been in the previous decade. This would be a blow to American export
trade. Now the acquisition of the Philippine Islands gave us a vantage
point from which we could consistently exert influence in Oriental
affairs. In September, 1899, John Hay addressed a note to the European
Powers interested, asking recognition of the policy of the "open door,"
which means that no power should exclude the citizens of other nations
from equal trade rights, within its sphere of influence, in China.
Without winning complete acceptance from all the nations, the justice of
this policy was, in the main, approved.
