The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1921-09-02
6oRAH ANSWERS HUGHES

It is timely warning that Senate
Borah gives to the President when h
says that disarmament must be the
dominant question at the Washington
conference and that any plan or anv
programme which makes the ouestion
OF disarmament subordinate or :,
cidental proposition rather than tha
main and controlling proposition win
result in the future ais it has IN tho
past, is no relief to the taxpayer and
no relief from war;
This is Senator Borah's answer IL
Secretary Hughes dubious dictun
that the prospect of reduced arma-
ments is not hopeful one unless
this desire finds expression in a prac.
teal effort to remove causes Of mis-
understanding and to seek ground for
agreement as to principles and their
application Senator Borah knows
as Mr.. Harding and Mr.. Hughes ought
to know, that if the limitation Of arma-
ment must be postponed until all mis-.
understandings are removed and the
nation have reached a. common agree
ment on all principles of foreign rela-
tons, there will be no limitation of
armament.
The theory that it is necessary to
settle all the questions Of the Pacific
and the Far East before adopting a
plan for the limitation of armament is
wholly iAntenable. It is the conpeti-
ton of armament which makes these
| questions serious. If that menace were
once removed, the other issues would
become relatively simple. At least
they would not present the continuing
danger of war or bankruptcy.
Too much emphasis has been laid
| by the Administration on the Pacific
in relation to disarmament A writer
in the London Outlook sums up that
case unanswerably in single para
graph:
The Pacific probleFa. for all its size,
is essentially a local problem; it is of
little actual interest TO France, ii is
no longer Of any interest to Germany,
! it cannot be said to be vital to Italy,
and it is OF no interest whatever to,
say, Czecho-Slovaki But if the cues
tion Of the limitation of ornaments is
Ito be discussed as a local problem Of
the Pacific, it will not have greater
effect on international politics than
naturalization Of one part of the
world; it will not be a general CON
tribution to world politics. If, on the
other, hand, the limitation Of arrna-
ments is to be discussed as a general
policy, then obviously this confer
ence will become very different mat
ter. For the limitation of ornaments
touches not only what is popularity call
ed the Big Three, but tile little Three
Dozen, or whatever the number of
states represented at Versailles may
/ have been. 1t is not a local but a
universal question.
If Mr. Harding mad really desired
i todeal with Pacific and Far Eastern
questions in relation to disarmament,
he had his opportunity in the Borah
resolution which restricted the. con
/ ference to Great Britain, Japan and
the United States. These are the
three naval powers, the three great
nations chiefly responsible for the
competition in dreadnoughts, and they
are also the three great powers chiefly
concerned with Pacific and Far Easter
questions The President, having
strongly opposed the Borah resolu-
ton, insisted, when ne found he was
beaten, on plunging beyond the Borah
proposals and bringing in all the Prin- |
cipal Allied and Associated Powers,
thus raising the issue Of land forces
as well as sea forces This having
been done, inspired dispatches be.
gan to dribble from Washington to the
effect that the Presidents real pur-
pose was to effect an association of
nations. Everything else was thus to
be subordinated to the political expe-
T dent of inyenting foreign policy for
L the Administration.
1t is against this that Senator Borah |
is protesting. and in doing so he is
performing a public service OF the
highest value Disarmament cannot
be made secondary issue at the
washington conference. II it is, no mat
ter what the pretext, the conference
will fail 1t a time when failure spells
~ Ia nifty World