The Washington herald., 1922-01-07
70 MEETINGS FAIL.
Chinese and japanese
Delegates Unable to De-
eide on Railway Terms.
HUGHES, BALFOUR
TO,SEEK SOLUTION
Conference of Mediators
May Be Held on SHAH
tung Today or Monday.

diators.
Charles Evans Hughes. for the
United States. and Arthur James
Balfour. must find a way OF settle
ment IL there is one.
The direct negotiations between
China and Japan collapsed entirely
last night. Japan presented the
inal word from Tokyo. 1t proposed
that China buy the Shantung Rail
way on a hfteen-year plan subject
to completion OF the purchase after
five years upon six months notice.
Japan was to retain the trsrc man.
ager and the chief accountant.
China emphaticaIly and fatty re-
Jected It.
Then China proposed two slterna-
tive plans. one for an immediate
payment through a third power. and
the second for deferred payments.
that would give full control In three
years. Under either China would
agree to select a Japanese district
railway manager.
The Japanese delegation was
compelled TO reject the two pro-
posals. II was made very plain to
the Chinese delegates that the Jap
onese delegation had made the to-
tai concessions possible. They were
scting entirely upon instructions
from Tokyo. they said. K
So soon as this was ascertained
the direct SfantunR negotiations
were adjourned sine die This
brought to a close twenty direct
meetings at which fruItless efforts
to reach an agreement had been
made. The negotiations therefore
today are just where they were
when they were initiated at the
suggestion of the British and Amer
ican delegations.
Ready for Mediation.
The fact that a deadlock existed
Immediately was communicated to
Messrs. Hughes and Balfour. They
at once sent back word that they
were prepared to exercise their
prerogatives as mediators. The
time for the meeting could not be
decided but IL will be at the con-
venience of the mediators. There
was a possibility that the meeting
might take place today or II might
go over until Monday.
What attitude the two veteran
statesmen will take is not known.
There is much sympathy with the
Chinese viewpoint. But II il con-
ceded that japan made expenditures
CT blood and treasure to gain con-
troll cf Shantung and to end Ger
man rule there. And because OF
this fact il is conceded that il will
be hard to propose a method OF set
tlement that will satisfy both
parties.
That is made more difficult be-
cause ShantunE has been n political
issue in the United States, in China
and in Japan ever since the treaty
of Versailles was completed. How
ever. both Mr.. Hughes and Mr.. Bal
four seemed confident last night
that they would find a way out.
The Japanese viewpoint, as made
public by Mr.. Hanihara last night.
was as follows:
The railway is our property. 1t
is up to us to sell il or to retain
il as we see fit and as seems best
for the international welfare of all
concerned. We have proposed to
China that the railroad be made a
joint enterprise by which We would
let China in half and half. This in
itself was a direct and material
concession on the part of Japan. but
China refused to consider it. Then
we went still further. We agreed
to pass the title to China, although
we insisted that we must retain
at least a working interest In the
property.
Loan Plan Proposed.
"Our plan was to make the
transfer in the form of a loan. This
would give us control of an inter-
est in the railroad on similar terms
such as other nations operate rail-
roads in China. The reason for this
concession is that the Japanese gov
ernment can have no guarantee that
under Chinese operation through
The Chinese plan OF finance the rail-
road would not deteriorate 1iu: ing
the next few years. Japan aiso
conceded that Il would withdraw its
demand that the chief engineer of
the road be Japanese, but IL. of
course, had to insist that the traffic
manager and chief accountant be
Japanese. This was TO protect our
interests.
There has been a widespread be-
lief that the German government
originally agreed to return this
road to China within thirty years.
This, of course. is not the case. A
German corporation constructed the
railroad because at that time the
German government did not desire
to finance 1t. II was stipulated in
the treaty that the German gov
ernment-not the Chinese. mind
you-could buy the road back from
the German corporation within
thirty years. But China was ex-
cluded from this right"
Last Meeting Communique.
The oficial communique dealing
with the last meeting was as fol-
lows:
The twentieth meeting of, the
Chinese and japanese delegates was
held; at 3,o'ciock In the afternoon
in the governing board room of
Continued on Pooe Tew 4