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Show PROBLEMS OF r : ifORNU, is EBBS' TOPIS Writer Finds San Francisco Is Wrestling With Narcotic Traffic B SIR PHILIP GIBBS. SAN FRANCISCO March 11. In Sun Francisco, looking ..ut for tho first time on the great waters of the I Pacific beyond 'he sunlit highway of the Golden C."'. I understood more cleurly than before the enormous Interest In-terest of the American people of the w-est In the political future qf China j and Japan. In the east ot the United i States, us in Great Britain Lhe'prob-llems Lhe'prob-llems of the Pacific, the possible inen- ' i ot Japan, me evolution of Chlm:. seem r.ither remote In their interest land to have no immediate bearing up-I up-I on one's own daily life and buslnefl concerns. The discussion seems only of academic importance ilke theories of men who look far into the future land estimate the peril of tne rising I tide of color or the possibility r rac-; rac-; ial revolution. But here in San Krnn- ci Co, tnc "it. -way to the Orient, men and women of American civilization find themselves being Jostled in their own streets h Oriental competition, are aware of Oriental tyjies and cus-toihs cus-toihs and Industrial activity, and sec-fi sec-fi vlcis of jfiastern life, creeping Into !th ir midst, stretching qui tentacles I to get u grip on their aoil; taking pos- si : ion of bousea and farms and ;treeth. Tiie peaceful penetration of i Japan, the danger of Chinese immigration, immi-gration, the Increasing pressure of the East upon the West, is no matter of mere visions talk among people of allfornlri who find oriental labor un-Idercutting un-Idercutting their own Industry, and buying up farms and orange groves, si RPRISESD i . PASSION I was surprised by the ex. Ited way . tho passion even, with which American Am-erican business men discussed the i Washington conference and Its results, las I listened to them In the smoking cars of trains between Seattle and Sun Francisco, or In the bedroom of. my hotel, where a little group gath-I ered one evening to "put me wise." I The general foellnp seemed to bo thn. the Washington conference has only postponed Tor a time an InevltatM e I . uiifllet between Japan and tlu- I'nll-eil I'nll-eil State-., and ban indeed MVSOlfd In a blinding way the absolute resolution of Japan to obtain a stronghold on China and to dominate the future of i the Pacific. Other men with whom i talked did not agree with that conclusion, con-clusion, put believed In the common sense of Japan In the business sanity san-ity of the Japanese people who know-that know-that a war between themselves and' the (Jolted States would end in economic eco-nomic ruin, however long It lasted, and whatever Initial success might be gained by their nivj That waa the view of a thoughtful nnd cheery fellow fel-low who took ma for a spin in his little "fiiwer" through Golden Gats park, ahing the Presidio, and to the edge of the frrrat sea, ciorlous In sunshine which seemed like n blessed miracle to me after tho frozen snows of Calgary Cal-gary and Edmonton Every now and then he stopped hi machine so thai I might get OUl and admire the view. Which I did with a sense of ecstasy because of thot sunshine and that beauty, but always at such moments he continued his argument about the ( onUnuod .hi Page Two) 1 PROBLEMS OF ! CALIFORNIA, IS GIBBS' TOPIC Writer Shows How San Francisco is Interested In Pacific Problem Continued from Pago One.) relations between Japan and the United States. "Looking at the matter In a coldblooded cold-blooded way," he said during one of theo halts, "It would have been a good thing for the states, and especially espec-ially for tho Old World. If wo had declared war against Japan oon after af-ter the armlstho. It would have rc-adjuated rc-adjuated the present economic chaos. We should have spent billions of dollars dol-lars In foreign markets anil wiped out the international debts, so that the European nations would recover and America could regain her customers." I told him that as a man pledged to work for International peace I could not accept the idea of a bloody war as the best means of scouring the economic ec-onomic recovery of the world, and he grinned and said, "I'm only talking t heoretlca lly." He made a sweeping gesture towards to-wards the coast line, th" rocky coast of California, with Its green slopes and little coves where white-capped waves WerS playing then to the range of mountains stietchlng away and away to distant dream-like peaks. ot Ll HI QUEER W ML War with Japan!" he said "A Queer kind of war anyhow. They ould never mako a landing here. How could troops thousands oi miles from their base march through mountains like that? How could a Japanese fleet operate In the Pacific as long as we held Dutch Harbor? They might tako the Philippines probably would for a time, and there would bo an awful squeal in the L'ntted States. But it would b B long war, with aeroplanes aer-oplanes and submarines doing Individual Individ-ual heroic stunts to keep up the prestige pres-tige of the American people. In the end the .laps woull be down und out utterly ruined." " 'I hope to God It never happens!' I said, baring my head in the sun-nhlne sun-nhlne and rejoicing In the loveliness of the Pacific sea. He grinned at me a-iln. with f hiuiirhl fol In r-seeintr evev "Perhaps it won't, but you uever can toll." Other talks I had like that, with other men A different kind ot talk It was with a tall Irish detective six feet three with S frbndlv smile, and qulot watchful even who took me through Chi net wn. which he knows In all Itfl cellars, and secret "getaways" "get-aways" as he called the narrow alleys al-leys and hiding places bctwetn tho houses. CHINESE OCT RICH. "You would be surprised how the Chinese are getting rich here. These little shops and houses don't look much. The Chinks live In crowded quarters and like to get as far from the sunlight as they can in those underground un-derground cellars. But they are doing do-ing big business, and their merchandise merchan-dise is pretty considerable. It's thd policy of peaceful penetration." "Do they give you much trouble0 ' 1 askod. He told me of bbod feuds between certain Chinese clans, famll vendettas vendet-tas of a Sicilian kind, so that if a man Is killed In one fumlly, ho Is re- 1 venged by the murder of a brother or a cousin or maternal uncle, or In - j fant son. In the family of his assas-in. assas-in. Tho police are getting the bet- ter of that wiping It out Their chief trouble now is with the gambling dens and the dope traffic They have i j got the better of the gambling aens. j by drastic measures, but the dope. business Is harder to kill and Is de-I de-I moralising many white folks. p kSDTG IHE iwjPK. a young Chink slouching through the public gardens. "See that boy? He's walling to pass the dope. I'm having him watched." watch-ed." White men and women are falling to the vice In great numbers, In spite of the law und police activity. 1 saw groups of these mlserables in the I prison of San Francisco, pacing up and down like caged animals in the narrow corridors between their cells. Sonic of them wore well dressed young men. There were nice looking gtrN in tho women's part of the prison Victims of dope and the sight of them spoiled tho sunlight for me in the city outside. Apart from that Ice the Chinese Chi-nese are a law-abiding, cood natured folk, and honest in their way of business. bus-iness. They did not seem to it-sent tho presence of the Irish detective, but greeted him with grips and a "Hulloah, boss.'' ntt he strode into their houses, where old Chinks sat playing cards, led me up high fllgms cf stairs Into large rooms filled wltti the Incense of JOSS-StlokSj end furnished fur-nished with gaily colored altar, with wax figures and paper flowers, and gilded carvings and then downstairs into dark passages through secret doorways. He walked with the assurance of a man who knows his way In the dark, flashed Inn lantern on bolta which could bo operated by cords and pulleys pul-leys from upstairs rooms, showed me how tho walls and panels lisg ilsed doors through .hlch the Chinks could bolt at tho first signal of alarm Wonderfully good work." said the Irish detective, with professional admiration. ad-miration. "All these rabbit-warrens cost us a lot of trouble t locate.' Thore Is no friendship or alliance between the Japanese and Chinese in California In San Francisco they live in separate quarters, suspicious of each other, hostile, and Ihe Japanese Japa-nese are arrogant toward those other people of the east who glance aide-ways aide-ways at them out of slit eyes and read their newspapers with no assurance I am told In the clauses of the Washington Wash-ington conference which guarantee tho I integrity oi unm. So In San Francisco the problems of the Pacific are Intimate and human hu-man whereas in New York they ure remote and theoretical. These problems prob-lems in my mind aro linked up with the rising tldo of color throughout the world, with the npirlt of revolt in rndia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria, Persia and the old Turkish Empire, and all Mohammedan peoples. The thought Impresses one great moraJ upon up-on white people. If there is ever to be any common sense among them It Is tho necessity of peace between them. If there Ih another man.xacre of youth In Europe like that of the last grea.t war. If the white races tear each other oth-er to pieces again, other races will lako their place There is no possibility of doubt about that Another conviction comes to an Englishman In San Francisco It Is the vital need of union between the English speaking peoples of the world In the British Empire and the United Slates. Our Interests are the ame in the Pacific and the Old World iCopvright. 1922 by The McClure Newspaper Syndicate, |