Panama and the canal in picture and prose .. . is silent. Itis cynically correct. Internationalagreements to maintain the integrityor neutrality of a territory last onlyuntil one of the parties to the agree-ment thinks it profitable to break then becomes the business of allthe other parties to enforce the pact,and it is usually shown that whatis everybodys business is nobodysbusiness. Consider a partial record: The independence of Korea wasguaranteed by four Great Powers in1902. Inside of two years the Jap-anese Admiral Uriu violated the in-dependence of the Korean port ofChemulpo by sin
Panama and the canal in picture and prose .. . is silent. Itis cynically correct. Internationalagreements to maintain the integrityor neutrality of a territory last onlyuntil one of the parties to the agree-ment thinks it profitable to break then becomes the business of allthe other parties to enforce the pact,and it is usually shown that whatis everybodys business is nobodysbusiness. Consider a partial record: The independence of Korea wasguaranteed by four Great Powers in1902. Inside of two years the Jap-anese Admiral Uriu violated the in-dependence of the Korean port ofChemulpo by sinking two Russiancruisers in it, and shortly thereafter Japan practicallyannexed the country. None of the Powers that hadguaranteed its independence protested. Austria-Hungary in 1908 annexed Bosnia andHerzegovina, despite the fact that seven Powers, in-cluding Austria-Hungary herself, had fixed thesovereignty of those provinces in Turkey. Thesignatory powers grumbled a little, but that was W. E. Hall, recognized as the greatest living. authority on international law, ob-serves cynically, and truthfully,that treaties are only permanentlyobeyed when they represent the con-tinued wishes of the contractingparties. Prussia once guaranteed the inde-pendence of Poland, and in twoyears took the leading part in blot-ting it off the roll of nations. Illustrations of the failure of na-tions to observe the rights of neu-trals are common. Turkey andKorea afford recent illustrations ofnations that have entrusted theirnational integrity to internationalagreements. Nothing remains of Koreas nationality but a name, and the Allies are rapidly carving Turkey to bits while the Great Powers that guaranteed her integrity look on in amazed and impotent alarm. The United States itself has not been wholly without share in such high-handed proceedings. In the event of a GENERATIUX
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Keywords: ., bookauthorabbotwil, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1913
