The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-08-28
BIG TRIBUNAL
IS OFFERED BY
Sen. HARDING
Tells Indiana Delegation League
Is Absolute Failure.
Would Give Hague Tribunal
Teeth to Bite.
U. S. CANNOT SAVE PACT
Twenty-Eight Nations Now in
1t Have Failed.
Says He Voted for Lodge Reser.
vatiOns With Reluctance.
j. S. CANNOT SAVE PACT
Says He Voted for Lodge Reser-
vatiOns With Reluctance.
BY RAYMOND CLAPPER

MARION, u, Aug. 2S.-"Hope of world
peace lies in putting teeth in The
Hague tribunal, not in the League of of
Natons, which has undoubtedly
passed beyond the possibility of restor-
alton. Warren G. Harding declared in
ms speech to delegation from In
diana here today
The Republican candidate came out
flatiy for scrapping the league. which
ne says has proven utterly impo-
tent as a preventive of war and for
incorporating any of its merits in a
court of international justice, ami
mated by consideration of right ana
terest.
This court. he believes. might wen
be supplemented by world associa-
ton for conference"
Is Sentiment of Party.
His speech today, devoted exclusive
" to the league issue, was the result
OF many conferences with party lead
ers- A delegation from Minnesota
came down to hear il. Governor Cox.
Harding said. is in favor of going into
the league on the basis announced bv
President Wilson.
I am not" he added sharply. THAT
is the whole difference between US. but
II is most vital one because ii in
wolves the disparity between a world
court of justice supplemented bv a
world association for conference on
one hand and the council of the league
on the other'
Drawing a contrast between his
court plan and the league council.
Harding continued:
Is Not New Thing.
THE one is a judicial tribunal to he
governed by fixed and definite prin-
ciples of law administered without
passion or prejudice. The other is an
ASSOCIATION OF diplomats and politi-
! clans whose determinations are sure to
be Influenced by Consideration of ex-
pediency and national seIfishness.'
harding said he is proposing no
new thing
This country is already a member
of such a society. The Hague tri-
bunal, which unlike the league OF
Versailles, is still functioning and
within few weeks will resume its
committee sessions under the chair
tive. In that body We have the frame
work of really effective instru-
mentality of enduring peace.
Let's Give 1t Teeth.
What once seems at The Hague
to be a mere academic discussion,
mas become a position, outstanding
need of facing terrifying actualities
This makes vastly easier the task Of
$50 strengthening The Hague tribunal
as to render its DEGREES either ac-
ceptable or enforceable.
1T is not uncommon for the advo-
contrast unfavorably The Hague tri-
bunal upon the ground that it lacks
teeth.
Very well then, let's put teeth
into It.
IF in the Versailles league there
can be found machinery which could
be appropriated, by all means let 1t be
he went on
Il would take and combine all that
is good and excise all that is bad from
both organizations"
This statement Harding said. lis
broad enough TO include the sugges-
ton that If the league is so interviewer
with the peace of Europe that its
good must be preserved 70 stabilize
the peace of that continent, then It can
be amended or revised 50 that we may
still have a remnant Of woFld aspira-
tions in 1918 builded into the worlds
highest conception of helpful cooper
Grafton in the ultimate realization.
And without Sacrifice.
st believe humanity" he said.
would welcome creation of an inter-
national association for conference and
a world court whose verdicts upon
justiciable questions places this coun-
try in common with all nations would
be both willing and able to uphold
The decision Of such a court or the
recommendations of such confer
ence could be accepted without sacri-
ficing on our part or asking any other
power to sacrifice one iota of its ma
tionality''
Should he be elected president,
Harding intends, he said. calling into
conference the abIest minds of the
country with regard to profession or
ISarty to formulate a definite. prac-
tical plan along the line already indi-
Gated for the consideration of the con-
trolling foreign powers"
Rcdrafting Up to L. 5.
The suggestion that America under.
takes the work of redrafing an inter-
national code was recently made in >
British ambassador to the United
States. Harding said.
Had the league been ratifede we
would already have been called upon.
under Article 10 to fulfill the obliga-
tion to preserve the territorial integ-
rity of Poland. Harding said.
THE council of the League OF Ma
tions would have reasoned and rea-
soned correctly that the United States
would furnish munitions and II neces-
sary the men to Withstand the hordes
advancing from Russia far more cas-
ily than could the exhausted nations
of Europe" ne argued. There would
have been a moral obligation on con-
gress. he said, TO back up this article
of the league
Voted for League Reluctantly.
NO congress would ever dare make
this nation appear as a welcher.
1T was reluctantly and with grave
misgivinEs" that Harding voted for the
league with the Lodge reservations. he
said
But conditions have changed BE