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gestion of arbitrating the Panama question has met with the approval of many who most earnestly desire to see international justice done, and who have jumped to the conclusion that arbitration is the way to go about it. Most of these people have reached this conclusion without knowledge of the political and social conditions in Colombia and perhaps mainly because they have not thought of the direct and simple solution of the problem.

To effect a "settlement that settles" the United States must make every possible concession to the national pride of the people that it injured. It can do this through a reapportionment of the territory of Panama that will satisfy the sentimental demand in Colombia for recognition of that country's sovereignty, and without violation of our treaty with Panama: at the same time such a readjustment can be made to correct the errors of judgment committed in our inexperience and haste in acquiring the Canal Zone.

From a military as well as from a commercial point of view the ten-mile Canal strip is not altogether satisfactory. The terminal cities, Panama and Colon, are excluded from American jurisdiction, and the dual government at the ends of the Canal has proved a continuous source of expense and annoyance, if not a menace. We have to oversee nearly every election, and we have to maintain a benevolent supervision over the local police and sanitary administrations.

We are creating at the Isthmus an artificial Bosphorus. It is destined to become the waystation and the crossroads of the world's commerce. In time there should be a tremendous city at Panama. Such a commercial centre can be developed economically and successfully only through administrative foresight. Common sense dictates that in developing the commercial possibilities of the Canal the terminal cities should be planned now with their great future in view; that the termini as well as the approaches to the Canal should be on American territory, under American jurisdiction. When we embarked upon our Canal enterprise its glamor as a military enterprise blinded us to its commercial aspects, but even now it is not too late to

acquire the territory necessary for the growth of commercial centres.

Our treaty with Panama stipulates:

The Republic of Panama further grants to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of any other lands and waters outside of the Zone above described which may be necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanita tion, and protection of the said canal.

We can, with reason, require under our treaty the widening of the Zone to include the terminal cities and the entire watershed of the Canal. This would extend the Canal Zone southward to the headwaters of the Chágres River, which feeds the Gatun Lake, making a zone delimited by a line from the mouth of the Bayano River on the Pacific to Point San Blas on the Atlantic, nearly parallel to the Canal at a distance of approximately forty miles.

The territory south of this line should be returned to Colombia. It is occupied largely by the San Blas Indians. White men scarcely ever penetrate it. The San Blas tribe are still loyal to Colombia, although living in what the rest of the world calls the Republic of Panama. One of the most impressive incidents I ever saw was when, as the guest of the chief of the San Blas tribe, I rode with him from the Presidential Palace in Bogotá to the plaza facing the national capitol, where he knelt before the statue of Simon Bolivar, the Colombian Liberator, and, in the pres ence of an immense crowd, reverently kissed the Colombian flag as an expression of the voluntary renewal of his people's allegiance.

It would be more than an act of justice to return these people to the country to which they are loyal. Their territory is inconsequential, mostly an impassable swamp; but its return to Colombia would go farther than millions of American dollars to satisfy the patriotic pride of the Colombian nation.

To the north the Zone should be extended possibly a few miles for better control of the approaches to the Canal; but the entire width need be only from fifty to sixty miles to insure to the United States all strategic and commercial advantages. There would remain then to

the north of the widened Canal Zone the richest and most extensive part of the present Republic of Panama, in which a new national capital could be established at David, or at Bocas del Toro. Keeping faith with the Panamanians, the United States could continue to guarantee their independence, unless they at some time should wish to join themselves by petition to Costa Rica, and thus take the first step toward the Central American Federation.

I have discussed this suggestion of territorial reapportionment with several of Colombia's most influential men, and they have assured me that it would clear away

valescing rapidly. In five years of nonpartisan administration since the flight of President Reyes, her finances have recovered from the effects of a long period of repudiation and depreciation. Her bonds have risen from 36 to nearly par. She has paid up all defaulted interest, nearly doubled her foreign trade, accumulated a surplus of $2,500,000, and is preparing for extensive public improvements. President Restrepo has restored constitutional government, state and municipal autonomy, and liberty of the press; and so long as these conditions obtain (and they seem to be on solid ground) there is

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SHOWING THE WIDTH OF THE CANAL ZONE IF IT INCLUDED COLON AND PANAMA AND THE WATERSHED OF THE CHAGRES RIVER, AND SHOWING THE TERRITORY EAST OF THE CANAL THAT MIGHT BE GIVEN BACK TO COLOMBIA

an almost insuperable obstacle to an early and satisfactory diplomatic adjustment of this matter.

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Political and social conditions Colombia are ripe for the ending of the Panama dispute. The rising generation is prepared to recognize that Colombia, as well as the United States, should be careful to satisfy public opinion outside as well as within their own country, and that the Colombian Government, in making its demand upon the United States, should be so fair as to refute altogether the charges of cupidity that have been made against it by those who believed that it attempted to blackmail the United States.

Colombia has passed through a long political and economic sickness and is con

not the slightest danger of Colombia returning to political revolutions.

It is an auspicious time to authorize the new American Minister to Bogotá to present as a substitute for arbitration a plan of settlement that shall take into full account the proud nationalism of Colombia.

It is possible, of course, for the United States to wear Colombia out with delay and in time bring that country to accept a purely financial adjustment. This might be in complete conformity with legal requirements, but still fall far short of what should be our objective - to win back the good will of Colombia and the confidence of our other Latin-American neighbors.

And while the American Minister, Mr. Thaddeus Thomson, is making his survey

of the situation, the present session of the Colombian Congress could show its good faith by starting an amendment to the Constitution so that the Canal Zone may be legally ceded to the United States and Panama's independence be recognized when satisfactory terms shall have been arranged. This step might save a year's

delay; furthermore, it will be necessary in the end, for only by this formality can Colombia be satisfied and our title to the Canal Zone be cleared. Colombia can well afford to demonstrate by this step in advance that it is prepared to be reasonable whenever the United States shows a desire to meet it half way.

THE STRONG MAN OF CHINA

A PERSONAL STUDY OF YUAN SHIH-KAI, PRESIDENT AND DICTATOR

W

BY

PHILIP HALSEY PATCHIN

HY should I wish to be Napoleon, when I can be George Washington?"

With this answer President Yuan Shih-Kai recently epitomized his attitude toward the Republic of China.

Yet whatever he may think of himself and however much he desires to preserve the new form of government, the fact is that this old-fashioned Chinese has become dictator of China. He has taken the law into his own hands. He has even exercised the power of life and death.

My first glimpse of the great man of China was when he arrived in Peking in November, 1911. He came at the request of the tottering Manchu dynasty. He was the sole hope of the Empire. Yet the Manchus, by whom Yuan had been dismissed with ignominy only three years before, were not quite sure of his allegiance. Yuan came to Peking with two special trains filled with his own troopsspecially picked men of Honan, his own province, many of them men of his own clan. The first train with its thousand soldiers preceded him by half an hour. The troops were drawn up around the station with fixed bayonets. Finally his own train arrived, carrying several hundred more troops, who also tumbled out of the cars fixing bayonets. Then Yuan himself appeared in his jacket of Imperial yellow. He had won the right to wear it

by his services to the old Empress Dowager, and its appearance sent a thrill of satisfaction through the waiting Manchus, for it assured them of his allegiance.

On the last day of December I had an opportunity to see Yuan Shih-kai at close range and to talk with him. He received me in the modern office-building constructed for the foreign office of China where he had established his headquarters as Premier. The place was surrounded by soldiers. The narrow street leading to it was heavily guarded at its entrance, and the gateway leading into the compound surrounding the foreign office held many soldiers, and was further protected by iron gates. Within the gates the grounds surrounding the building were covered with the tents of Yuan's modern bodyguard. There were soldiers everywhere, and good-looking soldiers, too. The entrance to the building itself was also guarded, and to gain access to the reception hall within one had to pass a dozen more sentries. Inside there was still more evidence of the military precaution which Yuan Shih-kai had taken.

Visitors were shown to one of several reception rooms, there to await Yuan's descent from his private quarters above. On this day he was quick to appear, accompanied by an English-speaking Chinese aide, a captain in the navy. The Premier was in Chinese dress and still wore his queue, as did most of the Chinese in

He is.

Peking at that time. It was winter and
his long, flowing gown was heavily padded
with cotton, after the Chinese fashion, and
it gave to the Pre-
mier a short, squat
appearance which he
does not have at
other times.
however, not tall,
being perhaps five
feet six. His most
striking feature is his
eyes. They are of a
color difficult to
describe not the
black eyes which
most Chinese have,
but a kind of dark
bluish gray, and the
lids lack the accen-
tuated slant which
characterizes nearly
all Sons of Han.
This serves to give
Yuan's countenance
a staring appear-
ance, which is all the
more noticeable as

his eyes open still
farther and his lips
part when he is in-
terested in
in some-
thing that is being
said. He is gray. He
wears a moustache,
and on this day he
had the stubble of a
sparse beard.

Yuan was cordial in his greeting, and shook hands in Western fashion, at the same time bobbing the upper portion of his body after the fashion of the Chinese, whose custom is not to shake hands. Yuan, however, ac

evening." Apparently, however, he has been too busy to learn his lesson thoroughly, for he uses the expressions in

discriminately, no

[graphic]

matter what the
time of day. On
one recent occasion
he used them both
at once. He has
carried his Western-
ization still farther
and last spring
startled Peking by
appearing in a full
dress suit and high
silk hat. He has also
removed his queue.
When I saw this
symbol of allegiance
to the Emperor it
was gray and short
and thin. Yuan kept
it until after the
establishment of the
Republic. Then he
had it taken off. I
have been told by
people of his yamun
that there was a
great deal of discus-
sion before the ap-
pendage disap-
peared. The difficult
point was, Who
would do the cut-
ting? It was con-
sidered impossible to
have a Chinese bar-
ber come in to sever
the queue of the
ruler of the land,
for the barber, in
Republican China, is
a low order of man.
A proposal to get the
Italian tonsorial
artist from the for-
eign hotel in the Le-
gation quarter was
also rejected, for the reason that this
might
might offend the susceptibilities of
the people. Finally the problem was
solved by Colonel Tsai Ting-k'an,
one of the President's aides, taking the

Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
THE STRONG MAN OF CHINA

THE MONARCHIST DICTATOR WHO IS PRESIDENT
OF THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA. THE LAST HOPE OF

THE EMPIRE, THE FIRST LEADER OF THE REPUBLIC,
AN OLD-FASHIONED CHINESE OFFICIAL WHO NEVER-

THELESS TAKES ADVANTAGE OF WESTERN METHODS

cepts the Western custom in dealing with Westerners. And of late he had picked up from his English-speaking aides a few English words of greeting, such as "Good morning" and "Good

[graphic][merged small]

scissors in his own hand and doing the snipping.

Yuan talks to foreigners, who do not speak the language, through an interpreter and shows much interest in their opinion of events and in their opinion of him. When the interpreter translates he sits erect, looking directly at the speaker, nodding his head to show his comprehension, and keeping time with this movement with a series of throaty sounds indicating that he understands, in the manner of the Chinese, who punctuate every few words of what is said to them with deep noted "uh, uh, uh's. It is the sign of the scholar, and shows one's ability to comprehend. His responses to questions are quick and to the point.

But one gets a better idea of the man from the things he does than by seeing him. He came up from the South to Peking in the fall of 1911, in response to the urgent and repeated demands of his Manchu masters. He had been summoned several times before but had persistently declared that he was unable to come. The reason that he gave shows that he is not without a sense of humor. When he was dismissed in 1908 no one was

more surprised than he to be informed by the edict from the Throne that he was retiring on account of his lame foot. It was the Chinese way of saving Yuan's “face. He had never felt any pain in his foot, but when the first Imperial summons came to him he replied that he could not go because his foot was still lame. Finally he consented to return to Peking, but hesitated about becoming Prime Minister - until he could have the office on his own terms

Seven times the Empress Dowager commanded him to accept this post but seven times he refused, declaring himself unfit for such high office, and with oldstyle Chinese humility suggested that the Empress Dowager get someone else. Ltimately, however, he accepted, after gaining from the Manchus promises and concessions which made it seemingly possible for him to succeed in his fight for a constitutional monarchy.

One of his first steps was to bring about the retirement of the Prince Regent, a haughty, arrogant Manchu whom the Chinese hated and who also was responsible for Yuan's dismissal three years before. He then got the Throne to promise a con

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