Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-26
Progress Toward Peace.

Secretary Stimson is entitled to the
collntry's thanks for lifting the curtain
on the Far Eastern events which
menace the peace Of the world. The
disclosure Of the latest plan evolved by
the United States and the League
Council for hating hostilities in Man
churia is forthcoming at time when
hope was all but abandoned that in
ternational machinery for preservation
Of peace could be made to function.
The news from Paris, officially bull
warked by reassursnces in Washington,
now indicates that the engine Of peace
is not stalled. It is still pounding
away. Stocked by the fuel Of the League
covenant the nine-power treaty and
the Kellogg pact, it seems headed at
last for It's appointed destination-the
prevention of a war which in hardly
any conceivable circumstances could be
confined to China and Japan. The
hour has not yet arrived for jubilation,
but optimism is not unjustifled.
Credit for the putting forth Of final,
herculean effort to end the Man
churian crisis appears to belong con-
spicuously to the United States. The
resolution now pending before the
League Council is already described as
the stimson-Dawes plan. Broadly, it
calls for an immediate cessation OF
warlike activities by both the Chinese
and Japanese armies; for the with
drawal of japanese troops within the
Manchurian railway zone "as speedily
as possible" and for a commission OF
three neutral members who will study
on the spot" all the facts involved IN
the Sino-Japanese controversy.
The commission, on which an Amer
ican will serve If appointed, will report
to the League Council ION any circur1-
stance which, affecting international
relations, threatens to disturb peace
between China and Japan, or the good
understanding between them, upon
which peace depends" The full force
of the United States Government Is
behind the resolution embodying these
terms. Ambassador Dawes announced
at Paris that this country approves
the general plan of settlement, has so
Informed both China and Japan, and
urges upon them acquiescence IN the
proposed resolution
Formal acceptance Of this peace pro-
gram has still to come from Toxic and
Marking. Early indications point to its
eventual approval. doubtless with some
of those punctilious reservations in
separable from Oriental procedure in
diplomatic negotiation. China already
registers displeasure with the fact that
japanese evacuation of Manchurian ter
ritory is not to be immediate and will
be dependent upon the assurance Of
demonstrably stable conditions in varf-
Gus regions. Nor is any bright promise
of prompt Japanese agreement to be
seen in the latest military operations
by Japan's army, which fought its way
into fresh territory only yesterday, in
an evident move to take the strategic
city Of Chinchow. Chinchow occupied,
Japan's stranglehold on Manchuria
would be virtually complete. In the
law the outside powers are about to lay
down Toxic considers that possession
Is nine points.
The Washington Government, how
ever these matters may turn out, is
at least exerting the uttermost OF It's
authority-short of war-to vindicate
the American principle of Cancellation
in international controversies. The
United States within the past twenty
years has entered into thirty-f1ve sep
arate treaties looking to amicable ar
bitrament of such disputes. The nine
power treaty, affecting the Far East,
was a treaty of Cancellation. The KEEL
logg pact was an effort by the whole
world to substitute Cancellation for war.
Together with the League covenant,
this complicated fabric weaved for
world peace is now undergoing its first
great test. If the test is not triumph
antly survived, mankind will have to
resign itself to the prospect that force
needs still to be reckoned with as a
means for composing differences be-
tween nations long thought weaned
from such archaic resorts.