--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - J. M. Tanner collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 6 number: 8 published: 1903-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'J. M. Tanner, "Some Leading Events in the Current Story of the World," *Improvement Era* 6, no. 8 (June 1903): 614–619.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0608unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0608unse start_page: 614 end_page: 619 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1903-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0608unse publication_year: 1903 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1903, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Some Leading Events in the Current Story of the World SOME LEADING EVENTS IN THE CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. BY DR. J. M. TANNER, SUPERINTENDENT OP CHURCH SCHOOLS. Russia and Manchuria. Word was received the closing days of April from the United States minister at Pekin that Russia had declined to take any further steps toward the evacuation of Manchuria until China had granted certain concessions to Russia. The information was somewhat startling to this country, as Manchuria is a wealthy Chinese province in the north-eastern part of the Empire, and con- tains such resources as to invite the commercial activity of the enterprising nations of the world. At present, about thirty-five percent of the foreign importation of that province comes from the United States, and whatever, therefore, affects the open door pol- icy respecting Manchuria touches this country at a vital point. To understand the situation in this province, a brief review of Russia's relationship to Manchuria is of great importance. During the construction of the great Siberian railroad, Russia found her- self hard pressed for a seaport connecting this railway system that would be open winter and summer. The one farther north in Siberia, Vladivostok, is ice-bound a considerable portion of the year. China granted an outlet, and permitted the Russians to build a road through eastern Manchuria down to Port Arthur. During the year 1900, at the time of the Boxer outbreak, bands of Chinese troops, or armed rebels, passed beyond Manchuria into Siberia, and threatened Russian railway property, and created disturbances along the railroad in Siberia. To quell these disturb- CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 615 ances, and to protect its road in Manchuria, Russia mobilized a part of the Siberian army into this Chinese province. After the Boxer outbreak had been quelled, this and other governments be- came suspicious about Russia's prolonged military occupation of Manchuria, and sought to ascertain from the Czar's government assurances that the troops would be withdrawn from Manchuria. Russia assented to the request of the powers, and gave assurances that it would not seek to annex any Chinese territory. Later in the fall of 1901, it leaked out that Russia was negotiating a secret treaty with China which would practically put Manchuria under the control of Russia. Great Britain, Japan, and the United States protested vigorously against the treaty, and finally secured a mod- ification of it, and the treaty modified was signed on April 8, 1902, By this treaty, Russia was to withdraw her troops from Manchuria by October 8, 1903. China was to put sufficient troops in that province to protect the Russian railroad without the assistance of any foreign power. Since this treaty of April 8, of last year, the troops have been withdrawn from two thirds of Manchuria; but, before withdrawing the remainder of the troops, Russia is seeking to obtain such privilegesfrom China as will give her practically control of that province.The demands of Russia are stipulations on the part of China that no new treaty port shall be opened in Manchuria, that no new foreign consulates be permitted, that none but Russians be employed in any administrative capacity, civil or military, throughout Manchuria, while the Newchwang custom re- ceipts are to be paid into the Russo-Chinese bank. If these stipu- lations were granted, they would practicall/ close the door of our commerce, and the commerce of all other nations except Russia, to Manchuria. If Russia should succeed in this policy, it is only a question of time when Germany would adopt a similar policy in the adjoining province of Shantung, and the dismemberment of China, by the great powers, would practically begin. As soon as the announcement of Russia's demands was made, our sectretary of State, Mr, Hay, at once cabled to St. Petersburg, and to China, for further information, and at the same time entered our protest against any such act on the part of Russia. Word was returned by the Russian government that Russia had no such intentions, had made no such demands. Immediately after Russia's 616 IMPROVEMENT ERA. denials of such demands, the Chinese gave out the written demands which Russia had made, thus putting the Russians in a somewhat awkward position. The nations opposed to any such demands by Russia were the United States, Jacan, and Great Britain. Germany and France offered no opposition, as they are in harmony with Russia in her Chinese policy. It would be more difficult for us to protest against the exclusive occupation of Shantung by Germany, if we permitted Russia, without objection, to annex Manchuria. Russia is the most interested, and has the most at stake, of all the nations, and in view of her persistent policy of territorial aggrandizement and of her peculiar methods, it is practically certain that in the end Russia will have her way, even though for the present she has acquiesced in our demands. Russia, however, did not care to drive this country into any allied interests with Great Britain and Japan. Such a compination would be too strong for Russia, or any allies that she might be able to get, to withstand. In this instance, however, the United States acted entirely independent of Japan and Great Britain. The scenes of the great future commercial activities of the world are drifting, more and more, to the Pacific, so that the Chinese question, and the attitude of the powers toward this empire, con- stitute a political question of world-wide magnitude. The Troubles in Macedonia. The revolutionary efforts and anarchy now going on in Mace- donia bring up the old question of driving the Turk out of Europe. If the agitators among the Bulgarians and Macedonians should succeed in setting up an independent government of Macedonia, or annex it to Bulgaria, the Turk would have nothing left in Europe except the city of Constantinople, and that city would be so menaced as to make its surrender only a question of time. The plan of the Macedonian revolutionists there, and of the Bulgarians, seems to be to keep the country in such an uproar, and state of military excitement, that foreign nations will be led to interfere for the liberation of that Turkish province. Recently, the Mace- donians, at the seaport town of Salonica, blew up the Ottoman bank, portions of the railroad, and undertook to destroy the post- office and a number of cafes. It was discovered that the principal CURRENT STORY OF THE WORLD. 617 districts of the town had been mined, and that preparations had teen made for a general wholesale slaughter of all classes, without respect to nationality or sympathy. As it was, several hundred were killed. The object of such anarchy was, of course, to provoke the Turks to excesses. The Turks, however, arrested a large number of the revolutionists, and have established such a censor- ship of the newspapers and the telegraph lines that but little in- formation is had concerning the true status of affairs in Macedonia. The Turks, of course, do not want war with Bulgaria, as the Christian nations would not consent to the enlargement of the Sultan's domain in Europe. It is not easy, at this time, to under- stand just what the attitude of the great powers in the matter is. Austria and Russia are the most directly interested, and it is said they have come to an understanding that they will not permit Bul- garia to annex Macedonia, nor is it likely that they would consent to the establishment of an independent state in Macedonia. It would be to their special interests if Austria could have the sea- port of Salonica, and Russia could get Constantinople. It is hardly likely that England would consent to such an arrangement. The whole aifair is a decided muddle, and it is difficult to see just what the outcome would be if Turkey failed to establish order, and to meet the demands of governmental reforms in that province. A New Europe. The new combinations in European politics show some ex- tremely interesting modifications. Russia, Germany and France are in harmonious understanding concerning the far eastern question in China. These three countries geographically extend across Europe and Asia, in an unbroken line from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Heretofore, Austria and Russia have had conflicting policies respecting Macedonia; now these two nations have come to an understanding about this Turkish province —just what that understanding is, is not known. France and Germany are joining Austria and Switzerland in the construction of the Bagdad railway which, when completed, is sure to have an important influence on the Turkish question, and to be a strong competitor to the Suez Canal- Great Britain practically stands alone in all diplomacy affecting 618 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Europe and western Asia. She is allied with Japan on the Man- churian question. Recently, Great Britain has served notice on Russia, whose design it is to construct a railroad through Persia and Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf, that England will not tolerate the dominating influence of Russia over that water-highway, and especially would England not consent to the construction of any Russian ports on the Persian Gulf. Emperor William's Visit to Rome. At about the same time that King Edward was visiting Paris ^ the Emperor of Germany was carrying on a flirtation with the King of Italy, and the Pope, at Rome. There was, however, some real political purpose in the Emperor's mind in paying his respects to the Pope, and this political stroke is felt more strongly in France than anywhere else. For many years, France has assumed a general protectorate over Roman Catholics, and, anomalous as it may seem, France may at one and the same time pursue the Cath- olics of that republic with severity, and yet proclain its great sol- icitude for the welfare of Catholics in oriental countries. The pretense of protecting Catholics has afforded opportunities to an- nex parts of oriental countries, and to establish commercial under- takings in semi-civilized countries, against the protest of nations which felt that France ought not to interfere in their domestic affairs. As protector of Roman Catholics abroad, France has strengthened her position as one of the great colonial powers of Europe. Of late years, the German Emperor has claimed the right to share the national advantages for territorial expansion by looking after the interests of Catholics of German birth. Recently Ger- many practically annexed the Chinese province of Shantung, simply because a couple of Catholic missionaries had been killed in that province. This assumed protectorate is, as a rule, used more as an excuse for extending national influences, and acquiring terri- tory in foreign lands, than for any real love of the Roman Catholic church. The Germans have driven Jesuit Catholic orders out of their country, but are very anxious to protect them in other coun- tries where they have gone as missionaries. The French, of course, resent what they think to be an assumption on the part of Ger- ^ CURRENT S2GRY OF THE WORLD. 619 many and its Emperor in holding themselves out as the guardians of the Roman Catholic church abroad, when the French have played in that role for so long. The Emperor's visit, therefore, to Rome, will be just as irritating to the French as the visit of, and demon- strations over, King Edward at Paris will be annoying to the citizens of Germany, though perhaps it would be correct to say that most Germans are amused over such political flirtations. It is believed by many that one of the purposes of Emperor William's visit to Rome is to bring about some reconciliation between the pope and the king. Ever since the king of Italy, in 1870, took away from the pope a strip of country ruaning directly across Italy, the popes have shut themselves up in the Vatican at Rome and regarded themselves as prisoners. This act of conquest dispoiled the pope of all political power, and perhaps the man most disfavored today by the Roman Catholic church, is the head of the Roman Catholic state. The popes have insisted upon the restoration of the kingdom of Rome, and their temporal power; while the kings of Italy, and the governing classes, have as strenuously insisted that Italy shall remain a united country under the rule of her kings. The present Pope Leo has been so persistent in his self-imposed imprisonment that it is not at all likely that he will be willing, at his advanced age and on the verge of the grave, to listen to any compromise which it would be possible for the Emperor of Germany to bring about. King Edward in Paris, Notwithstanding the frequent newspaper wars between Eng- land and France, and the wounded sensibility of the French by the brusque and direct methods of English diplomacy, the Parisians gave King Edward a royal reception during his visit to their city, May 1, 1903. King Edward has always been more or less popular among the Parisians. During the king's station as Prince of Wales, he frequently visited Paris incognito. He was partial to the beau- tiful city, loved its promenades, and its exciting and fashionable life. The French are sentimental and emotional, and the prince's love for their city found a responsive good wish for him in their hearts.