OCR Text |
Show THE CRISIS IN CHINA, , BY HON. JOHN BARRETT. 1 America has everything to lose and nothing to gain by tha',l5reak-up of China. Morally and materially we must ! stand for the integrity of the empire, says the late minister to Siam in a recent interview with the Independent; Cathay affords the United States the i greatest undeveloped field of moral ef- j fort and material development beyond our own immediate shores. As long as i China shall remain intact, our mission- h aries and our merchants will have y equal rights with the representatives of y other nations throughout her entire l area from Pekin to Canton, and from the China Sea to the foothills of the Himalayas. If China is parceled out among the powers of Europe, Ameri- cans w!H everywhere be confronted . with different civil laws and different customs duties. . I With China undivided 400,000,000 of I people await our best endeavors at educational advancement, and 4,000,000 of square miles our mightiest undertakings under-takings at legitimate exploitation, that will bring about a new era of civilization civiliza-tion and industrial progress which will not only benefit us, but all the world. With China partitioned we shall everywhere every-where be limited and handicapped by the predominating local influence of vvhatever European nation exercises sovereignty. In short, if America insists upon maintaining the integrity of China, we will be in the impregnable position to direct these uncounted millions of Asiatics and improve these vast resources re-sources for our and their advantage and welfare. But if the break-up comes the nations of Europe will be in an unassailable position to control the peoples, peo-ples, politics, and commerce ot the Orient to Europe's, advantage and betterment, bet-terment, and to our immeasurable detriment. det-riment. We must" not forget this. If. moreover, America leads the way in the present crisis, and, in the end, .says China must not be divided, we shall have the undying gratitude of the Chinese statesmen and people. This will he! us in our future efforts to build up trade and spread Christianity. vv e are a iurisuan hs wen as a. commercial com-mercial power, and hence have moral . as well as .material obligations wherever wher-ever American influence reaches. Then, as we are undoubtedly in the Philippines Philip-pines to remain, and stand forever as the ieadins power of the Pacific, we cannot, permit the limitless Chinese field, which is a fitting complement to our new possessions in the Pa-cific, to be- lost to us forever, as will be the case, if we hesitate in the present crisis. We want no part of Chinese' territory. terri-tory. . We are simply landing men to protect the lives, property and rights of Americans now endangered. We must use our forces and our influence to restore order and reorganize the government. gov-ernment. -AVe cgn ask a legitimate "in-' "in-' deuinity, j?utthen ,ve must halt, and. by exarnsle and- moral suasion, strive" to preserve and renew the fabric' of Asia's oldest and largest e xisting independent inde-pendent nation. Already in trade our interests rank next to those of Great Britain and Japan, and they have increased more rapidly in the last ten years than those of any other nation. In lives and property prop-erty we have more at stake than any other individual power except the two i named. If China maintains her inde-! inde-! pendence through our support, the " United States, in another decade, will have greater material and moral influence in-fluence than all other nations combined. |