The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-01-18
CONFERENCE
WORKING
ON SHANTIJNG
Naval Treaty Il a S
B e e n Practically
Completed and Del
egates Try to Adj
just Chinese Dis
pute

1yashington. Jan. iSS {Bss the AS
socsatea Press With flle naval
treaty virtually comp leted, the
arms delegates are preparing TO
turn the conference spotHght on
Shantung. apparently in the hope
that a settlement Of that eontro-
ssyarsy may make it easier to go
ahead with other troublesome prob
lens Of the Far East
1T now IS the expectation IN
conference circles that during. the
next few days. and probably until
4 decision is reached, the Shan
tung negotiations viii have the
right of way while Giscussiogs OF
other Far Eastern subjects os,aain
at q standstiil. So far the Shan
J. tung exchanges have taken place
between the Japanese and EhiEese
alone, with American and British
observers present but the --texs
phase sof the conference spIasram
IS expected at least to coNeeIS rate
upon the problem OF the sriendls
Interest of all the governments
represented here. ~.
At their meeting today the jap
arese and Chinese groups reported
an agreement for opening up the
entire Kiachow leased territory to
-fos1gn trade; and tomorrow they
are to- take up others OF the col
lateral questions involved in restor-
atien Of the leasehold 20. China.
!. Their sessions arc expected to last
z throughout the day and will form
!; the only item appearing on tonlor-
rows conference program.
Insthe naval negotiations only a
4 few details considered more or less
perfunctor:.y remained to be ar
{ ranged. An agreement has been
reached regarding methods Of
scrapping, under which discarded
!. battieships may be converted IN
some cases into airpiane carriers
and training ships, and final set
fiement relating To Pacific nrtifca-
{ tioas awaits a reply expected hour
. " from Tokyo. ssgs.a.-as-s-.ls,
If present plans develop. the
final draft OF the naval treaty viii
be laid before the full naval COM
rnittee early next week and viii be
publicly announced at plenary
3 session OF the conference a few
days later.
One possible element OF delay in
concluding the naval convention
was eliminated today when the
French delegation received instruc-
tions from President ai7llerand to
go ahead with its conference duties
/. regardless of the cabinet crisis at
Paris. Albert Sarraut, head of the
French delegation. indicated that
he interpreted the message as Civ
ing him fun power to sign the
treaty unless some unexpected
question of real Importance ap-
{ pears in The negotiations.
Under the scrappicg provisions,
as finally agreed to. the United
s States and Japan are understood
tobe authorized to change into air
plane carriers some Of the battle
ships nov under construction but
which. under the original plan.
Moula itave gone1o the scrap heap,
while France and Italy are to be
permitted to- convert into training
ships tie dFeadnaughts of their
) feet witch by the agreement are
10 become obsolete in 1884.
This decision was formally re-
corded at meeting of the Big
Five today devoted mostly to a
reorganization Of the treaty draft
Tor technical legal revisions.
The meeting of the japanese and
Chinese, resulting III an agreement
fpr opening up Kiaochow to trade
was regarded in some quarters as
one of the most importan- Of the
sessions that have been in progress
on the Shantung. problem. The
policy of an open door is to be
applied in trade development Of the
territory, the two delegations; agree
ing that all nations should have
; equal economic privileges. In addi-.
tEO9j.. S~fl1i4d 10 w u3toSi 1SAAS ~ - "
tect the vested foreign interests
that may be installed there. kiao-
chow is to be a free port.
The decision TO give the Shan
furg problem the right of way as
details of the naval agreement
clear up was interpreted generally
az another evidence Of the funda-
mental importance attached by
conference leaders to the question
Of the. long contested former Ger
man lcasehold.
In American quarters particu-
larry there is apparent BELIEF that
a final settlement of the ShaEtunS
situation is almost indispensable to
the program OF readjustment un-
dertaken in the Far East by the
conference.
In many ways Shantung is linked
closely with other Chinese ques-
tons, and it is predicted that when
has been wiped off the slate of
troublesome Far Eastern problems
il will be found much easier to get
on with the issues remaining.
washington. Jan. 14.-Presidenr
Harding has removed from the