The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 7, 1925, Page 15

ili. “today, the United States, is vitally in- The Chinese Customs Conference ®¥ =< 1. Dobe PART Ii. THE FRENCH STANDPOINT. E direct intefests of France in China ‘are very much less than these of England, Japan, or the United States. Her share in Chinese commerce is small. She has two ex- tremely valuable concessions, those at Shanghai and Tientsin. With Czar- ist Russia she participated in the Sino-Japanese war loan, and her bankers have made other financial advances to the Peking government. British and American residents in the Shanghai foreign settlement have eomplained that the French failed to do their share in suppressing the “tiots.” The importance of France comes rather from her dominant position in Europe, and the fact that she is Eng- land's only formidable rival in the old world. Consequently in the com- mercial and industrial competition for world-power she could, for the sake of the advantages sure to ac- crue from the friendship of the Chin- ese, well afford to grant the de- mands of China. Here again, how- ever, the whole complicated and in- terdependent character of modern in- dustrial society must be taken into consideration. sgpeaiiene is in the most difficult fi- nancial straits. Unable to reach a settlement of debt to the United States and with the warning of the Coolidge administration that it will frown upon any further bank advanc- es to nations which have not adjust- Sun Yat Sen, Tchang Tso Lin, and Wu Pei Fu. ed their debts to this country, the French must rely on the financial as- sistance of the London financiers. She cannot, therefore, act with a free hand in the Peking conferences. _ Interests of the United States. The richest country in the world terested in the events in China. It took the lead in suggesting the call- ing of these conferences, as we have ‘seen. ” What does this government want from China? What is it willing to Soi Ah AER aaa nate LC Sse nee SERRE SERENE ZY “SSSR ASSO Wi MRIS ESA latter year to one-sixth of China's to- tal. In the period from.1904 to 1918 the United States made a gain of 244 per cent in her Chinese trade. The combined result of the world war and the opening of the Panama Canal is graphically shown in the folowing figures (in millions only): U. S&S. exports U. S. imports to China from China 1914 ........:.$ 37,000,000 $ 43,000,000 - 117,000,000 154,000,000 Risa 124,000,000 158,000,000 Interests Chiefly Commercial. The interests of the United States in China have thus been predominant- ly commercial. That the American traders in Shanghai and Hongkong were one with the British in the de- mand for harsh measures of repres- sion against the Chinese during the recent trouble and determined to re- tain all their special privileges was evident from the denunciation by the American Association in China, of Senator Wm. E. Borah’s advocacy of the renunciation of extra-territoriality. In reply Borah excoriated them as “part of the imperialistic combine which would oppress and exploit the Chinese people and charge the result of their offense to some one else.” “These interests, including the Ameri- can chamber of commerce in China, he continued, “are the real cause of the trouble.” N the other hand, curiously enough the American missionaries—and missionaries in general have been con sidered by imperialists like Cecil Rhodes invaluable adjuncts to “civiliz ing” the backward peoples—seem as a whole to take strong sides with the Chinese for the abolition of foreign privileges. The present anomolous situation, they complain, hinders the work of “converting the heathen” on account of the un-Christ-like attitude of the “superior” white race. Because of the failure of the last consortium (an agreement to negoti- ate government loans only thru an as- sociation of certain banks represent- ing the great powers, except Russia) American pre ba pe a minor amounts in industry, has in- ze vested little in China. Its interests thus lie in the possibilities of the future rather than the protection of the past. On the whole the financial and com- mercial interests of the United States, viewed in a large sense, should in- cline its capitalists to a lenient treat- ment of the demands of China. The raising of the Chinese tariff would effect its exports to a very limited de- gree, for they comsist chiefly of ma- chinery, oil, wheat, tobacco, lumber, and highly finishéd steel products, all of which China is unable to supply oe We for the present in sufficient volume to meet its pressing needs. ‘So far as extra-territoriality is con- cerned, with mo Chinese land in its possession and no important railroad or coal concessions, the interests of the United States would seem to in- dicate the acceptance of Senator Bo- rah's views as to the ativisability of its gradual abolition. It is significant that the Coolidge administration has not seen fit to reject or even modify the published statement on this sub- ject of the chairman of the most im- portant committee in the senate. Ruthless Measures in China. While these facts would indicate a lenient attitude towards the Chinese demands, it is true, on the other hand, that the United States was the first to land marines in Shanghai and has taken a prominent part in policing the strike areas. American warships patrol the inner waters of China, tho no other sovereign nation allows alien men of war’on its rivers or-other in- land waterways. HE American congress last winter debated for days the question of how large an appropriation should be voted to police the Yangtze Kiang and finally decided that six large river gunboats would be sufficient. It would seem that our lawmakers at Washing- on are determined to make us the great scab-herding and strikebreaking nation of the world. The Shanghai Cifina Weekly Re- view (American owned) boasted Iast summer of the patrol thus establish- ad in these words: “No one outside of the mner councils of the war and State departments at Washington knows just exactly what did happen on the Upper Yangtze about this time (during the general strike, 1925), but the captain of any American ship who desired an armed guard got it.” The paper adds_ significantly, you must read between the lines to get it, “. . ..the commander of the American patrol forces was given in- structions not to fire fir#t, but if fired upon, tobe a close second.” : Wireless Controversy. A? A Sat Whene up at these conferences will be the con- troversy between the United States and Japan over the erection of wire- less stations in China. ago the Chinese government granted the Mitsui company a monopoly of erecting wireless stations. Later it also gave the Federal Telegraph com- pany of America a wireless conces- sion. The Japanese government there- upon. protested to China. The Ameri- can government intervened with the charge that the Mitsui grant was void because it violated the open door pol- icy which Japan had accepted many UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT SENDS THIRTEEN BATTLESHIPS TO BULLY CHINA DURING SHANGHAI STRIKE WASHINGTON, Nov. 6——That American naval vessels constituted 13 ou Some years | years previously. The Mitsui company erected its station but it did not fulfill the con- tract, not being powerful enough to send its messages across the Pacific. Meanwhile American engineers of the Federal company waited for months in Chima for a decision. Great Britain, France, and Japan proposed to the United States the joint operation of a single system. The suggestion was rejected. Lately China has urged that the United States and Jctan jointly Joan China the capital for the wireless station, to be operated by the three powers. This conuoversy @iustrates the many complications which character- ze the relatonships of foreigners to the Chinese government and th® in- ternational conilcts which so readily ensue. It also throws, light upon the double dealing which goes under the mame of statesmanship in the capi- alist world. The Sacred Right of Private Property. HE note of acceptance of the Chin- ese government's invitation to the conferences were all alike, stating hat the particular nation “is now pre- pared to consider the Chinese gov- ermment’s proposal for the modifica- ton of existing treaties in a measure as the Chinese anthorities demon- ‘trate their willingness and ability to ulfill their obligations and assure protection to foreign rights and in- erests now safeguarded by the excep- fonal provisions of these treaties.” .n all the notes and correspondence SCENE OF PRESENT | STRUGGLES IN CHINA >. 2 their runs this insistence first of all on the protection of foreign property rights in China. If the foreign nationals can get the Chinese government to guarantee all their present rights under some other formula equally as binding as the present treaties, Great Britain, France, the United States, and Japan will gladly surrender their special privileges. To the imperialist powers A rose by any other name will smell iS Sweet.” No Lasting Solution. Having thus surveyed the factors which determine national policy, it is necessary to understand that the complicated relationships of capital- ist industry in national boundaries cause many variations in their parti- concede, and why? Alone of the pow-|of the fleet of 20 ships of foreign powers that intimidated the Chinese ir ers concerned it has mot seized nor | shanghai after the massacre of students by British police there last May, is it, holding any Pees i yiggari and that American naval enlisted men are still on shore serving as police in pm a ee _ rites to po Shanghai, is set forth in a letter received by President Coolidge from Dr. eee government, Its money is Harry F. Ward, national chairman of the American Committee for Justice not yet heavily invested in Chinese |t0 China. Dr. Ward has recently returned from a year spent in the Orient, UT—our trade with China amount- ed to nearly a quarter billion dol- hut meaner or He is & Mem™| iam the policy of control and taxa- lars last year (1924) and is growing bane en New Beg gh greg tion of Chinese by foreigners with- fast. The Pacific is believed by many inary, " ! E ation of its subjects. So the powers leading business men as destined to|‘"7 of the Methodist Federation for quartered on s Chinese university become the most important avenue of commerce in the world, occupying the Social Service. - “Whereas,” he says, “the dumping eign orders, and our naval must take into consideration at Pe- king the reaction of their citizens to wards the measures taken and the forces position held in the last century by |°f British owned tea into Boston har-| stilt on shore serving as police at|™Methods proposed. the Atlantic. The Panama Canal re-|bor resulted in the independence of | Shanghai. That a fundamental settlement of moved the greatest obstacle to effec-|the United States, the dumping of; “[n ‘the circumstances, we may at tive American competition for the | British owned opium into the river at/ any moment by the work of a consul trade of thé Orient. Its completion | Canton resulted in the subjection of|or the act of a naval officer or a brot the Pacific coast of the United | China to western powers, thru a series | marine be engaged in war with China States closer to China and Japan than |f treaties forced upon her, taking | without any authorization by con- are England or Europe. The eastern|@way major portions of her most vi-| gress. Unless this situation is chang- part of this country, which is its {tal sovereign rights. great manufacturing district, became} “The United States thru its mer- then almost as near to China ag the|chants, manufacturers, bankers, and 1 i | rE il : ; 284