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Show COAST ITS TO LEARN HARDING STflNDON JAPAN Speeches of President-Elect I and His Secretary of State Scanned PRONOUNCED VIEWS SEEM TO BE LACKING Prevailing Opinion is Next, President Will Proceed With Great Care BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS. Written for The Newspaper Enterprise Association. PORTLAND. Ore.. Feb. 18 Given the "fiddle-string- like tension which, really underlies the apparently calm' surface of relations between the United Unit-ed States and Japan, the Pacific coast, from Mexico to Pugel Sound. Is won-, dering what the attitude of President' Warren G Hardlug and his secretary! ol state will be when the diplomatic battle begins after the fourth of March: next. Neither Presidpni-f lect Harding nor his secretary -of-state apparent Hughes so far as is known out here, has uttered ut-tered any very pronounced views on tbe subject This but add! to thfl feel ing of uncertainty along what Governor Gover-nor Stephens of California, calls "the western edge of Occident civilization." HARDING STATEMENT. When B delegation from California paid a visit to the well known front porch at Marion, O . last September to tell Mr. Harding their side of the .--lory and h-ar his position on the QtraStfon; he said lo them "I do not doubt that American on the coast arc troubled In their minds nbout the oriental question, a. it 16 called. That question raises every In- i station ofour watchword, 'Amer lcn .'..-(.' for it Involves several sets ol blin a. ic H9. "It Ifivoltss our obligations to the gteat foreign powers; It Involves ine obligation i , .:vcrica towards one group of Anil ric n tat s and their peoples. "But it also Involves ili- oMiations of that group of stales to the ns n. "There is abundant t id- nee t tht dangers which lurk in racial lifter-ences. lifter-ences. I do not say racial I qualities quali-ties I say racial differences. I Km ever ready to recognize that the civilization civi-lization of tho Orient is older than ours, that her peoples have their pride as well as their honorable traditions. FRICTION RECOGNIZCD. "In spite of the honor of these orien tal peoph s and In spite of their contribution contri-bution to the world'it advancement, it is conceivable that they be so different In racial characteristics or In manner of life as practiced by other peoples of L.nnil hnnor anil achievement that no matter whether it be on the noil of the one or on the soil of the other, theso differences, without raising any ques-Ition ques-Ition of inferiority, or any superiority? 1 may create 1 believe they have created creat-ed on the Pacific coast without blame 1 to either side a friction that must bo recognized." Friends of the Japanese here believe be-lieve Harding "will do nothing rash." 'as one of them put it. They see in j Harding's mention of the reciprocity I of the obligations which tho nation O&d the various states owo to each other reminder to California that if she wants the nation to stand by her. I she, on her side, must not go to ex-uemes ex-uemes In dealing wtlh the nationals I of powers to whom the nation as a whole is responsible. Such la one mt-rpretatlon. Another, by tho antis, is that President-elect j Harding has virtually pledged himself I to an exclusion program COX CHARGES. Still others quote Governor jaw.es M. Cox, tho Democratic nominee, as ; charging Mr. Harding with a quick change of policy regarding the Japan-'eee Japan-'eee in California. Speaking in Sacra-Jmento Sacra-Jmento two days after Harding's. uttcr-'ancca uttcr-'ancca on the Oriental immigration I problem. Cox declared Senator Hard i lug had sent out to newspapers in advance ad-vance the speech ho Intended to make to tho California delegation but when! Governor Stephen saw the speech he said "This won't do." and the senator changed the speech while the governor bat on tho front porch. This incident is now being recalh d out here by some to "prove" that President-elect Harding has no Wi 11-defined 11-defined Japaneso program already mapped ouL . no- |
