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 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 CHINA AND THE CHINESE 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 CLASS OF 1876 
 1918 
 
 &'»ft ar IVH.C\krK Co. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 DS 793.S4I97 
 
 The Shantung question .an address i by Dr. 
 
 3 1924 023 502 564 
 
 The Shantung Question 
 
 An Address By 
 
 DR. T. IYENAGA 
 
 Director of The East and West 
 News Bureau, of New York City 
 
 Delivered before 
 
 The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce 
 
 December 30, 1919 
 
DS 7?3 
 
 WHu.. 
 
Mr. President and Members of 
 
 The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce: 
 
 I thank you for the honor done me in extending me an invi- 
 tation to address this distinguished organization. I feel a genuine 
 pleasure in appearing before this Chamber of Commerce, indeed 
 I may say that I am made to feel perfectly at home with you, not 
 because my chums are here, but because I am in hearty accord 
 with the spirit and the substance of the message this body sent on 
 December 17th to the President and the Senate. I am in accord 
 with you in thinking that "a bleeding and stricken world asks 
 for succor and security and we are still haggling over the terms" 
 of the Peace Treaty. I entertain the same view, I cherish the 
 same hope with you when you say: "We believe that not only 
 the peace of society but the establishment of stable government 
 is hazarded by any further delay, and we therefore sincerely 
 hope that the differences which have arisen may be speedily al- 
 layed so that we may, together with our recent Allies, concern 
 ourselves with the consideration of a properly effective recon- 
 struction program which will as speedily as possible restore to 
 human life its security, provide for the stricken peoples oppor- 
 tunities for rehabilitation and re-establish quickly international 
 communication upon a basis of permanent friendship and peace." 
 
 Gentlemen, I am not an American by birth, as you are aware, 
 but T am an American by education. I received my primary edu- 
 cation at Oberlin College, so near to your city, and since then I 
 have been for a score of years the recipient of all the blessings 
 of American education and of American institutions. I feel, 
 therefore, that I am entitled to a freer and more frank expres- 
 sion than a newcomer would be upon the subject, which, as it has 
 become a matter of controversy in the United States Senate, is 
 naturally a very delicate one for an outsider to discuss. 
 
 I am profoundly interested in the leadership of America in 
 world affairs, believing that it will be guided by the principles 
 of justice and humanity. I feel, therefore, a sense of deep regret 
 when I am told that the United States has lost a measure of her 
 former prestige by her long haggling over the terms of the Treaty. 
 
 "When President "Wilson went to Paris to negotiate the Treaty, 
 America was the object of universal admiration. Today her in- 
 action with regard to the restoration of peace, so contrary to the 
 expectations of her recent Allies, is looked upon with amazement 
 and apprehension by them and with a corresponding measure of 
 comfort by her erstwhile enemies. 
 
 I have come to you today to discuss one of the phases of the 
 Peace Treaty — the Shantung question— which is regarded as one 
 of the obstacles to the speedy ratification of that document, and 
 in regard to which a campaign of misrepresentation, abuse and 
 slander has been vigorously prosecuted since last July. 
 
It is well for us to begin with the story of the genesis of the 
 Shantung award. The position Japan occupied in the world war 
 was unique; it has indeed few parallels in the history of belliger- 
 ency. Japan entered the war for reasons quite different from 
 those which drove to arms Great Britain, France and Italy, whose 
 territories and national existence were threatened by German in- 
 vasion, or that which forced the United States to unsheath her 
 'sword. Japan entered the war in obedience to the terms of the 
 Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which imposed upon her the duty of 
 making military operations in common with her ally in the regions 
 of Eastern Asia and its waters. I need hardly remind you that 
 the fulfillment of the terms of the Anglo-Japanese treaty was in 
 perfect accord with Japan's national interests, for Germany's 
 aggressive designs and operations in the Far Bast were a constant 
 menace to her security and welfare. 
 
 Japan did the work allotted to her by her Allies with char- 
 acteristic energy and thoroughness. At one stroke she destroyed 
 the German power in the Far East by the reduction of the fortress 
 of Tsingtao. She hunted out the enemy warships roving the ad- 
 joining seas. She patrolled the vast expanse of the South Seas, 
 the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. She convoyed the troops of 
 Australia and New Zealand to the battlefields of Europe and 
 Asia. She supplied to her Allies much needed munitions, and 
 other war materials, and she subscribed to the loans of her Allies to 
 the full extent of her financial capacity. You know Japan has 
 only one-tenth of your enormous wealth. When Germany was 
 at the acme of her power, Japan prevented the filtration of her 
 influence into the Pacific littoral and the spread of Bolshevism 
 into East Siberia. "When America entered the war in 1917, Japan 
 co-operated with the American Government in every possible man- 
 ner. She lent to it many ships for the transportation of munitions 
 and other war materials. She guarded the Hawaiian Islands and 
 the Pacific Coast against the danger of German raiders, thus liber- 
 ating the American Navy to devote its entire energy to its arduous 
 task on the Atlantic and European waters. And finally, Japan 
 was ever ready to respond to the call of her Allies in case of neces- 
 sity. That she did not fight on the European battlefields was not 
 of her choice alone. It was neither the wish of her Allies, nor her 
 own wish that she would thrust herself upon the European stage, 
 for in so doing she was bound to face the dilemma either of im- 
 pairing her hard won military prestige or, which was more to be 
 feared, of re-awakening the cry of "yellow peril," which was 
 fortunately at that time on the point of being committed to ob- 
 livion. Alas! that cry has already be re-awakened. 
 
 The real significance of Japan's participation in the war will, 
 I hope, stand in bolder and clearer relief if you let your imagin- 
 ation play a little and picture to yourselves the contingencies that 
 might have arisen had not the Japanese army and navy been mo- 
 bilized against the Central Powers. "Would the channel of com- 
 
munication and commerce between Europe and the Far Bast, be- 
 tween America and the Orient, with all that its security means, 
 have been as safe as it was for the entire period of the war? 
 How much of the Allied fleets, in addition to those already dis- 
 patched, must of necessity have been withdrawn from the home 
 waters to safeguard the road from Aden to Shanghai, to the great 
 joy of Von Tirpitz and his coterie? "Would not Germany, with 
 her strong base at Kiaochow, with its hinterland at her command, 
 have played a formidable role in disturbing the tranquility of 
 China, to the great detriment of the Allied Powers? "Would not 
 German propaganda, once so active in stirring up revolt in India 
 and the Straits Settlements, have seen some measure of success 
 to the prejudice and the danger of England's interests in her 
 Asiatic dominions? In short, how much peace in the Par East 
 and in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, covering almost half of the 
 entire globe, preserved and the interests of the Allies therein safe- 
 guarded during the whole period of the war? During those dark 
 days of that titanic struggle, Japan's Allies took full cognizance 
 of these facts and were not slow to give due recognition to Japan 
 for her efforts, and in recognition of these war efforts of Japan, 
 the Allies gave her the Shantung award. 
 
 The world is short of memory of the past. It is already be- 
 ginning to forget the great sacrifices and efforts of the Allied 
 Powers and their concerted action that has brought the Berlin war 
 lords to their knees. Endeavors are already being made today 
 to minimize the efforts of the Allies and to undo by pen and 
 tongue, by intrigue and slander, that which was accomplished at 
 the expenditure of blood and life-energy. No self-respecting na- 
 tion would want to brag of its performances in that world-wide 
 struggle. 
 
 Gentlemen, it is often asserted that the Shantung settlement 
 is the despoliation, is the robbery of China. Let us see. Nothing 
 would prove more enlightening on this subject than to compare 
 the Shantung settlement with the terms of the Portsmouth Treaty, 
 which brought the Russo-Japanese war to a conclusion. The 
 Portsmouth Treaty, as you are aware, which was negotiated and 
 concluded through the good offices of President Roosevelt, trans- 
 ferred to Japan the entire Russian leasehold of the Kwantung 
 territory, wherein Port Arthur is located, gave to Japan the whole 
 control and management of the South Manchurian Railway, and 
 certain mines along the road, together with all the rights and 
 privileges appertaining thereto, and, further, the right to station 
 Japanese troops along the road to guard the line. These were the 
 important terms of the Portsmouth Treaty. These propositions 
 were accepted at that time without much ado. Not a voice of 
 protest, if I remember correctly, was raised in America against the 
 Portsmouth Treaty. It is, therefore, passing strange to me that 
 the critics who were silent on that occasion have been raising 
 such a storm of protest against the Shantung settlement. "What 
 
terms are there, then, in the Shantung decision of the Paris Con- 
 ference that would warrant their change of front? 
 
 By the Shantung adjustment, (that is to say by the Shantung 
 clause of the Versailles Treaty, and in observance of the China- 
 Japan agreements of 1915 and 1918 and the assurances given by 
 Japan's peace envoys to President Wilson and Premiers Lloyd 
 George and Clemenceau, re-enforced by the repeated declarations 
 of the Japanese Government relative to the Shantung disposition) 
 the following essentials are to be undertaken: The Kiaochow 
 leasehold is to be given up by Japan to China. The Tsingtao- 
 Tsinanfu Railroad, which runs through the Shantung Province 
 for about two hundred and forty miles, is to be brought under the 
 joint management of China and Japan, the road to be policed by 
 the Chinese police instead of by Japanese troops. The traces of 
 military occupation which you will see now in Shantung are to 
 be completely wiped out by the withdrawal of Japanese troops, 
 and the sovereignty of the Province of Shantung, which was over- 
 ridden hy Germany, to be restored to China. All that Japan ob- 
 tains are the economic and industrial rights and concessions which 
 Germany had secured in the Province of Shantung, rights and con- 
 cessions similar to those rights and concessions enjoyed by other 
 powers in other parts of China, together with the establishment 
 of a settlement at Tsingao, similar to the foreign settlements found 
 at Shanghai, Tientsin and Hankow. 
 
 The Shantung settlement, then, gentlemen, instead of im- 
 pairing the territorial integrity or independence of China, rather 
 serves to restore her sovereignty in the Province of Shantung, 
 which was infringed upon by Germany by the Treaty of 1898. 
 Such being the actual outcome, I am at a loss to understand the 
 ground of the abuses and slanders that have been heaped upon 
 the Japanese nation on account of the Shantung disposition. To 
 restore the sovereignty of the Province of Shantung to its owner, 
 is that what you call "Japan's rape of China?" To co-operate 
 with China in the development of the resources of her potentially 
 rich Province of Shantung, which if left to the Chinese alone 
 would long remain a hidden treasure, is this what you call an "act 
 of burglary?" To contribute to the education, sanitation and 
 physical well-being of the inhabitants of Shantung, as Japan will 
 doubtless strive to do along the railroad in whose management 
 she has her share, is this what you call "the enslaving of thirty- 
 six million inhabitants of Shantung?" Don't understand that 
 Japan is going to get any bit of territory in Shantung, or that she 
 is going to enslave the inhabitants of Shantung. Were these acts 
 to be properly styled "rape," "burglary," and "enslavement," 
 we would ask for the immediate and thorough revision of Anglo- 
 American dictionaries to prevent our disastrous blunders in un- 
 derstanding the English language. 
 
 Now, you might say that I am defending Japan in rather good 
 form, but let us go further. Japan is often denounced as har- 
 
boring a vast imperialistic aim, or ambition or scheme — whatever 
 you may call it. It is asserted that within a few decades Japan has 
 acquired Formosa, annexed Korea, gained virtual control over 
 Manchuria and Mongolia, and is about to grab Shantung, whereby, 
 as if with two pincers formed by Mukden and Tsinan, Japan can 
 place Peking under her sway and thus dominate China, if not the 
 Far East. "We should be ill-advised indeed to jump to such a 
 sweeping conclusion. If you will permit me to speak very frankly 
 and by way of illustration, do you call that nation which, begin- 
 ning with thirteen states, and occupying a comparatively small 
 territory along the Atlantic seaboard and along the Great Lakes, 
 spread itself with the progress of the sun across half of this con- 
 tinent, wrested a large strip of land from Mexico, annexed Hawaii, 
 acquired the Philippines, gained control over Cuba and Porto 
 Rico, and may perhaps act as a mandatory over a large portion of 
 the Turkish Empire, do you call that nation actuated and moved 
 by imperialistic aim? You shake your head. To blame Japan 
 for her annexation of Korea and for the strengthening of the 
 position which she had gained on the Asiatic mainland at an 
 enormous sacrifice of blood and treasure, is to forget the history 
 of her struggle for independence as well as the situation ruling 
 among her neighbors in the past few decades. Let me dwell upon 
 it for a moment. 
 
 In the first place, take the position of Japan. Circumscribed 
 within a narrowly limited area, with scanty resources, and crowded 
 with two-thirds of the entire population of the United States, 
 Japan's problem of national existence is not an easy one. Modern 
 Japan, since her renaissance, half a century ago, has had a hard, 
 up-hill struggle to reach her maturity and her present status. 
 Under the circumstances, constant vigilance, careful husbanding 
 of her resources and wise safeguarding of the fruits of whatever 
 efforts she makes, are essential to the maintenance of her national 
 existence as well as of the position she has already gained. Such 
 a nation, however idealistic and altruistic at heart, cannot always 
 spend its energies for altruistic purposes alone and neglect to take 
 every precautionary step necessary to ensure its independence. 
 The policy of self-preservation, gentlemen, and of assuring the 
 position she has attained, this is the policy Japan is given to 
 pursue. 
 
 Every experience which Japan has gained is a priceless lesson 
 to her. You will remember that in 1895 Japan tasted the bitter 
 cup of being deprived of the best fruits of her victory in the 
 costly war with China, through the machinations of certain Eu- 
 ropean powers, and not long after of witnessing those fruits slip- 
 ping out of China's hands and falling into the hands of certain 
 European powers. Is it then difficult for us to understand that 
 in order to forestall the repetition of such a bitter experience, 
 Japan felt it necessary to assure herself of the support by her 
 Allies of her claims at the Peace Table where the world settlement 
 
was to be made after the great war? This will explain to you 
 the agreements entered into between Japan on the one hand in 
 1917, and Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia on the other, 
 as well as the China-Japan agreements of 1915 and 1918. These 
 agreements are the basis of the Shantung clause of the Versailles 
 Treaty; the terms specified in the one are substantially the same 
 as those defined in the other. So long, therefore, as these treaties 
 stand, so long will the Shantung clause of the Versailles Treaty 
 stand. The Chinese advocates are therefore consistent, at least, 
 when, in trying to annul the Shantung decision, they advocate 
 the abrogation of the China-Japan Treaty of 1915. This, how- 
 ever, is out of the question. Great Britain, France and Italy stand 
 upon their honor to uphold the Treaty of 1917, nor will Japan 
 ever consent to be a party to the abrogation of the Treaty of 1915. 
 Moreover, for China to adopt such a grave course, she must be 
 prepared to turn into scraps of paper many other treaties which 
 she has contracted with other foreign powers. No statesmen, I 
 presume, will subscribe to such a program of upsetting the inter- 
 national order now maintained in China and of repeating in that 
 country the chaos and anarchy of the Bolsheviki Russia. 
 
 Turning now to China, it is rather an unpleasant task to 
 point out the weakness and ineptitude of one's neighbor, but the 
 ordeal must be faced in order to elucidate the actual situation in 
 China. Let us glance at this picture. No sooner than the China- 
 Japan War of 1894-5 suddenly disclosed to the world the utter 
 impotence of China, the European nations rushed to the seeming 
 death-bed of "the sick man of the Far East," in order to inherit 
 his rich possessions. Germany was one of them, establishing in 
 1897 a foothold at Kiaochow. To counter-balance this diplomatic 
 move of Germany, so it was said, Russia hoisted her flag over the 
 fortress of Port Arthur, England got Wei-hei-wei, France acquired 
 Kwang-Chow-Wan. "With the establishment of these strongholds, 
 there soon followed the demarcation of vast areas of China as 
 "spheres of influence" for European powers, together with which 
 came the scramble for railroad and economic concessions to be 
 wrung from China. Details of these transactions need not be 
 dwelt upon. I make this cursory survey in order to impress upon 
 you the importance of the historical background, of the knowledge 
 of the historical background, for the discussion of this subject of 
 Shantung. 
 
 It is well to remember that the German-China Treaty of 1898, 
 which brought to Germany the Kiaochow leasehold, was in oper- 
 ation during sixteen years, until the time that Japan wrested it 
 from Germany in 1914. During that period not a voice was ever 
 raised in protest either by the Chinese or by other nationals, in- 
 cluding the United States, against the German leasehold of Kiao- 
 chow or Germany's activities in Shantung. Neither Confucius nor 
 Mencius was appealed to to rise from his grave and protest against 
 the so-called desecration of their Holy Land. For all practical 
 
 8 
 
purposes Kiaochow was German territory, and at the outbreak 
 of the war it was used as the base of military and naval operations 
 against the Allies. The Tsingtao-Tsinanfu Railroad was used to 
 transport the German troops and their war supplies. It was this 
 enemy territory and property that Japan wrested from Germany 
 in 1914. 
 
 It is often asserted that the declaration of war by China 
 against Germany in 1917 had the effect of abrogating the German- 
 China Treaty of 1898, and restoring to China all rights which 
 she had granted to Germany. This contention would doubtless 
 be upheld by international law, had not Japan three years before 
 China entered the war, that is to say, while China was a neutral, 
 wrested by force of arms these territories and property from 
 Germany. It is therefore by the right of conquest that Japan 
 holds these German properties. And so long as she is able to hold 
 it against the attempt of Germany to recover it, she will hold it, 
 or she will dispose of it at her will. No emphasis is too strong 
 to say that what Japan got was not Chinese territory or Chinese 
 property, but was Germany's. 
 
 But, Japan is going to restore Kiaochow. You may ask 
 when? I believe within two years or less, that is, if China comes 
 to negotiate. 
 
 Now, my friends, let us come to the heart of the question, and 
 I will soon be through. Whether foreign leaseholds, settlements 
 and concessions in China now existing, together with railroads 
 operated under foreign management, should or should not be toler- 
 ated, this is a question of the highest importance, demanding the 
 most careful consideration of the world leaders. The fundamental 
 principle involved in this Shantung question is nothing but the 
 question whether or not this state of affairs should be tolerated, 
 and equity demands, it seems to me, the solution of the question 
 in one way or the other. You will remember that the establish- 
 ment of these foreign settlements in China was the result of the 
 policy of seclusion, which China has so long pursued. These set- 
 tlements are at the present day the only avenues through which 
 foreign commerce flows and where foreign merchants can transact 
 their business. If we are going to abolish foreign settlements, 
 the alternative would be to open up the whole country, or for 
 China to revert to her old regime of a hermit nation. Now, that 
 will bring up the vast problem of China's reconstruction, and to- 
 gether with it will arise such weighty questions as the abolition 
 of extra-territorial jurisdiction and the recovery of tariff autonomy 
 and other no less weighty questions. These are irrelevant to the 
 question under discussion so I shall not dwell upon them. 
 
 But you know the question of China's reconstruction is not 
 a problem that you can settle before breakfast. Today there are 
 several leaseholds maintained by several foreign powers in China. 
 China in the past, for one reason or another, granted to other 
 
powers various industrial and economic rights and concessions, 
 and there are today thousands of miles of railroad run under 
 foreign management. I ask you therefore, whether it is fair to 
 single out Japan and make her the sole target of attack? Japan 
 among all nations has an unimpeachable right to safeguard her 
 rights and interests in China, because of the propinquity of her 
 territory to that of China, if any nation is permitted- to retain 
 its vested interests at all. 
 
 I daresay that Japan will follow the suit of other powers, if 
 they decide to give up the leaseholds and settlements they have 
 in China and to return the rights and concessions they have 
 wrung from China and withdraw their troops now quartered at 
 Peking, Tientsin, and other places, and, further, if China suf- 
 ficiently demonstrates her capacity to stand up and defend her- 
 self by her own arms, instead of shifting the burden upon Japan 
 to stand in the Far East as a bulwark against European aggres- 
 sion. Then Japan is safe, China free, and she will have attained 
 all that she is clamoring for today. Would that China adopt this 
 manly course of striving to stand upon her own feet by her own 
 exertions! To my deep regret that is not the case. She is today 
 playing the old game of playing off one power against another. 
 Among the five great powers, the United States is the only dis- 
 interested nation, free from the web which history has woven. 
 This, if I am not mistaken, is the reason why China today, backed 
 by scores of foreign advisers, is moving heaven and earth to per- 
 suade America to come to her own views, and is putting to a test 
 the talent for intrigue and persuasion, which she has inherited 
 through centuries, against hard realities. I am, however, inclined 
 to think that the American people, who, however idealistic, how- 
 ever altruistic, hold as their first principle the doctrines of inde- 
 pendence and "self-help," will first see, before they take upon 
 themselves the burden of China, what China has done herself to 
 help herself. The history of the past few decades is a sad com- 
 mentary upon China's lack of self-help. Indeed the genius of in- 
 trigue and wrangling with which the Chinese are so strikingly 
 endowed, is rending the country into factions and leading it to 
 disintegration and disaster. 
 
 Such being the situation, is it not most urgent for our neigh- 
 bors across the Yellow Sea to compose their factional quarrels, to 
 put their house in order,, and to exert themselves to uplift their 
 country, so that their goal of the final abolition of foreign settle- 
 ments and of the system of extra-territoriality, and the recovery 
 of tariff autonomy may successfully be attained? China's salva- 
 tion lies in her own self and possibly in the League of Nations. 
 But suppose the League of Nations is paralyzed or weakened by 
 the non-participation or half-hearted participation of the United 
 States, or its smooth working be obstructed by groundless sus- 
 picion and fear among its members, why, China's salvation will 
 be far, far away. 
 
 10 
 
And finally, I beg your permission to say one word about the 
 relations between America and Japan. I am confident, members 
 of the Chamber of Commerce, I am supremely confident that the 
 cordial relations that have been maintained heretofore between 
 your country and mine will be continued, continually maintained. 
 Speeches might be made on the floor of the Senate or elsewhere, 
 denouncing Japan as worse than the Satan of Milton's creation; 
 intrigues might be attempted to embroil the United States in trou- 
 ble with Japan, but I am sure that these labors will come to 
 nought. Why? Because the interests and forces, inherent and 
 dynamic, which bind the two great nations on the opposite shores 
 of the Pacific, are so manifest that no amount of scheming could 
 alienate their friendship. These forces, these interests, cannot, of 
 course, be estimated in terms of dollars and cents. But to give 
 you one illustration, your trade with Japan during the last fiscal 
 year amounted to over $630,000,000, which formed forty-four per 
 cent, of the entire American-Asiatic trade, and was more than 
 double America's trade with China, which has a population five 
 times larger than that of Japan. 
 
 Notwithstanding this bond of amity, however, my friends, 
 I cannot shut my eyes to the dangers involved in the present sit- 
 uation. I am afraid there may be a temporary lapse of mutual 
 good feeling between America and Japan, with no slight conse- 
 quences upon the Chinese-Japanese relations, if the present cam- 
 paign of slander, abuse and misrepresentation of Japan is left 
 unbridled, for it is bound to poison the minds of the American 
 people, and also to react on the opposite shore of the Pacific. I, 
 therefore, beg your leave to appeal most earnestly and sincerely 
 to the statesmen and leaders of public opinion in this country to 
 vivify and strengthen those forces and those interests that make 
 for peace, and thus paralyze the evil elements that act to bring 
 discord. 
 
 11 
 

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