The Washington herald., 1920-01-30
LITTLE HOPE
OF SETTLING
TREATY SPLIT
Conferees Will Make One
More Effort to Agree
Today.
NEW POLL OF SENATE
.Irreconcilables Now Claim
Votes Enough to Pre-
vent Cloture.
new POLL OF SENATE

No gain in the direction of
compromise on treaty reservations
was made at yesterdays meeting Of
the bipartisan conferees. 1t was
expected that the metin yesterday
would bring the opposing treaty fac
tions nearer to some basis OF agree
ment which could command support
of the sixty-four woes necessary for
ratification, but the absence of Sem
ator Lenroot, due to illness In his
family. caused the postponement of
the conference until today. Little
hope is held out for any concrete ac-
tion. however. that will extricate the
treaty from it's present deadlocke ed
position, and Senator Hitchcock will
leave after today's conference for
Nebraska. where he will remain for
week to attend to business mat
ters.
Meanwhile. although the biparti-
san conferences have not yet been
called OF, nothing is expected in the
way of actual progress toward an
agreement until the return of the
Nebraska leader.
The irreconcilables yesterday were
reported to have furnished Senator
Hitchcock with a new poll of the
Senate. purporting to show enough
votes to defeat any motion for en-
forcement of the cloture rule, which
they claimed would prevent ratifi-
cation. il any change is made in the
Lodge reservations.
Antis Can't Defeat Treaty.
1t is not believed that the ire
concilables can command enough
votes to prevent the treaty's ratifi-
cation in case changes should be
made in the Lodge reservations. in
asmuch as Senator Lodge himself
served notice on the Johnson Borah
group last week that he would 1oin
in no move to defeat the treaty
Senator Hitchcock will make no
effort to have the treaty called up
for debate on the floor of the Senate
unless he is convinced that nothing
can be gained by continuing the BIZ
partisan conferences. If at today's
meeting of the conferees no gain
has been made and the Lodge forces
adhere to their refusal to have any
changes made in the Lodge reserva-
tions. Senator Hitchcock will serve
notice that ten days hence he will
offer a motion that the treaty be
called up for debate in the Senate.
Should the conference today indi-
cate that a continuation of the BIZ
partisan meetings Might be advisa-
BILE. the administration spokesman
for the treaty will make no move
toward having the treaty called up
until later meetings of the con-
ferees net a gain toward agreement,
or point>to the futility of carrying
on the meetings
When the time comes. Senator
Hitchcock said yesterday. he will
simply move to proceed to consider
alton of the treaty. He is confident.
he said. that majority of the Sem
ate will support such a motion.
In voting to take up the treaty
Senators will not. of course. be
pledging themselves to any partic-
ular set of reservations. but only
helping to get things moving.
Senator Hitchcock said he plans
to present a program of reserva-
tions as tentatively agreed upon by
the bipartisan conferees before the
conference were interrupted. This
he said. will furnish a basis from
which to start working.
Opposes Underwood Plan. d.
The Nebraskan said he will go
to the Senate with the treaty" in
preference to supporting the Under
wood resolution for conciliatioa
committee, IL the bipartisan confer
ences fail.
Senator Underwood said yesterday
he had received no word from the
White House to the effect that his
plan for the appointment of a con-
ciliatory committe was strongly IA
vored by the President. as reported.
He said that IL nothing comes from
the bipartisan conference he will
make an effort to get his resolution
up in the Senate and have it acted
on. He added:
IF the Senate should take this
action, we should have at least an
official committee. which would be
obliged to make report to the Senate
either that sixty-four yotes for rafi
fication could be obtained or could
not be obtained. By this means we
should at least know what the situ-
alton Is. even IL the committee on
conciliation should not be able to
agree upon reservations suitable to
two-thirds of the Senate"