Show u I THE STRUfi6LE FOR Si rUE ORIENT 60ALo I Ie President Benjamin Ide Wheeler of the University of California Cali-fornia on the Situation in the Far EastFreeforAII y Race Just Suits America I i I Berkeley Cal M ayJO AmcrJcaJias appeared In the International 1 arena Justin the nick of time By reason of thopower and Influence exorcised by this Nation the commercial door of China will remain open Tho powers of the Old World may stand aloof and glare at each other all watching jeal of ono the ously any attempt on part of ou them to snatch the coveted bone But not one o them will venture to make the first move so long as the United States holds the balance of power Not ono of the nations now confronting each other in the East and ready to welcome any hrcak that will relieve the Almost unbearable tension Is 1 willing to offend tho United States So we stand arbitrators of the dcsllny of the Orient able to sway the trembling trem-bling scales up or down at our will I than the prevention or a trade wall which English German French and Russian occupation might build about the Chinese coast Secretary oC State Hay has won a victory not of war call It diplomacy 1C you please In that the ports of China will be open to the commercial world There are to be no longer any spheres j of Influence Sn the Flowery Kingdom Customs tariffs will be abolished as I well ax other imposts upon shipping I I With the ports free and < free hand to every nation the consummation of the British Idea of the open door which found so strong an advocate In Lord Beresford Americas day of victory vic-tory Is at hand A free hand Is all we want to place us far in advance of all other nations In the competition of tho worlds products Wo could not wish for 0 more suitable culmination to the I jealous rivalry of the Old World nations na-tions for this Insures our possession of I I I < 4T T I 1 I Si w i p IIi I c < j I < Ii 1I 1 I I I I tTi11 1 p Today the powers are struggling for supremacy In tho East Prof Benjamin Ben-jamin Ido Wheeler President of the University of California whoso portrait appears above writes an ablo article on the Oriental situation and says that America should assume the lead nnd every nation knowing this Is seeking seek-ing our friendship and desiring above InE things that AO throw the weight of our power and Inlluonce Into the side of the scales on which their fortunes for-tunes are cast Fateful are the Issues toward which we are drifting In the East Eastern Asia Is to be assimilated to tho rest of the world The wall Is to be forever broken down and the East to be West and the West East All the aggressive nations are reaching out toward tho goaL England holds the route by the Sue canal Germany Is seeking to parallel par-allel it by a railroad to the > head of the Persian Gulf While outwardly these two great nations aro professing the most affectionate regard for each other and the closelyrelated rulers are exchanging messages of peace both are Jealously watching each other and for every move one makes the other speedily plans and carries Into effect 3 counter moo that nullifies the advantage advan-tage that the play wins I Is continually contin-ually check and countercheck between Germany and Great Britain the players play-ers smiling In each others faces while striving to win the game and piling up their means oC offense and defonsu according ac-cording to the notions of each I remains re-mains for the tussle of war to determine deter-mine whether Germanys railroad or Englands canal will be the winning piece but both at present believe that they nave the game in their hands and both have the same ambition In view tho prize in the Orient that waits to fall like 3 ripe plum Into the mouth oC some advanced power And Russia What does the wily and overaggressive Bear do these days to keep up with the procession that hen he-n in the diplomatic headquarters of every nation and stretches toward China Russia Is pushing out by the Siberian railway and will soon be found seeking In conlllct with German Interest a route across Persia and In conflict with English Interest a route I across Afghanistan What au Interest lug complication Whichever way ono views It the nations of Europe are pursuing pur-suing not tho parallel lines that continued con-tinued to infinite will never meet but the converging route that will land them all sooner or later at the one center cen-ter where the clash would seem to be Inevitable even though It did not come P during the operations making for the ultimate end of reaching that center a contingency that seems not improbable Improb-able when the conflicting Interests of each nation and the way these interests inter-ests cross each other the eah on complex chessboard of Asia are considered Latest of all and none to soon the United States has awakened to Its capabilities ca-pabilities as an exporting nation and the transcontinental lines built to link 4 the Pacific coast to the Atlantic sud I denly develop Into routes to the Orient I The Union Pacific the SUe canal the Siberian railway lead to one goal Sure ly America should como out In the lead In this race for the vast undeveloped markets of the far East Challenging the world to surpass our products as wo do and beating every competitor by reason of our superior workmanship workman-ship superior push and wealth of resource re-source we should and undoubtedly will play n winning wart In the Oriental trado rivalry of the white nations I Is I Incontrovertible that which Is i to convert China from tho old Fi to the new Is manufactured Iron In Uu form lw p of machinery and rails From every evet foundry and workshop In America the sound of the Giant hammer and the glow of the lat furnace bespeaks ability to supply from I abtty our infinite store Mtorc house the very best articles of this 4 kind that can be found lhi world over i I China is discovering it rapidly l Japan OYlr found It out long ago and as for Eu rope our locomotives and machinery are being demanded ore almost as fast as our workshops can supply them The American echanle who Is a thinking n wQrkman thlnklnS Insctad of a mere machine mer maChhle is acknowledged to have knowlCSd no peer on ourth His work speaks for itself In the constantly Bowing demand from frm nbroad for American machinery and rat118 Tho fat being Indisputable being 11dlspltblc what benefit ber nt do we derive from trade walls and spheres of Influence No In rest concerns America more today the prize The throwing down of walls Is all In our favor The nations of Europe realize this but they arc so Jealous of each other that I verily believe be-lieve they would welcome the sight of the Americans reaching the goal first That the Americans will do so Is In my Judgment a foregone conclusion BENJAMIN IDE WHEELER |