Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-01-19
AMERICAS RETREAT
|. LEAVES CHINA JUST
AS SHE WAS BEFORE
Open Door Remains a Motto
While 1t Might Have Been
Fact.
CHINA TO FIGHT ALONE
New York World.

New York World.
Washington. Jan. 1S.--The Ameri-
can delegation hauled In Its flag to-
day 1t withdrew" its proposal for
making the open door "a fact and not
a motto" 1t withdrew that proposal
without fight at the first show Of
opposition. And then. having sur
rendered, It declared TINT the propos-
nj in question had never mattered
greatly anyway.
Not in my own experience, either
cation suffered SO speedy a defeat or
at this conference or the Peace Con-
ference In Paris, has an American dele
frenc In Paris, has an Amrican dele
made so futile an effort to minimize
Its Importance l have been an active.
II unimportant. critic OF Woodrow
Wilson IN the Paris conference.
should like to apologize TO him to-
night. on those occasions when he
went down Woodrow Wilson went
down fighting.
The situation when the Arms Con-
ference met this morning was this;
This conference had before II an
American proposal submitted yester-
day for establishing an open door In
China. This proposal. like all Its pre-
decessors, began with definition OF
the open door. But II went further.
1t recognized that abstract declara-
tons are one thing and facts another,
1t recognized that there have been q
hundred other definitions in the past
and that the open door has never ye,
become a reality. Ii proposed, there
fore. that a board of reference be es-
tablishd which might review any ex-
listing concession which blocked the
open door.
This board was a harmless it'll.
thing. AS Mr.. Hughes himself do.
clared, Il had no authority TO decide
to none OF its decisions did the power.
have to submit II they did not want
to. Still IL would throw flood o.
light upon conditions" II provided ma
chinery for examination OF facts. Ant
such examination, In the words OF Mr.
Hughes, was highly desirable IL thi
conference were TO be made all I
should be In removing causes OF pos
slble controversies.
This was the proposal which tn,
American delegates took into the con
ference today. What happened?
Mr.. Shidehara, speaking for Japan
proposed a brief amendment. He oh
jected to the retroactive" aspects o
the American proposal. He objected
that is. to the one thing that coul,
ever lift the open door out OF tn
realm Of fancy and make Il a reality
He did not want even this Harmless
little board to 90 over the concession
which Japan had obtained froy
. China
Sir Robert Borden, for Canada. sug
gested that this feature of the Ameri
can proposal be withdrawn. None c
/ the other British spokesman, enthusi
astic yesterday In their support. pro
: tested. And right here the America
flag came down. Article " was with
, drawn
Japan once held out and got III
Mutsu. Other nations have held OF
and won their points. The America
ty-tour hours after IL had made /,
proposal. 1t might have failed eve
: had 1t made a fight, but II did ne
make the fight.
Having left the field the America
delegation, through one OF its a,
credited spokesmen, refused to max
the issue clear and emphasize the I'm
portanee OF what 1t had original
. proposed. This spokesman declare
: tnat TO article ~ the American del,
!. gates had never attached any gre:
importance" but yesterday M
Hughes had declared the examinatjo
of existing concessions, as provide
!, IN article " highly desirable for r.
D moving causes OF possible contr,
: versy"
: Today's action in the conference
almost vadedictory. 1t disposes of Il
:, notion that the conference Will ri
: on for months. deal in other war
- than principles and make an effort
: dig into facts. Officially the artic
: or the American proposal is not dea
. IL Is withdrawn. Our delegates w
not bring 1t up again But the Chine
tonight announced their intention
L doing so.
r The Chinese delegation will bril-
the American proposal or a subst
y tute for 1t, back into the conferen
again. But in view OF what has ha,
pened this action will be purely 70
NAL.
The conference has probably turf
: ed the corner in today's session. VIII.
!. looked like point by point consider.
6 ton OF realities in the Far East Ia.
night. has vanished altogether. The
. are two resolutions pending conoerI
ing China's railways. Probably the
. VIII be resolution on Siberia, but Il
}. conference nears It's end.