has tried to preserve the open door in China. Most of the other powers
have regarded the Chinese situation as hopeless, and have believed that
the only solution was to let foreign powers come in and divide and rule
the territory of the empire. In view of the new treaty the open door
is no longer merely an American policy, but an international policy,
and responsibility for its enforcement rests not on the United States
alone but on all nine parties to the treaty.

The agenda or program of the Conference offered as one of the subjects
to be considered the status of existing commitments in China. When
Secretary Hughes brought this subject up before the Far Eastern
Committee, Japan entered an emphatic objection to its consideration,
and the matter was dropped immediately without argument. The treaty,
therefore, is not retroactive, for it recognizes the status quo in
Manchuria and to a less extent in other parts of China. The saving
clause of the new agreement is, however, a resolution providing for the
establishment of an international board of reference, to which
questions arising in regard to the open door may be referred.

Will Japan respect the pledges she has made and live up to the spirit
of her promises? If she does, the Washington Conference will prove to
be a great success. If, on the contrary, Japan does not intend to live
up to her pledges or intends to fulfill them only in part, her position
in Asia has been greatly strengthened. She is more firmly intrenched
in Manchuria than ever. She holds the Maritime Province of Siberia
under a promise to get out, which she has repeatedly made and
repeatedly broken, as was plainly stated by Secretary Hughes before the
full Committee on Far Eastern Affairs, and repeated at a plenary
session of the Conference. His statement was one of the most
remarkable, by reason of its directness and unvarnished truth, in the
history of American diplomacy. After reviewing the correspondence
between the two governments and the reiterated assurances of Japan of
her intention to withdraw from Siberia, assurances which so far had not
been carried out, Mr. Hughes expressed his gratification at the renewal
of these assurances before the Conference in plenary session. Unless
Japan is utterly devoid of moral shame, she will have to make good her
word this time.

When the treaties drafted by the Conference were submitted by the
President to the Senate, they encountered serious opposi