Meanwhile, the United States has taken the lead in recognizing
the Nationalist Government and even in the work of Treaty revision. Mr. Kellogg has promised the Nanking Government tariff autonomy and at the same time has acquired for the United States the advan- tages of a most-favoured-nation clause.. In doing this the United States has not substantially departed from the policy which is already common to the Powers ; the real departure is the American decision to act indepen- dently' without consulting the other Powers. The united front which was provided for in the WaShington Treaty is thus broken tip. We can understand the motive of the State Department. No doubt it wanted to " get things going " ; it wanted to set a good example of friendliness to China ; it was afraid that revision would be lost sight of while the Powers argued aimlessly about the representative character of the Kuomintang.
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