FROM DECEMBER IS TO JANUARY 15
PEACE TREATY GOES INTO EFFECT
Ratification Exchanged.—At 4 P- m. on January 10 representatives of the fourteen powers who had ratified the Peace Treaty met at Versailles and by exchange of ratifications and signature of the protocol of Nov. 1 put the Treaty into effect. The thirteen Allied nations who had then ratified the Treaty were France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Poland, Siam, Czechoslovakia, and Uruguay. The United States not having ratified the Treaty, the State Department issued a notice that the conditions of the armistice still applied between Germany and the United States.
The ratification of the Treaty made possible immediate steps for execution of its terms, including the return of German prisoners of war, the meeting of boundary and other commissions, the holding of plebiscites in upper Silesia and other regions, and the resumption of diplomatic relation with Germany.
Settlement of Scapa Flow Damages—The signing of the final protocol which held up execution of the Treaty was made possible by the written promise of the Allies to reduce the amount of material demanded in reparation for the sinking of German ships at Scapa Flow, provided Germany proved that the Allies’ estimate of her floating materials was excessive. A note from the Supreme Council to Germany on December 23 insisted on the surrender of maritime equipment by Germany in payment for the fleet, but added that the Allies would take into account Germany’s basic needs. It insisted further that the protocol should be signed at once, leaving details for later settlement.
United States Senate Delays Acceptance.—Following the putting into effect of the Treaty by other powers on January 10, efforts were increased by both Republican and Democratic Senators to reach a compromise resolution of ratification which would make possible the approval of the Treaty by the United States Senate and which would be accepted by the President. In a letter read at the Jackson Day dinner on January 8, President Wilson expressed his views on ratification as follows.
I have endeavored to make it plain that if the Senate wishes to say what the undoubted meaning of the League is I shall have no objection.
There can be no reasonable objection to interpretations accompanying the act of ratification itself. But when the Treaty is acted upon, I must know whether it means that we have ratified or rejected it.
We cannot rewrite this Treaty. We must take it without changes which alter its meaning, or leave it, and then after the rest of the world has signed it, we must face the unthinkable task of making another and separate treaty with Germany.
But no more mere assertions with regard to the wish and opinion of the country are credited. If there is any doubt as to what the people of the country think on this vital matter, the clear and single way out is to submit it for determination at the next election to the voters of the nation, to give the next election the form of a great and solemn referendum, a referendum as to the part the United States is to play in completing the settlements of the war and in the prevention in the future of such outrages as Germany attempted to perpetrate.
We have no more moral right to refuse now to take part in the execution and administration of these settlements than we had to refuse to take part in the fighting of the last few weeks of the war which brought victory and made it possible to dictate to Germany what the settlements should be. Our fidelity to our associates in the war is in question and the whole future of mankind. It will be heartening to the whole world to know the attitude and purpose of the people of the United States.
France Dissatisfied with Shipping Settlement.—In a letter to Premier Clemenceau from the French Minister of Transport, published in December, dissatisfaction was expressed with the agreement of last May by which German ships were to be apportioned among the Allies according to the ratio of losses, Italy, it was stated, was to receive full compensation for all her ships lost, and France should demand the same, which would give her 910,000 tons instead of 250,000 tons on the basis of the agreement.
First Session of League of Nations Council.—On January 10 President Wilson, as provided by the Peace Treaty, issued notification’ of the first meeting of the Council of the League of Nations, to be held at Paris on January 16.
AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY
Treaty Terms Received by Hungary.—On January 7 a Hungarian delegation headed by Count Apponyi and including 64 assistants arrived in Pans to receive the Hungarian Treaty. It was stated that the delivery of the terms would occur before the end of the following week.
Austria’s Needs.—At a meeting of the Supreme Council on December 17 it was decided that $70,000,000 in monthly installments of $9,500,000 would be required for relief of Austria. In testimony before a Congressional Committee in January 12, Mr. Herbert Hoover declared that an advance of $100,000,000 credits by the United States would be sufficient for European food supply until the next harvest. He stated further that if Austria were to be made a “perpetual poorhouse,” contrary to the wishes of the United States, then the powers responsible should take in hand her relief.
ITALY
Settlement of Fiume Question.—Discussion of the Adriatic question was renewed in Paris during the visit of the Italian Premier Nitti and Foreign Minister Scialovia for the exchange of ratifications, Nitti having promised not to return to Italy without a solution. The memorandum handed to Italy by France, Great Britain, and the United States at the London Conference in December was made public on January 8. It opened the way for further discussion, advocating complete Italian sovereignty over Avlona and its hinterland and the islands of Pelagossa, Lissa, and Tussin; an Italian mandate over Albania; Fiume to be a free city under the protection of the League of Nations; and no grant of territory to connect it with Italy.
Paris, Jan. 13.—The announcement of an Adriatic agreement by the three Premiers is expected to-morrow or Thursday. It is understood that this plan will make a free city of Fiume, placing it on much the same footing as Danzig and will give to the Jugoslavs a strip running between Fiume and Trieste, the latter of which will be Italian.
It is understood further that it provides for the division of Adriatic Islands between Italy and Jugoslavia. In return for concessions Italy would get a mandate over Albania.
Minor geographical adjustments are now in progress, and in addition the Premiers are hearing the claims of the Greeks, who now desire to get some share in the Adriatic division.
The Jugoslavs are pleased this afternoon, and the Italians express disgust, saying that it seems that they are about “to be forced to accept the Jugoslav plan.” They declare it will mean the fall of the Nitti Government, but that Italy will have to agree, to any settlement reached this week.—N. Y. Times, 14/1.
Proposed Alliance with France and Britain.—Milan, Jan. 11.— According to a communication published here tonight an invitation to Italy to participate in the peace alliance with Great Britain and France suggests not only the conclusion of reciprocal military and naval agreements between the three countries in the event of armed aggression, but also a definite reshaping of Italian policy on lines affecting the common interests of the three great Western powers.
The acceptance of such a proposal would involve also a formal pledge from Italy that she will persevere steadfastly in her after-war political tendencies by more effective co-operation in the solution of national questions, colonial problems and economic difficulties.
GREAT BRITAIN
Proposals for Ireland.—In the House of Commons on December 22 Premier Lloyd George outlined the government’s plan for Ireland, stating that two parliaments would be created, one for the North and one for the South. No coercion, he said, would be applied to Ulster to force her into union with the rest of Ireland.
Sein Fein Violence.—The motor car of Lord French, Viceroy of Ireland, was ambushed near Dublin on December 19, and attacked by a bomb and a fusilade of shots. None of the Viceroy’s party was injured, but the bomb thrower was shot and captured.
On December 28 a second attack occurred on the guard of the Viceroyal Lodge in Dublin. The leader of the guard and one of the intruders were killed.
RUSSIA AND BORDER STATES
Truce between Esthonia and Russia.—On December 31 a preliminary armistice was signed at Dorpat between Esthonia and Soviet Russia stipulating immediate cessation of hostilities and negotiations for a preliminary peace. The terms recognized the full independence of Esthonia.
New European Republics.—The Eastern Europe Review gives the names and population figures of ten new Eastern republics as follows:
Esthonia—47,500 sq. kilometers, 1,750,000 inhabitants, 93 per cent Esthonians.
Latvia—64,196 sq. kilometers, 2,552,000 inhabitants, 72 per cent Letts.
Lithuania—125,000 sq. kilometers, 6,000,000 inhabitants.
White Russia—300,000 sq. kilometers, 14,075,000 inhabitants, 70 per cent White Russians.
Ukraine—800,000 sq. kilometers, 45,000,000 inhabitants, 72 per cent Ukrainians.
Kouban—85,000 sq. miles, 3,500,000 inhabitants.
North Caucasia—150,000 sq. kilometers, 4,300,000 inhabitants.
Azerbaidjan—100,000 sq. kilometers, 4,500,000 inhabitants, 75 per cent Turko-Tartars.
Georgia—90,000 sq. kilometers, 3,000,000 inhabitants, 75 per cent Georgians.
Armenia—320,000 sq. kilometers, 4,000,000 inhabitants, 75 per cent Armenians.—Times Current History, January.
Poland’s New Ministry.—The new premier of Poland, M. Skulski, following the resignation of the Paderewski Cabinet, formed a coalition ministry supported by the Peasant and other parties except the extreme Socialists. In a statement to the press on December 28, the new Foreign Minister, M. Patek, declared that he knew for a certainty that the Bo'l- shevike would open a big offensive against Poland in the spring. M. Patek was then in Paris to seek financial aid for the support of the Polish military forces.
FAR EAST
American Forces to Quit Siberia.—On January 12 it was announced by Secretary Lansing that all American troops would be withdrawn from Siberia by the middle of March, or as soon as the removal of the Czechoslovak contingents and the Stevens Railway Mission could be accomplished. The United States was requested by Czechoslovakia to undertake the transport of 32,000 of the 50,000 Czechs in Siberia, and Great Britain the remainder, which include some Poles, Jugoslavs, and Rumanians. These will be taken to Trieste via either Suez or Panama. There are approximately 9000 American regulars now in Siberia.
Japan to Oppose Reds in Siberia.—In a statement to the press on December 23 Premier Kei Hara of Japan declared that “ While Japan hopes to harmonize her military action in Siberia with that of America and to square it with the general anti-Bolshevist policy, under no circumstances can she permit the Red influence, as long as it remains dangerous, to touch her borders.” This was taken as indicating Japan’s fixed determination to fight the Reds in Siberia. “Japan,” the Premier further declared, “ has absolutely no territorial ambitions in Siberia, will not take a square foot of territory, and the minute the Red menace is settled will withdraw every soldier.” The Premier also stated that “ The minute peace is signed Japan will take up the matter of a full return of all territory in China. Japan absolutely pledges to give up all territory and to take out all her troops. She will retain only her purely commercial interests and concessions which belonged to Germany.”
Renewal of Anglo-Japanese Alliance in Doubt.—Renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which expires next year, is now under discussion in Japan. It is pointed out that conditions have changed by the weakening of Germany, and that Great Britain can now maintain an ample naval force to protect her interests in the Pacific. Continuation of the alliance is nevertheless strongly advocated.
Japan’s Chinese Policy.— (Extracts from article by Putnam Weal, in January Current History.)
Given a true open door and true equal opportunity, the Japanese know that three things must infallibly occur in China before many years have passed: First, that Western nations will supply capital and equipment at a far more rapid speed than Japan can do, and therefore will outstrip her; secondly, that the effect of this will be that in open competition, with their superior banking and industrial facilities and their abundant supplies of raw materials, Western nations will command the market with better and, relatively speaking, cheaper goods; third, and most important, that the Chinese, being apt pupils and good workers by hand and by machine, and very excellent accumulators of wealth, will in the end acquire by purchase all established Western interests, the net effect at the end of the present generation—say by 1940—being that China, with her teeming population, which is now increasing at the rate of 38,000,000 every decennium, will be the dominating power in Eastern Asia—commercially, economically, politically.
This is the secret of Korea, Manchuria, and Shantung. The whole policy of Japan since 1905 and the Russian war has been a last desperate mistaken attempt to be saved, as she thinks, from being cast back into the sea by climbing on China’s back and holding on there like grim death. Every move made by her during the world war to prevent China from participating in the struggle has been dictated by this policy; for that Japan is destined to fall back in the international race and resume the position she occupied prior to 1894 is certain unless there are great revolutionary changes in her constitutional structure and a complete destruction of her militarism.
There is a last point, which has some significance—the implication that since Japan is excluded from directing her emigration to the white man’s lands she must have a quid pro quo.
This statement is as misleading as the rest, for the assumption is that her population must overflow in some direction. The plain fact is that in fifteen years she has sent less than 350,000 emigrants to Korea and that in other eastern regions, notably Formosa, Japanese appear to be actually decreasing. Why is this? Because it is the presence of the white man, the development work he has put in, and the great markets and high wages in his countries, which are attractive to the Japanese—not the land as land. That is to say, if California and Australia were to-day totally uninhabited, no Japanese of any sort would ever think of going to them. It is the white man and his wealth that form the attraction. This magnet has nothing to do with the over-spill of Japanese population, which is still far less dense than in many industrialized regions of Europe. That the Japanese as a man is congenitally disinclined to go abroad is proved by the embittering experience of the colonization companies in Brazil and other South American countries.
Finally, China is changing, not fast but slow and surely. Her commerce and industries are creeping up; her education is improving; the student classes are influencing public opinion more and more; her communications are on the eve of a vast development. This year her commerce will exceed $2,000,000,000 for the first time in her history. She has now fifty complete cotton mills on order, and when these are added to the seventy already working a chain of mills from Tientsin to Shanghai will be throbbing with life, and the cotton industry will be well established in the cotton-growing areas.
_ China’s political reorganization depends upon her industrial awakening; it is the growth of the coal and iron trade, now commencing on a heavy scale, and the building of railways and hard-surface roads which will insure her stability and her peace, much more than making of paper constitutions or agreements between political leaders. It has been industrial backwardness, the absence of modern communications, and the non-development of a modern credit system coupled with the double-dealing of Japan which have led to “ civil wars ’’—really armed provincial rioting.
TURKEY
Turkey May Stay in Constantinople.—Paris, Jan. 12.—It has been already decided that the Turks will be left in Constantinople, probably with full sovereignty, but after important concessions have been made in the way of administrative reforms, according to the opinion of persons in close touch with the conference now in session here.
Premiers Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and Nitti met again to-day in continuance of their conference on both the Adriatic and Turkish questions, and the letter is supposed to have been uppermost in their deliberations of this morning.
The situation in the Mussulman world has been strongly represented as requiring moderation in dealing with Oriental questions. One result appears to have been a curious shifting of positions by France and Great Britain. The French originally were represented as desiring to maintain the Turks in Constantinople, but afterward came around to the British view in favor of their complete expulsion. As the result of representations by Edwin S. Montagu, the Secretary for India, however, the British are said in turn to have shifted their position and now hold the view originally taken by the French.
Greece, while preferring to see the Turks entirely ousted from Europe, appears to be concentrating her efforts to secure Eastern Thrace as far as the Enos-Midia line.—N. Y. Times, 13/1.
MEXICO
Mexico’s Last Note in Jenkins Case.—Another Mexican note on the Jenkins case was submitted on December 16, ending as follows:
“The Mexican Government cannot admit that American citizens can be judged and set free on simple information of the Department of State nor recommendations or suggestions of the United States instead of being tried by its courts conforming to Mexican laws.
“Now that Jenkins has been freed by the Judge of the State of Puebla the case is being studied in the highest court of the Republic to decide which judge is competent to try the case. The Government of Mexico expects that the case will not disturb the harmony which it sincerely desires to exist, between Mexico and the United States.”
Mexican Elections.—In the presidential campaigns in Mexico President Carranza has given his support to Senor Bonillas, the Mexican Ambassador to the United States, who stands on a liberal platform advocating “ the development of the resources and wealth of the country in conformity with the ideas and the ideals of the Carranza revolution.” Upon President Carranza’s refusal to accept General Abregon’s resignation from the army in order to become a candidate, the latter threatened insurrection.
Report of Arms from Japan.—On January 12 a despatch from San Antonio stated that Washington officials had received a report of the arrival of a Japanese vessel at Manzanillo, on the Pacific coast, with a cargo of arms and munition for Mexico. The vessel, it was stated, was accompanied by the Japanese cruiser Yakimo, whose officers were later received in Mexico City. The arms are said to have been purchased in Japan by Col. Emilio Cirolos and Manuel Romero, formerly Mexican Minister at Tokio. U. S. War Department officials confirmed the imputation of munitions, but stated that the visit of the cruiser was not connected with it.