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dinals to summon them to the Vatican for two purposes: first, to observe the Novendial, or the nine-day mourning and obsequies after the death of a Pope; and, second, on the tenth day, to be present at the beginning of the Conclave of Cardinals for the election of a new Pope. This election is always a solemn and vitally important affair, for the Roman Catholic Church, the greatest .corporation in the world, is perhaps the only one whose president has power to compel absolutely unquestioning obedience. The Church rules by its cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, deacons, and then through the laity. But all are subject to the direction of one head. From his judgment there is no appeal, because, according to the Roman Catholic view, the apostolic successor of St. Peter heads a church organization which has come directly from Christ. Roman Catholics interpret literally the words of Jesus: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church." The Pope is thus Christ's vicegerent.

And yet any Roman Catholic of legal age may aspire to the Papacy. Since the election of Adrian V (1276), however, no one not a priest has been elected, and

since the election of Urban VI (1378) no one, we believe, but a cardinal has been elected.

The full number of cardinals is sev enty. Actually there are only sixty; of them, thirty-one are Italians. But the Sacred College when it meets in conclave is rarely, if ever, complete. Especially is this true in these days when cardinals must come from the ends of the earth, while the Conclave must begin on the tenth day after the Pope's death.

For the Conclave, part of the palace of the Vatican, including the Sistine Chapel, is walled off. From it all but cardinals, their secretaries and servants, are excluded. The door to the outer world is not opened except to admit some cardinal late in arriving. The food is sent up from a kitchen below.

In the election of a new Pope two ballots are taken every day in the Sistine Chapel. Cardinals are seated along the walls. Before each seat is a table with paper, ink, pens, and a list of the members of the Sacred College. In the middle of the Chapel, on a table, stand two vases. In one of them the ballots are cast; in the other they are placed when counted. Each cardinal deposits his ballot, repeating at the same time this

formula: "Testor Christum dominum qui me judicaturus est, me eligere quem secundum Deum judico elegi debere”— that is to say, "I call to witness the Lord Christ, who will be my judge, that I am electing the one who, according to God, I think ought to be elected."

The ballots are cast. In the corner of the Chapel is a small stove in which they are afterwards burned. Straw is used to make the smoke from the chimney dense, and so a sign to those outside that a vote has been taken. If thick smoke does not appear at the usual time for voting, the crowd outside assumes that a Pope has been elected. The final votes are burned like the rest, but no straw is used in the burning, hence the smoke is white.

A two-thirds vote is necessary to elect. As soon as an election occurs the successful candidate announces his acceptance of the office and the cardinals then conduct him to the altar, robe him in Papal garments, and do homage to him. The wall is torn down and a cardinal announces the Papal election to the people outside.

When the present Conclave elects, it will have chosen the two hundred and sixtieth successor of St. Peter.

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE FROM WASHINGTON

A

BY ERNEST HAMLIN ABBOTT

I. THE OPEN DOOR-A FACT
DOOR-A FACT OR A MOTTO?

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... when I was in the Philippines. And do you suppose the Government would do anything to help me get home? Not on your life! And that was where the American flag flew. Just the same in Shanghai. Just the same in Mexico. If you get into any difficulty don't expect to get any help from the American Consul. No, sir! No use to see him. You go to the British Consul. 'Evening Star'? Yes, sir; that's right. Two cents."

That, in the terms of one man's experience, states fairly well the reputation which the American Government has for looking out for the welfare and interests of American citizens in foreign countries. There is a saying to this effect: "If you want information, call on the German Consul; if you want protection, call on the British Consul; if you want a drink, call on the American Consul." Like all current sayings, it is significant as evidence, not of the truth, but of what is commonly believed to be the truth. American travelers or residents abroad do not expect their Government to stand by them as the British Government stands by British subjects.

Of course Administrations differ in this respect. Under President Roosevelt, the American Government took care to see that American citizens in foreign lands were protected; but even then when John Hay sent his famous telegram, "We want Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead," and thus secured the release of an American citizen from captivity by a Moroccan bandit, he called his message a "concise impropriety." Under President Taft, Mr. Knox, as Secretary of State, followed a policy of supporting, to some degree at least, the commercial interests of Americans in China; but he did not fare altogether well, and was criticised by his own fellow-countrymen for pursuing what was called "dollar diplomacy." Under President Wilson, Mr. Bryan reversed that policy and followed a course which was widely understood as virtually notifying all Americans that if they set foot on foreign soil they did so at their own risk. No other great country has ever had a policy like that. On the contrary, nations which åre strong enough to do so make it a practice of standing behind their nationals (that is, their subjects if the nation is a monarchy, their citizens if a republic). They not only undertake to see that the right of their nationals to life and liberty is preserved, or if violated is vindicated, but also act on

the assumption that in any dispute over property rights between their nationals in a foreign country and the nationals or the government of that country, their own nationals are to be defended. This has led to what has been termed "economic imperialism," and in certain cases to the extension of political power over alien lands.

If all peoples of the world were equally civilized, the extreme American policy could with safety, and in fact with general benefit, be universally adopted; but there are great areas of the world in which the people are uncivilized or in a primitive stage of civilization; and there are areas in which the people, though possessing a highly developed civilization in some respects, lack a stable or trustworthy government with which the governments of other peoples can deal or on which they can rely. It is because most of Asia which is not colonized by Western Powers is such a region that the nations now gathered at Washington are engaged in trying to solve those problems that are grouped under the term Far Eastern Affairs.

The anomaly of this Conference (one that could not well have been avoided) is China. She is both doctor and patient. She is one of the sovereign nations engaged in discussing the prob

lems; and yet she has a Government so feeble, so entangled with itself, so corrupt, so incompetent, that it has occasioned the very problems under discussion. In fact, the problems there would be more easily solved in some respects if China had no government at all. The status of foreigners and foreign interests has been complicated by the fact that in some cases these foreigners, in other cases foreign governments on their behalf, have entered into agreements with such government as China has had, or with Chinese officials or provincial authorities. Many of these agreements are of long standing and form the basis of commercial and social life. Some of them have been secret. Some of them were imposed upon the Chinese against their will; others were welcomed by the Chinese as preferable to the arbitrary dictates of their own corrupt officials. But, just or unjust, they constitute a body of restrictions that make it impossible, as long as they last, for any government that China may have to exercise freely the functions of sovereignty. Furthermore, so disorganized is China that there is no universal agreement as to what China is. Does China include Tibet? It does, according to the "Constitution" of the Chinese "Republic;" but according to the practice of other nations, the British, for example, it in fact does not. Mongolia-is that a part of China? One of the Japanese delegates was asked that question, and he declined to commit himself. How about Manchuria? The Japanese acknowledge that to be a part of China, for their claims to certain rights in Manchuria rest upon agreements they made with the Chinese Government under Yuan Shi-kai. If, however, ruling authority is the test, it might be quite as accurate to say that the region around Peking is a part of Manchuria, for a large part of northern China is under the domination of the Manchurian general, Chang Tso-lin. Under such conditions the nations that place their power behind the claims of their own subjects or citizens are bound to be in conflict with such authority as China has and with one another. America has citizens in China, but has never uniformly and persistently put force behind their claims. It is true that at the time of the Boxer outbreak America joined with other nations in restoring order; but even then she did not keep all the money that was paid by China to her as indemnity, but returned to China all that was not needed for reimbursement for loss, as she did in a similar case concerning Japan. As a consequence, the United States is trusted in China as is no other country, but American interests suffer from a certain disadvantage.

For a nation, under such circumstances, to back its nationals "to the limit" means war. There is only one alternative; that is to adjust the differences and to come to some common agreement.

It is precisely this alternative that this Conference is attempting to adopt as a policy for all the nations involved.

That, however, is not a simple and easy task. It means that all the interested nations must join in the undertaking. It cannot be carried through if one holds out.

Even then the task is not really under way. If all the nations with interests in China should honestly attempt to cooperate in adjusting their conflicting interests, they would simply be forming a combination to exploit China, dividing the spoils, but rendering China more than ever helpless. They cannot really begin to find a solution for the problems of the Far East unless they find a way by which China herself can become responsible for fulfilling her side of each contract. There must not only be a square deal among the Powers, but also a square deal to China. They must hold China's government to account for what it does; but they must also give China a chance to secure a government that can be held to account.

At this Conference the tendency is to do just this. It might have been to form an international syndicate, a sort of corporation of nations, to take over the task of doing for China what she has been unable or unwilling to do for herself. That, however, is not what these nations have done. The evident purpose is to make every arrangement with the object of assisting China ultimately to take upon herself the authority and responsibility that has been distributed among many hands, Chinese and foreign.

Of the nations represented here, the one obviously most reluctant to commit herself to practical measures for carrying out this plan is Japan. For this reluctance it is hard to blame her. By her nearness to China she has a great advantage which other nations do not possess. With the collapse of Russia and with the elimination of Germany as a dangerous competitor in Shantung, Japan has a chance for exploiting China which she does not eagerly forego. In fact, she made the best of this advantage during the World War. One can recognize this fact and at the same time acknowledge the sincerity and common sense of those Japanese who say, as did the Japanese Ambassador to the United States, Baron Shidehara, the other day:

Apart from any sentiment in the matter, it is directly to Japan's interest to associate herself with the other Powers in agreements tending to stabilize China's domestic as well as her foreign relations. . . . By making the Open Door and equal opportunity a fact instead of a motto, as Mr. Hughes has said, Japan cannot fail to be benefited as well as China, and by regulating and making public established rights in the future the dangerous system of seeking improper advantages will be terminated.

There are Japanese who take this broad view and yet are reluctant to risk

the loss of what Japan as a late comer into the enterprise of getting spheres of influence in China has gained. The objections raised in this Conference to any plan which might occasion doubts about existing privileges have been chiefly raised by Japan.

Some of those privileges, however, have been secured since the time when John Hay obtained from all the Powers interested in China assent to his Open Door Doctrine. This policy announced anew here at Washington is not new. It was established by Mr. Hay and reiterated by the agreement jointly signed by Mr. Root (Mr. Hay's successor as Secretary of State) and the then Japanese Minister to the United States, Baron Takahira. In the later Lansing-Ishii Agreement it was, in Japanese opinion, modified, because that recognized that Japan had special interests in China. Whether modified or not, however, it has not been uniformly observed. Japan's Twenty-one Demands upon China constituted an open disregard of the principle. Unless, therefore, the Powers are to revert to the cutthroat competition that was making of China a mere prey and was leading to conflicts and inevitable war, they must stop seeking special monopolistic privileges, and they must let everything they have done or hereafter do be known to the world. The Open Door, if it is to be a fact instead of a motto, involves, then, the double policy of self-denial and publicity.

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To make the policy of self-denial effectual the Conference, after a long discussion, evolved from a proposal by Mr. Hughes a resolution consisting of three articles. By the first the Western nations and Japan agreed not to seek or support their nationals in seeking any general superiority of rights in China, or such monopoly as would deprive other nationals of the right of undertaking any trade or industry or would frustrate the practical application of equal opportunity. Of course this would not apply to patents or copyrights, as was made plain by an additional sentence. By the second China bound herself to observe this principle in dealing with all foreign nations. By the third the Conference arranged for the establishment of a Board of Reference to which disputes concerning conflicting claims could be brought for investigation and not decision but report. Α fourth resolution, providing that existing claims could by common consent be brought before the Board of Reference, was withdrawn by a British delegate (Sir Robert Borden) when Japan objected. Inasmuch, however, as nothing prevents any two parties to a dispute from bringing an existing claim before the Board, anyway, the withdrawal was significant only as an indication that apparently every nation (certainly Great Britain as well as America) was willing to refer to the Board its existing claims as well as any future claims it may have, except Japan.

Then the Conference proceeded to

(C) 1921 G. Prince. From an unpublished photograph taken in the White House and approved by the President.

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WARREN GAMALIEL HARDING

ERHAPS the least conspicuous of all the great figures of the Armament Conference has been that of the man who called it. Mr. Harding has not driven; but he has led. There are some who believe that the best way to get joint action among men is for one of them to tell the rest what to do. Mr. Harding has never acted on that theory. In his home town of Marion he was a leader in local affairs because he could get men together to talk matters over and come to a common understanding for common action. In the conduct of his newspaper he secured co-operation by making his associates, as it were, his partners. Now he has acted in the same way upon seeing the need for joint action among nations. And because of his belief in the power of public opinion, he has secured, through the press (which as a newspaper man he values), the co-operation, not merely of statesmen, but of peoples. His belief in the usefulness of neighborliness he shares with what is called the average citizen. This is his one big contribution to the affairs of state And now Mr. Lloyd George follows him and talks in the same way of the proposed Conference at Genoa. The Harding Doctrine is spreading. And, having started this Conference at Washington, President Harding has stepped into the background and left Mr. Hughes to guide the assembled delegates in the attempt to make an international neighborhood out of the nations they represent.

apply this principle of equal opportunity through self-denial to the specific question of railway management. Within a nation's sphere of influence in China its nationals might easily be made the beneficiaries of discrimination in rates or facilities. Indeed, the charge has frequently been made that on the South Manchuria Railway, which is under Japan's control, Japanese receive privileges which are denied to other nationals. So all the nations, including China, promised not to exercise or permit unfair discrimination on the railways in China, in particular in respect of nationality as to passengers, or origin or destination of goods, or of the ship on which they may be conveyed after or before transportation on the railways; and all these Powers agreed that any question of such discrimination might be referred to the Board of Reference. At Mr. Hughes's suggestion, the nations recorded their hope that all the railways (now under diverse control, some of them under foreign ownership and management, some Chinese Government lines) would ultimately be unified into a system under Chinese control.

(This, by the way, does not include the Chinese Eastern Railroad, which is a problem by itself, for it was built by Russia as a continuation of the TransSiberian Railway, is owned mainly (seventy-five per cent) by French stockholders, and is now under the control of an interallied commission headed by an American. This railway is still under consideration, with a view possibly to ultimate restoration to a regenerated Russia.

Having thus dealt with the policy of equality through self-denial, as I call it, the nations turned their attention to equality through publicity. After a prolonged discussion, which I have not the space here to report, the nations at the Conference agreed to publish all the agreements with China or concerning China of which they had knowledge, in so far as they affected China's international relations. Of course this does not include private contracts for the sale of ordinary goods; but it does include such matters as the sale of munitions, and of course all treaties or conventions between China and other nations, and treaties or conventions between foreign nations concerning China, or agreements between foreign nationals and the Chinese Government. There is a provision in the Covenant of the League of Nations for the publication of all future treaties; but the Washington plan concerns all treaties now in force, and includes such agreements to which private or corporate persons are parties that are international in scope. The resolution incorporating these provisions is elaborate and detailed. It provides that all such agreements shall be filed with the Secretariat of the Conference, and that China shall notify all these nations of any. agreement she or any local authority has with any one of them or any other foreign nation or any of their nationals.

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And it invites other Powers to adhere to this agreement.

In the meantime the nations assembled here reverted to the policy of selfdenial and agreed not to support "any agreement by their respective nationals with each other designed to create spheres of influence or to provide for the enjoyment of exclusive opportunity in designated parts of Chinese territory."

So far as I have been able to learn at this time, the best friends of China are extraordinarily gratified by this record of progress. Not until now has there been in all of China's history so

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concerted an action to end the rivalries and conflicts that have made of her an almost passive cause of war. The few who sneer at what has been done because of what has not been done are not serving China or the cause of international good will. It is true that all that has been done is as yet tentative. It is still in the committee stage. It has yet to be assembled into a common agreement.

One or two questions undecided can hold up progress on all the rest. The process of consulting in two or three languages is necessarily slow, par

ticularly when discussion has to wait for answers to inquiries sent by cable half-way around the world. This is not a congress or legislature. Nothing can be carried over the protest of a minority. Even when adopted here, each conclusion remains inconclusive until at least the Senate here and the corresponding authorities in other countries approve it. Then the achievements of these past few days, obscured as they have been by public interest in other contemporary events, will be recognized as not the least among the products of this Conference.

II. THE NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE

EGINNING with President Harding and virtually closing with William Jennings Bryan, the first session of the National Agricultural Conference was furnished with one striking contrast. Mr. Harding, dignified, reposeful, suave, commanded by his bearing, his temperament, and his manner respectful and sympathetic attention and won approval. Mr. Bryan, by turns informal, oratorical, fiery, scathing, elicited applause, laughter, and even yells, and confirmed in the faith those who agreed with him. Mr. Bryan appealed to the narrow motive of class welfare by saying that there had been no time in thirty years when there had not been a Wall Street bloc; the difference being that, while the Wall Street bloc acted secretly, the agricultural bloc acted openly. Mr, Harding, on the other hand, appealed to the motive of National welfare by saying that the farmer's interest is a truly National interest, and not entitled to be regarded as primarily the concern of either a class or a section, "or," he added, departing from his prepared address, "a bloc." But that was not the only contrast in this the first conference of its kind.

The setting and the audience furnished a contrast quite as striking. The ballroom of the New Willard Hotel is not exactly one's notion of a normal farm environment. It isn't quite as ornate as the Clock Hall at Paris, where the Peace Conference sat, but its scheme of decoration hardly suggests the closeness to nature, the vigor of open-air life. the daily contact with hard reality, the virile struggle, that characterize the constant experience of men who are proud to be known as "dirt farmers." And the men who constituted that assemblage were in face and bearing typical of the multitudes who are to-day, as they always have been, the strength of this country. Here and there I could see a gray beard, but for the most part bronzed, firmly featured, clean-shaven faces set above strong, well-knit bodies. To look at these men was enough to confirm one's faith in the permanence of the Republic. If appearance was any guide at all, these three hundred men or so had qualities that explain the

Nation's stability-qualities of common sense, trustworthiness, persistence, intelligence, courage.

There was, however, a yet stronger contrast, but one not visible. These men came from every State in the Union. They represent fully one-third, perhaps more nearly one-half, of the population. Not all of them are "dirt farmers." Not a few of them are manufacturers or distributers. All, however, represent that part of the population whose livelihood depends directly upon agriculture and the callings allied with it. And these men, almost without exception, have been encountering conditions that literally constitute disaster.

It was during the first day's session that man after man reported agriculture carried on, not only without profit, but actually at a heavy loss. Potato growers and dairymen of the northeastern States, cotton planters of the South, farmers of the corn belt, people of the wheat country, stock raisers East and West alike have had to market their products at prices below cost of production and transportation, and all are facing conditions ahead of them that look still worse. In some cases the farmers of entire communities have been virtually without purchasing power for two years. Contrast with that picture of conditions the tone of the spokesmen for these sections. In some other countries it would be the tone of Communism and even Bolshevism. Here the tone was that of sober, reasonable readjustment, fair dealing, and progress. Even the most radical measures of relief that any one advocated were defended, not by means of a plea for class or group privilege, but by arguments for the removal of alleged exceptional disabilities. The most radical utterances came from the spokesman from North Dakota-the home of the Non-Partisan League and from Mr. Bryan; and, though these utterances might be opposed on the ground that they were economically unsound, they could hardly be tolerated by the most tolerant of revolutionary Socialists,

What is certain to save such a situation is a sense of humor. No people with a sense of humor could find them

selves in the plight of Russia. If any American has a sense of humor, it is the American farmer. It was a Vermonter at this Conference who described the farmers' plight by the following story: A farmer drove to the town one evening in his buggy. He went to the general store, where he imbibed too freely. When he got into his buggy, the old mare lay down in her tracks. As he took up the reins he clucked and said, "Git up, there, Nell, or I'll drive right over you." The American farmer, said the speaker, is like the old mare. He left it to his hearers to infer that the rest of the country cannot go on till the farmer gets back on his feet.

The President's speech evidently made a great impression on his audience. Indeed, it was not so much a speech as a paper, read in even, distinct tones, without any effort at oratory. He pointed out that there were really two problems in the present state of agriculture. One was the problem of meeting an existing emergency; the other was one of providing a permanent modification of policy. He reviewed briefly the history of landownership, showing how "the ownership of the land became the symbol of favor and aristocracy, while the working of it was the task of menials," and how the soil has gradually been emancipated from this low estate. He urged changes in the law adapting credit to the farmer's turnover period, and giving the same access to ample capital which the business man enjoys. He indorsed the movement toward cooperative action in farm marketing. He urged measures to prevent fluctuations in production, possibly having in mind the principle of cutting down the peaks of production and filling up the troughs which was applied in the Conference on Unemployment. He suggested electrification of railways as a benefit to agriculture, and he definitely indorsed the St. Lawrence waterway project to extend the seaways to the inland of the continent. He urged reclamation and forestry. And he put before his hearers his estimate of the farmers' profession as calling for the highest intelligence, the greatest versatility, and the best training. January 23, 1922.

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MELUTIN, ASSISTANT CHAIRMAN OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL FOR ECONOMY
They do not much resemble the Bolsheviki of the popular cartoonist-but the

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