Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-01
CONTINUED From First Page)

u
Manchurfa six years before the birth Of
| the Chinese republic. Her victory over
Russia in 1908 had left Japan not only
| in possession of the entire Korean
| peninsula-that swordlike strip OF land
menacing the very heart of Japan--but
also, through the ownership of the
South Manchurian Railway. in prsc-
| teal control Of the whole of South
Manchuria to all administrative and
There Is no doubt that at that time
| the final goal Of Japanese policy was
| the complete Incorporation of the region
and its potential wealth into the Japa-
neSe empire. More than one repre-
sentative Japanese statesman frankly
admitted that much to me while pro-
| testing that this was no longer Japan's
| goal One Of them was Ambassador J.
JUN, who had been my colleague in
Peiping and later had been Ambassador
to Rome when I was at the head OF
the italian Foreign once.
Policy Apparently Continues.
Nothing strange indeed II Japan
] thought for while Of repeating In
Manchuria her earlier and successful
| Korean policy. Social conditions and
political events seemed for q while in
favor OF such q policy, first because OF
the decadence and corruption Of the
last years of the Manchu dynasty and
then, after its overthrow, because OF
the discussions and civil wars of the
republican era.
The World War offered the military
party in Japan q golden occasion--so
they thought--for Japan to assert her.
self. In 1915, when the military situa-
ton of the entente appeared most un-
favorable, the Japanese cabinet pre-
sented the Peiping government with
the famous 81 demands, which, had
China accepted them, would have put
! not only Manchuria but the whole
country under sort of Japanese pro-
tectorate. American pressure, combined
with British-Franco-Italia pressure,
forced Japan to withdraw her demands.
But deep resentment was aroused in
the hearts of the Chinese people. More
than IL years later in distant Chinese
places I heard words Of bitter hatred
at the recollection Of those demands.
But where the frontal attack had
failed, flank attacks were successful
for while. Russia secretly joined
Japan In order to weaken any govern
ment that China might establish. A
throughout South Manchuria seemed
to make the absorption only q matter
of time. Japan appeared to have the
whole field to herself since the disas-
trous discussions among Chinese
leaders had put any power Of resist
ance out Of the question.
Shattered Dream Explained.
What then shattered Japan's proud
dream? This, simply this: The anony-
nous passive force Of resistance Of the
seemingly inorganic Chinese masses.
It was yesterday--three centuries ago
is mere yesterday in the annals OF
China--that Manchukia was a savage
land beyond the sacred frontier Of
the Great Wall. It was in 1914 that
the Ching, then lords of Mukden,
crossed the antiquated barrier of the
Great Wall and installed themselves on
the imperial throne in Peking. But
China in very recent years has taken
her revenge slow revenge in the
true Chinese way. Today Manchuria
us peopled by about 24,000,000 inhabi-
tants, OF whom 90 per cent are pure
Chinese or descendants of old Man
chus who have become quite China
fed"
In fact, in China the conquerors from
the North have always been absorbed.
The successive waves of Tungusic con-
most Chinese Of all the Chinese prov
inces, Chilli and Ehantung. Since it
is from over-populated Shantung that
most of the recent Manchurian immi-
grants have come, this means that the
great tide of migration rolling north
ward into Manchuria is merely o return
Of the descendants of the conQuerorS
Of long ago. But with this difference:
The conquerors had left Manchuria as
Manchus and their descendants are re-
turning as pure Chinese. This fact Is
worth being pointed out as an apologize
in these childish days Of nationalistic
drunkenness.
Manchu Memories Scant.
In present Manchuria nothing re-
mains Of the old Manchu language;
only on the tombs Of the Pe-Ling near
Mukden, where sleep the founders Of
the late Ching dynasty, can ancient me-
mortal inscriptions In Manchu still be
found. But nobody in Manchuria is
able to read them any more. They
were translated to me by an old Italian
missionary; no other living man in
Manchuria, so was told, was able to
translate them. The Great Wall alone
from which japanese soldiers are
piously taking bricks to sell to Japanese
scholars at home-remains as q gigantic
snake running from the mountains to
the Yellow Sea and marks the line
which used TO divide China proper from
Manchuria But the silent inexhausti-
BILE labor OF the Chinese peasants has
succeeded where enperors failed. It
has leveled all and overcome all.
The Japanese are susceptible to sud-
den enthusiasts and to just as sudden
depressions. In the first years Of their
Manchurian policy everybody in Japan
tural or industrial enterprise in Man
churia. It was. 1t seemed, sort of pa
triotic duty. We must acknowledge that
everything impelled the japanese to
their effort-the impoSsibility of find-
ing outlets In the United States and
even less in Australia: the scanty sue
cess of japanese emigration to South
America and even, for reasons of CHI
mate, to their own Formosa; the pfox-
unity of Manchuria's fertile plains, and
last, but important, the patriotic ardor
of selling the hilt OF that sword pointed
against Japar--Korea.
This enthusiasm continued until facts
became too hard for even the warmest
Nippon patriotism.
Move Not All Favorable.
I'll can rely on reports have just
received from Japan should be tempt
ed to saw that the military action start
ed in Manchuria during recent weeks
is far from winning the unanimous sup
port OF Japanese settlers in that land.
The Japanese who settled in the three
Manchurian provinces have ended by
learning at their cost what perhaps has
not yet been grasped by the feudal and
military leaders In Japan. The Japa-
nese had bought farms 70 be worked
Under their direction by imported Chi
nese labor, Little by little. in practically
every case, the laborers ended by be-
been Increasing our national wealth
and niIr national income We have