Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/578

 the Japanese government venture the wild proposal to break another of Japan's recent promises?

Japan began and carried through this whole matter by the clever use of misinformation and broken promises, which successfully hoodwinked the American public. For this reason I urge with all the power at my command that the course of events should be carefully watched by those who are interested in the preservation of the principle of an open door in the Orient, and the preservation of rights which, though only partially utilised as yet, are full of potentialities for the future; and I urge that immediate steps be taken to forestall the concession to Japan, by the executive department of our government, of the right to dominate the persons and the interests of American citizens in Korea.

My belief that vigilance is necessary is based upon the following consideration. The treaty-making power is vested in Congress and not in the executive. The latter cannot add a single word to a treaty between the United States and a foreign power. It follows that the executive cannot abrogate, or drop a single word from, an existing treaty. Is it not pertinent, then, to ask by what authority our treaty obligations to Korea were so summarily impaired? If the clause by which we guarantee to use our good offices to help Korea in case she is oppressed can be ignored by our executive officials, why should they not be able to turn over our nationals to Japanese jurisdiction or consent to a change in Korean customs tariffs which would kill our promising trade. This would be only a natural outcome of the manifest tendency of our executive to assume legislative functions. The trouble is that Americans do not realise that the tender feeling of Japan toward us politically is based upon the fact that we are giving her every opportunity to kill us commercially in the Far East.

But even the establishment of a protectorate by Japan would not necessarily mean the certain destruction of Korean nationality if it were carried out along internationally legal lines. Japanese statesmen who are supposed to represent the real feelings of the