Since the Government refrained from pressing for special favors in any single part of the Chinese Empire, it could demand that American interests be not infringed anywhere.

The Secretary of State realized that in a democracy statesmen cannot overlook the necessity of condensing their policies into popular catchwords or slogans.

Today such phrases represent in large measure the power referred to in the old saying: "Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws." The single phrase, "scrap of paper," probably cost Germany more than any one of her atrocious deeds in the Great War.

Hay's policy with regard to China had the advantage of two such phrases.

The "golden rule," however, proved less lasting than the "open door," which was coined apparently in the instructions to the Paris Peace Commission.
This phrase expressed just what the United States meant.