The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1920-08-02
HARDING AND THE TREATY
lChlekasha Expressl

In his speech accepting the Repub-
lican nomination for president, Sena.
tor Harding certainly did his best
to elucidate his party platform with
reference TO the peace treaty and
II the opinion Of Senator Johnson is
to be accepted, he labored with con
siderable success, Senator Johnson,
one OF the bitter enders," expresses
himself as entirely satisfied with the
attitude Of Mr. Harding.
II Mr. Harding is elected, ii ap.
pears that his policy will be to recon
mend the passage of a peace resolu
tion, such as was proposed in the
last session of congress by Senator
Knox, and then. by diplomatic nego.
tiations endeavor to get together with
the other nations on permanent peace
arrangement in the form of a court
Of arbitration and Cancellation. He
does not deal with particulars in pre-.
senting his own IDEAS on this PROPOSE
ton and hence we are left in the dark
as 10 the precise features of his
scheme. 1t is a logical deduction from
his language that he favors the total
rejection of the treaty brought back
from Paris by President Wilson.
The position of the Democratic
party in regard to the treaty is made
plain by the San Francisco platform.
1t favors the ratification Of the treaty,
including the league Of nations cove
nant, with any internretative reserva-
tions which are dee med necessary
70 Clarity its meaning without modi-
fy!ag ne essential features Of it.
Thar this has been the attitude Of
r,sident Wilson, is Iaode urmistaS
= not only ly lis emphatic ap.
prOv0l Of the Democratic platform,
bu: also by his utterances from time
TO tine throughout the long discus
sion Of the matter
The passage of a resolution declur.
ing the existence Of a state Of peace
with Germany, without reference to
the Paris treaty to which this coun-
try is not signatory and would not
be if Mr.. Hardings policy is carried
out, would mean that it would be up
to America alone, without the all Of
the powers with which she refuses
to join, to see to it that Germany
executes the terms Of the resolution.
If Germany should refuse to accept
any OF the conditions imposed. ii
would become necessary to use force.
Does this prospect hold out any hope
of less annoying business for Uncle
Sam overseas than the arrangement
embodied in the treaty whereby We
are partners with allied powers in ex-
ecuting the verdict of the Paris confer
ence?
With reference 80 Mr.. Harding's
plans for permanent peace by inter
national agreement, is there any good
reason to suppose that he can work
out any better arrangement than that
proposed by the league Of nations?
The bulk Of the criticism of the
covenant is directed toward Article
X which proposes, under certain con-
ditions, after all the resources of
arbitration and other less drastic RENE
dies have been exhausted, to use force
in order to restrain any nation seek
Ing to invade the territory of another
power. When the covenant as a
whole with all its strong provisions
for preserving peace, is considered,
it VIII be seen that any outbreak
of international outlawry is extreme
ly unlikely but should such "a disaster
threaten, the restraining force Of arms
is provided 10 hold the outlaw in
check.
1t is well known that before the
outbreak of the world war The Hague
conference was in existence but it
was more Of a debating society than