Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-04-18
Woodrow Wilson
AS KNOW HIM
BY JOSEPH P. TUMULTY.
AS | KNOW HIM
BY JOSEPH P. TUMULTY.

Japan makes an unqualified recess;
sion of the sovereign rights in
Shantung to China, she also agrees
to remove all Japanese troops re-
manning on the peninsula "at the
earliest possible time"
China's Only Hope
Japan thus gets only such rights
as an economic concessionaire as are
already possessed by one or two
great powers and the whole future
relationship between the two coun-
| tries falls at once under the guaran-
tee of the League of Nations, by the
| provisions of which the territorial
| integrity and political independence
of China will be insured.
eff the president had risked every
thing in standing for the immediate
and complete realization of the Chi
| nese demands, and had broken up
| the conference upon that issue, 1t
would not have put Japan either po-
| litically or economically out of China.
| Neither our people nor the British
would go to war with Japan solely
| to keep her out of Shantung. The
only hope of China in the future
and Wilson looks not only to the
removal of the sphere of influence
which Japan controls but to the re-
mova1 of all other spheres of foreign
| influence in China-is through firm
world organization, a league of ma
tons in which these problems can
be brought up for peaceful settle
ment. t., e, ;.t
'The settlement, Of course, was a
compromise: balance Of considera-
tons. It was the problem of the
president, all through the conference,
when to accommodate and when
to use decided policies. 1t is the
rarest genius of craftsmanship to
know the time for each. The wis
dom of the statesman said Cavour
quoted by Thayer in his admirable
"Life'), consists in discerning
when the time has come for the one
or the other
"The Shantung decision is about
as good settlement as could be had
out Of dirty past"
| Even I felt bitterly critical of
what seemed to me to be the presi-
dents surrender to Japan in the
| matter of Shantung. But when he
returned and told me the whole
story and explained the complicated
and delicate world situation which
confronted him, I agreed with him
that he had obtained out of a bad
mess the best possible settlements.
Cable from Wilson
Among the various cabled mes.
sages fhicsh passed between the
president and myself. which will be
found in appendix CO. was the fol.
lowing:
PARIS.
Received at the White House.
Washington, April 30. 1919.
Tumulty, White House,
Washington.
The Japanese-C Chinese mat
ter has been settled in a way
which seems to me as satisfac-
tory as could be got out Of the
tangle of treaties in which
China herself was involved. and
it is important that the exact
facts should be known. I. there
fore, send you the following for
, public use a. such time as the.
matter may come under public
discussion. In the treaty all the
rights of Kiaochau and in Shan
, tung province belonging to Ger
! many are to be transferred
! without opposition to Japan, but
/ Japan voluntarily engages, in
answer to the questions put in
conference, that it will be her
immediate policy to "hand back
the surveyed peninsula in full
sovereignty to China, retaining
only the economic privileges
granted to Germany and the
right to establish a settlement
under the usual conditions at
Tsingtau. Owners of the railway
will use special police only to
insure security for traffic. They
will be used for no other pur-
, pose. The police force will be
composed Of Chinese and such
Japanese instructors as the d.
rectors of the railway may Sc
lect will be appointed by the
, Chinese government"
1t was understood in addition
, that inasmuch as the sovereign
, rights receded to China were to
be unqualified, all Japanese
troops remaining on the PENN
sula should be Withdrawn at
: the earliest possible time. Japan
{ thus gets only such rights as
! an economic concessionaire as
are possessed by one or two
other great powers and are only
too common in China, and the
future relationship between the
: two countries falls at once I'M
, der the guarantee Of the League
of Nations of territorial integri-
: ty and political independence. I
: find a general disposition to look
with favor upon the proposal
) that at an early date throughout
the mediation of the League of
Nations all extraordinary for
} eign rights in China and all
, spheres of influence should be
l abrogated by the common con-
sent of all the nations con-
3 cerned. regard the assurance
given by Japan as very salts
factory in view of the complf-
Gated circumstances. Please do
not give out any Of the above
as quotation from me. but use
it in some other form for pub
lie information at the right time.
WOODROW WILSON.
F.. (Copyright, 1921, by Doubleday, Pagt