The Washington times., 1922-03-17
MONEY-TRADE
Washington Conference.
q. 8. Gets Nothing.
Japanese Rejoice.
Bafour Gets Garter.

they viii think they are having
bad dream"
The remark was made by q high
officer In the service Of the United
States. He then laid before the
writer q chart Of the Pacific, nanked
with lines to show the power and
commerce Of the nations since com:
merce and power In the great ocean
began to interest the world.
What did this chart prove? That
from the days OF Portugal to the
days Of English supremacy. from
the beginning Of English supremacy
to the days Of Japan's rivalry. ma
tional business and national power
had gone hand In hand throughout
the Pacific area.
1t 10 common idea among Amer
lean business men that the power
and prestige Of the Washington
Government have nothing to do
with the nations business; that
trade, like religion. makes its own
way along its own lines, and that
national defense has no influence
on foreign commerce except in war.
No idea could be further from the
truth.
Japan and England.
AZ Japan gains naval and military
power she allies herself with Eng
land. Far what? To spread her
commercial influence and extend her
business markets In East Asia and
the Pacific. She uses her new pres
tige to intimidate China, absorb Ko-
rea, invade Siberia. Far what? For
ffelds-not for glory, not for fame.
Whatever territory has markets
for her goods. raw materials for her
fa actories, she desires to seize and
s4ixes IL she can. Whatever terri.
tory will bring no profit. she simply
ignores. She overawes. presses back,
and supplants the United States. To
avert American competition, she
uses her military and naval power;
she intimidates us. makes combina-
tions with other nations to exclude
US, hampers our trade, delays our
shipments-all the while relying on
the inability Of our Government to
protect American interests.
How Inability That question
brings US to the remark Of the high
officer in Washington.
BY the treaties Just closed In the
Warrington conference England has
been made the supreme naval power
Of the Pacific, and japan has been
made the second naval power. To-
gether-and they are bound together
by q thousand commercial ties not
recorded in treaties-thcy are made
by the Washington treaties superior
in power to the, United states in the
ratio of about 3 n to I. This may
sound strnnKel 1.-THE average reader,
but any high naval officer in WASH
ington will confirm the statement.
And this vast superiority was not
sought and established by England
and Japan for self-defense.
A Business Conference.
Neither England nor Japan was
menaced in its safety by any nation
on earth. That is plain. No, this
superiority was sought and estab-
lished to further the power that be-
gets business. the power that assures
commerce., the power that oyerawes
other nations reduces their ability
to assert business rights and protect
business enterprise abroad and final
ly excludes them from competition
in the markets that England and
Japan desire for themselves.
That is why everybody outside Of
America regarded the Washington
conference as a business conference.
That Ii why England and Japan re-
gard the Washington treaties as
great commercial victories. That is
why the Japanese rejoice In Tokyo
and Balfour gets the Garter in
London.
From the beginning Of the great
war down to the Washington confer
ence the 'one idea Of this nation q
allies was to get business. While the
United States soldiers fought and
the American people bought Liberty
bonds, without thought of CONNER
cial spoilation, the other nations were
making business treaties that divided
the oil wells, iron deposits, the coal
mines, farm lands and even the rail
way rights Of way all over the world
All this sounds far away. 1t seems
| q far cry from the high sounding pro
fessions Of the Washington treaties
to the bargainings Of the nations in
coal. oil and cotton goods. But II
isn't. Read the revelations that Ray
| Stannard Baker has been making ir
behalf Of Mr.. Wilson, through the
columns of the daily newspapers
They tell the story in words 30 plaiY
| that no business man can fail I'd
understand them.
! Markets Sole Aim.
What the nations wanted In the
! war and at the Paris conference Sas
4 markets-markets for themselves TO
sell i'm and for others to keep out OF.
At Washington it was the sam.. In
the treaties before the Sonata 1t Is
| the same.
Will American business man never
learn the lesson? Can't they zee that
the more we shout for peace, prepare
and even begin to disarm, reduce our
Ipower and sing back into unpre
A paredness-can't they see how. as
these things come to pass as we
grow ever feebler. our forme. allies
| grow ever less friendly, talk more
openly Of repudiating the billions
they owe us, resent more bluatly ouT
efforts to assert our PLANES. com
mercial and financial rights!