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Show WILL INSIST UPON OPEN DOOR POLICY STATE DEPARTMENT MAY PROTEST PRO-TEST AGAINST ACTION OF THREE GREAT POWERS. The Open Door Principle Insisted Upon by United States in the Turkish Turk-ish Settlement Proposed by France, England and Italy. Washington. While no protest has been made thus far by the state department de-partment against the tripartite agreement agree-ment between France, Great Britain and Italy defining spheres of influence in Turkey, officials stated that this did not mean that no objection would-he would-he made against any provision viewed as contravening an open door policy in Turkey. The open door principle was insisted upon by the United States in the Turkish settlement, it was said, when President Wilson was asked in March by the French government for his views on the tentative draft of the Turkish treaty. The American note of March 24 said : "It is the understanding of the government of the United States that whatever territorial changes or arrangements ar-rangements may be made in the former Ottoman empire, such, changes or arrangements ar-rangements will In no way place American Amer-ican citizens or corporations of any other country in a less favorable situation situa-tion than tne citizens or corporations of any power party to this treaty." In some quarters it was contended' on Saturday that the second paragraph para-graph of article two of the tripartite agreement did violate this principle, in excluding from the particular spheres of influence reserved for each of the three powers the nationals of the other two contracting parties. Acting upon the principle of equal commercial opportunity for all nations in Turkey as laid down in the American Ameri-can note, the United States already sought to apply that precept in Mesopotamia. Meso-potamia. Inquiry was made several months ago of Great Britain concerning concern-ing the reported French-British agreement agree-ment over the exploitation of oil in the Mesopotamian area. This correspondence cor-respondence has not been made public. Western Auatolia, in the sphere of Italian special interests . under the tripartite agreement, provided 7 per cent of the world's supply of chrome before the war, of which the United States imported in 1913 1S,200 tous, besides a quantity of emery. It is also practically the world's sole source for meerchaum. |