-
pilates annually and the supply, IT is
estimated. will last 400 years. The
pre-war exploitation was eXcluslVely
in the hands of a single British COM
pany. The three mandatory govern
ments wanted phosphates cheap and'
therefore, bought the phosphate de-
posits from the company and named
three phosphate commissioners, one
for each state. These commission
crs were to exploit the phosphateS.
sell to themselves at cost until tnelr
own markets were supplied, ana seii
the residue, if any, to the Worlu.
The residue amounted to very littIe
and the effect of the arrangement was
to shut out foreign buyers and turn
a monopoly of production of Nauru
phosphates into a distributing
monopoly.
Though the Nauru phosphate de-
opsits belong to Great Britain. AUS
Nauru does not. The United STATES
government. it is believed, VIII not
permit the British to continue real
monopoly under cover or CONNER
cial transaction without a contro-
versy II admitted this wuold con-
stitute a principle entirely detriment-
al to the American policy. as it would
be contrary to the open door idea.
British Thesis Untenable.
The British delegation to the league
meeting. arguing its case before
the third committee in the league. en-
deavored to parallel the government
consuming monopoly of the Nauru
pnOSpnateS WITH d
monopoly. Such a thesis the unlted
States probably will not, and the
league of nations cannot, accept. The
g mandates do not provide specitcai-
ly for equality of commercial oppor-
tunity, but the entire spirit OF the
league is violated if a mandatory
power, as the legal guardian of the
interests of undeveloped populations,
can permit itself. as the buyer and
seller of such interests, to act ex-
clusively for it's own profit.
Economic imperialism-that is to
say. monopolistic or special opportu-
mites for exploiting backward coun-
tries for the profit of a single nation
is one of the greatest causes of inter-
nation strife. The mandatory system
by insisting first on the open door
and second on decent protectIon Of
native populations could abolish eco
nomic Imperialism in the inundated
territories.
L. 8. I'm Separate Pacts.
Such work the league of nations can
accomplish only if it stands for the
spirit of the mandatory system and
refuses to accept the British phos-
phate monopoly in Nauru under
legal subterfuge. The United States
in securing commercial rights in the
inundated territories must either make
n separate treaty with each manda-