The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1940-10-10

any dllhtts wiz hAAbN9 9SAtNN4AAS
of the Shanghai background, ex-
ceedingly hot under the collar.
The foreign city OF Shanghai
doesn't belong to China. It's extra
territorial. The United States
owns an undivided interest in 1t,
along with other overseas powers.
Although it's undivided, it's as
much ours as our 100 per cent In
terest in Honolulu is-or San Fran
cisco or Chicago or any other place
over which the Stars and Stripes
float.
We have our own American court
in Shanghai, our own post office,
our own bank and a lot Of miscel-
laneous businesses. Our marines
do part Of the International Settle
ment's police duties. II. for In
stance, a Shanghai Englishman dis
turbs the peace and one Of our
patrols, happening to be on the job
right there, arrests him, 1t imme-
diately turns him over to the Eng
lish local authorities to deal with.
An English copper can pinch a
lawbreaking American in an emer-
gency. but he's promptly surren-
dered to our consular officials. to
be attended to as they see Mt IL
isn't denied that a Jap policeman
is entitled temporarily to restrain
an unruly American or Briton, but
only to be surrendered immediate
" to his own nationalitys repre-
sentatives, Just as we'd hand over
an ugly Jap to his folk for trial.
In our case an offending Amer-
can. II a petty nuisance, upon con-
yiction. gets a term in our Shang-
hal consular Jail. II come Ameri-
can major miscreant gets a long
sentence, which would make him
a bother locally, he's shipped over
to San Quentin to serve out his
tim Ditto all the rest.
Nearly a Century
The systems worked admirably
for hard onto 100 years.
Lately, though. the JaPs, taking
an American or a Briton into Gus
tody, have yielded him up to his
own nationality. but they've pre-
ceded it by manhandling him vio-
lently. Sometimes, maybe, he
didn't deserve 1t. It hasn't been
the Japs' privilege TO make mince-
meat out Of him. anyway. Several
of these affairs have created I'M
pleasant international incidents.
Now It's beginning to be fore
seen, in Washington at least, that
perfectly respectable American
and British residents Of the inter-
national settlement. an area that's
as much ours as 1t is the Japs, are
in peril Of being bombed out Of
house and home, or TO death, II
Nippon goes on a real rampage.
Now. we've got a sizeable ag-
gregation Of navy men in Oriental
waters. These boys officers, as
signed to pretty long tours Of duty
duty of eastern Asia or up the
Yangtse. have made quite habit
OF moving their wives and families
over TO Shanghai and finding COM
Portable quarters for them there,
where they could be with them
occasionally. It's practice which
the navy department has been dis
couraging in recent months. That's
all right. The fighting men are
expected to take their chances. but
they're properly advised to leave
their families at >home for the
present.
Our longtime civilian residents
o. Shanghai are in a different
classification. Many Of them have
lived there for generation-have
children who were born there.
They're as American as we are.
They reckon that they live in an
American suburb. To talk about
evacuating them is like talking
about evacuating Kalamazoo.
Warning TO Americans
Warning Americans that they'd
better get out OF bomb-stricken
London or Berlin is one thing.
Warning 'em to get out Of Oslo or
Amsterdam or Brussels is In much
the same category. Uncle Sam
hasn't any direct interest in Nor
way or Holland or Belgium.