Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-01-18
NEW DIPLOMACY
NEED OF TIMES
Chairman Ainey Discusses
Trend of International
Affairs at This Period

The interchange of ambassadorial
legislative representatives among the
worlds parliamentary bodies is an
essential step in the program of
world democratization, in the opin-
ion of Public Service Commissioner
w. ID. B. Ainey.
Diplomacy has Jagged behind
democracy by at least 500 years."
says Commissioner Ainey, who has
just been notified from Christiana,
Norway, of his election to life men,
bership in the Inter-Parliamentary
Union "a recognition accorded to
only two other Americans-Senator
Root and Senator Burton. The
lnter-Parliamentary Union was
brought into being by members of
the British House of Commons and
the French Chamber of Deputies,
who conceived the idea that the leg
islative bodies of the world powers
should have some means, even
though unofficial, of meeting on
common grounds in order to ex-
change views and get in touch with
the various problems that affect the
foreign policies of the various ma
tons. Many of the propositions con-
sidered in the first and second
Hague conferences originated as a
result of the deliberations of this
union. Commissioners Ainey has
been made permanent member of
the er-Parliamentary Union upon
| the recommendation of the Amer
lean branch, composed of senators
and congressman, in recognition of
his services while a member of Con-
gress in promoting better under
| standing between the United States
and Japan. AS a member of the
| Foreign Affairs committee he gave
much time to the So-called Japanese
| question; and the work done by him
| and his colleagues contributed large
| ly to laying the foundation of good
will which has resulted so recently
in a constructive international pol
icy affecting these two countries.
Diplomacy had it's origin in days
when monarchs were supreme and
ambassadors represented their per-
sonal selection" says Commissioned
| Ainey. This kind of diplomacy is
| too secretive and too unresponsive
to meet the needs of the present
age.
with the advent of parliaments
more responsive to the will of the
people there did not occur CORE
spending change in the method oi
selecting these foreign representa-
tives, so that the issues of war and
peace now rest largely in the hands
of the few. Hardly a half dozen
men, none of them selected by oi
| responsible to the English parlia.
nent, the Russian Duma, the French
Senate or Chamber of Deputies, de.
termined to a large extent the is.
sues resulting in the present war. II
is needless to say that foreign pol.
icies are equally beyond the contro
of the German people.
"If with the dawn of new day
when peace shall properly come
there shall, by international accord
he created and sent a larger repre-.
sentation from country to country
/ composed of one or more persons Sc
lected by the chief executive and oi
one or more selected by the Senate
and House, and to act as an am.
bassadorial college in the country tt
which they are severally attributed
q long step toward securing anC
maintaining international comfy
will have been taken.
! II do not think that such a steI
can properly be taken in advance OF
the conclusion of the war, but the
preliminary may well be discussed ir
Congress and plans considered prior
to that time.
/ "While it is true that in Grea
Britain questions of policy, including
foreign policy, are occasionally de
termined through appeals to tn,
country, and in that sense the Brit
ish House of Commons is in closel
touch with the foreign problems O
the British empire than is tn,
/ American congress with the foreign
! problems of this country, still there
as here, the method is cumbersom,
and wrong in principle. Let the rep
resentatives of the various parlia
ments of the world be enabled Off
Toll IN ~, nIn xKrffI
each other, whereby the opportunity
Cor misunderstanding would bt
greatly minimized. The develop
ment of the er-Parliamentar!
Union is of and in itself step il
the right direction"