Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-08-20
ADJUSTMENT, NOT ALLIANCE

Mo LITTLE of the political success Of
4 David Lloyd George is attrbuted-and
rightly so-to his facility in reducing tangled
problems to their simplest terms. This gift
is Enthusiastically displayed in his an
nounccd conviction that a greater under.
standing among the United States, Great
britain and Japan ION all the problems Of
the Pacific would be great event. which
would be n guarantee Of the peace of the
world. "
Thus expressed. the situation appears
Scductivcly simple. Granted an amicablc
and fair adjustment of those Pacific. affairs
in which the three nations are concerned,
there could be no question of its stabilzing
value But to admit this is somewhat like
saying that a good deed conceived in the
imagination is identical with a good deed
performed in fact.
1t Is tn" means rather than the ideal of
harmony which will be- in debate in the
Disarmament Conference. Upon the fnrmcr
point the ucdity of the British Prime Min
lister is confusing like the clcarncss of
crystalline deep waters.
Understanding is an elastic word ap-
plicable to any settlement of any sort which
the United States has ever made with any
foreign nation. The elucidation of the COM
plex, crisis cross issues of the Far East is
WV Va Nu' DuSlN ODJcClS VI lne ul'NllIlS III
Washington.
Alliance" however, implies in American
opinion obligations in future circumstances
to which the Nation has consistently refused
to bind itself. When Mr. LLOYD George
in his familiar. frankly engaging style,
passes fucntlv from defense of the cX-
ccedngly explicit ties linking his country
with japan to n fancicd conversion Of that
alliance into a tripartitc agreement between
those two nations and the United States
1t is time to call for definitions.
An understanding. in the broad sense
of that term, is what America unQucstion-
ably desires. preliminary arrangement
with attributes of an alliance is the very
reverse Of what the American Government
wishes to bring into the parley.
IT is needless to repeat why American
opinion on this subject is so formed and
why the rcpugnancy to foreign cntanglc-
mentS persists Mr.. Wilson tasted the fruits
originating in mere suggestion of them.
and If Mr.. Lloyd George is still in doubt
concerning this attitude he is likely to be
illuminated personally should he come to
Washington as delegate.
1t is, Of course, easily imaginable that
in his address to the Commons tho Prime
Minister was pndeavOrng 10 put the best
possible face upon the resumption of the
NHEIO-JHluu'Se AlIlAnce. WnllP ar the same
time responding to tho bulk of English lib
cral opinion and the findings of the recent
Imperial Conference in his plea for Amcri-
can 90 operation prior to the opening of the
Washington sessions. Such Il course may
prove temporarily cXp"dicnt in England. but
favorable effects in America cannot be so
readily forecast
British avowalS Of friendship for the
United States are umQucstionably welcome.
The desire that exists here for an adjust
mcnt grounded in high principle OF the
questions disturbing American Japanese
relations is also very real.
Tn" projectors of tn" conference arc
anxious to subject all the issues involved to
a frank and fresh treatment. unrloudrd by
arrangements or treaties in embryo The
hope Of the meeting lies in the desired cam
dor necessary to a manly consideration OF
great problems.
Americans arc unlikely to be seriously
irritatcd by Lloyd GcorE"S rather hazy pro-
poSaI. Its very ambiguity is perhaps among
its saving graCcS. But they will wonder
that understanding was not first applied
to an appreciation ot n cardinal national
policy unaffected by tn" purposes for which
the conference is summoned.