OCR Text |
Show THE MANDATE OF JAPAN. The threatened withdrawal of Japan Ja-pan from the League of Nations will serve to explode another World War fable, if it comes to pass. It "will be remembered that at the close of the war, and tinder the Versailles treaty, the allied nations divided the various territorial possessions won from Germany Ger-many by a series of mandates. The allies were still committed to the idea that they had waged the war solely for the high and mighty purpose pur-pose of saving the world for democracy. demo-cracy. So often did they repeat this slogan that they may finally have to come to believe it themselves. At any rate, having waged the war so "unselfishly" they did not regard it as fitting that they should gobble up this territory under the time-honored Jacksonian slogan that '"to the victor belong the spoils." So the system sys-tem of mandates, through the League of Nations, was cooked up. By this system the nations receiving German territory did not get it in fee simple, so to speak, but took the territory as a mandate to be governed solely in the "interest of humanity" not for "selfish profit." Generous impulses around Versailles got so thick that even Uncle Sam was offered a mandate man-date one to Armenia, doubtless on the theory that it was full of poten-t;al poten-t;al trouble and barren of profitable exploitation. Fortunately the United States senate was too wise to fall into in-to the trap and a lot of trouble was avoided. Japan got a mandate from the League to rule some of the German islands in the Pacific. But now it develops de-velops that if Japan leaves the League she may refuse to give up the mandate on these islands. "Evidently "Evi-dently the Japs possessed a sense of humor during the Versailles deliberations delibera-tions of mandates, and have not yet lost it. But if Japan withdraws from the league and refuses to return the ' mandated islands to the League, then what will happen? Will the. Icaguo insist that the islands be returned, or will it ignore the whole matter ami .'-.till further lower its prestige in world affairs? The answer is easy. The League w-ill do whatever Great Britain and France want to do. |