The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-11-28

Disarmament Gathering. s
& BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial Dispatch to The Reformer.)
Copyright 1921.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2S.-Presidentl
Harding has taken informally the first
step toward the perpetuation of the idea
of international conference as developed
by the meeting of the present conference
for the limitation of ornaments.
Mr.. Harding is sounding the powers as
to his plan 1t is not a league of nations
nor an association of nations in the sense
that the Versailles treaty created an in,
ternational body. No such formal or rigid
institution nor such rules and regulations
or obligations as the covenant of the
league provided are in Mr.. Hardings mind
but he does hope to develop a sequel to
the first and second Hague conferences of
1899 and 1907 which may benefit by the
acceptance of these two international
gatherings and bring about general get
together meeting of nations at frequent
intervals.
The President has about him men like
Hlihu Root who are familiar with The
Hague conference work and its effects
and who can advise him how to avoid
the pitfalls of those meetings. One trou-
BILE was that the initiative in calling The
Hague conferences was left to an indiyid-
ual. The Emperor of Russia called the
meeting in 1899 and it was President
Roosevelt who was about to bring the
second conference into session when the
Emperor of Russia again took the inltia-
tive in 1907. The understanding then
was that the conferences would be held
every seven years and a third conference
was about to be summoned when the Euro
pean war clouds of 1914 gathehed and
prevented a meeting.
First Improvement.
Mr.. Harding's first improvement on the
original Hague plan is the setting up of
all machinery for the calling of the confer
ences. Here at Washington that point
will be discussed and it is indeed the only
thing that need be laid before the powers
for Mr.. Harding'S idea is that the confer
ence shall make its rules when il meets
shall frame its own program and taGe &C
ton as sovereign nations and not as IA
super government. The President feels
that the principal allied powers constitute
nucleus. Instead of leaving the call
of the conference to one executive or one
government, a standing committee might
be appointed consisting of Representatives
of several countries TO whom petition
for an international conference could be
made. For the moment the President feels
that a meeting every year would be a.
good idea, but some provision would
have to be made, Of course, for the calling
of a conference when emergencies dcvel-
oped and it is for that reason standing
committee has been urged by some of the
counsellors who have laid the matter be-
fore Mr.. Harding. -
Germany an Opponent.
1t is more than a coincidence perhaps
that the first Hague conference was called
for the very purpose of limiting arlna
ments, but Germany was unwilling to
agree to n reduction or limitation The
first Hague conference of 1899 was more
or less experimental, only 26 governments
being represented. The second confer
ence in 1907 found "A states represented.
and definite rules of international law
were drawn up, which unfortunately were
diSregarded by many of these powers
when the war of 1914 broke out
Far from attempting to create a rival
OF the league of nations, Nc. Harding
l1c0 Is that the latter body i essentially
an institution for the enforcement Of the
treaty of Versailles and as such has a !
peculiarly valuable function which af-
the peace of the world. But since The
Versailles league is so closely interviewer
with penalties growing out of u war Mr.. |
Harding believes that nations which did !
not participate in the last war should en- |
ter a new conference free from any pre-
'A'tA' NSAh'A1NtA'Ai WIN european ulSJuteS.
Worldwide Organization. ...
The feeling among the Presidents adj |
viSers is that the league of nations should |
be perpetuated for the benefit of Europe
but that it's influence will always be re- /
glOnal while the calling of n conference |
as a sequel to The Hague conference
win be worldwide and absolutely divorced
from any particular group of nations. or
their interests Mr.. Root has the idea
that movements for international coon
Grafton are necessarily slow q nd cnnnnt