Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-10-03
DEMOCRATS TO
SUPPORT ARMS
CONFERENCE
Cite Law Enacted in 1916, Paw
ing Way for Such a
Farley.
BY WALLACE BAssFoRD.

u WASHINGTON, Oct. 3.-Democrats in
&Congress are hoping for the success Of
1.-THE coming conference for reduction Of
sarmaments. They very properly take
pride In It as a Democratic achievement.
Those who think Of it as a Republics q
move for popular approval have forgotten,
In the hurly-burly Of events, the history
of the movement. brief outline of that
history will show that President Harding
did not discover the idea. any more than
Doctor Sawyer has discovered a cure for
golf.
As recently as last spring the Presi-
dent was much upset by Senator Borah's
resolution directing him to call such q
conference. And the latter did not him
self discover the idea, any more than
Laddie Boy discovered the Dog Star.
WHOLE IDEA
DEMOCRATIC.
The whole idea of such a conference
to reduce the terrific burden of ornaments
is Democratic. Champ Clark preached it
of and on for twenty five years, but it
took aLother Missouri Democrat to PIT
the concrete idea into the naval bill in
1916-fve years ago. It was first offered
by Representative Walter L. Hensley as
q resolution and was then incorporated In
the naval appropriation act of 1916, and
can be found in volume 80, part 1, page
61S Of the United States statutes at large
l quote here the most important pari
Of the law:
at Is hereby declared to be the policy
of the United States to adjust and settle
its international disputes through media
ton or arbitration, to the end that war
may be honorably avoided. 1t looks with
apprehension and disfavor upon a general
increase OF ornaments throughout, the
world, but II realizes that no single ma
ton can disarm and that without a com
mon agreement upon the subject every
considerable power must maintain q rela-
tive standing in military strength.
''In view of the premises. the Presi-
dent is authorized and requested to in
vite, at an appropriate time, not later
than the close of the war in Europe, all
the great governments OF the world to
send representatives to 8 conference,
which shall be charged with the duty Of
formulating a plan for a court Of arbi-
tration or other tribunal, to which dis
puted questions between nations shall be
referred for adjudication and peaceful
settlement, and to consider the question
of disarmament and submit their recon-
mendation TO their respective govern
ments for approval. The President is
hereby authorized to appoint nine citi-
zens of the United States who, In his
Judgment, shall be qualified for the mis-
sion by eminenee In the law and by de-
votion to the cause Of peace, to be repre-
sentatives OF the United States in such
a conference"
The law went on to appropriate 100000
Curiously enough, President Harding
asked for the same amount for expenses
of the conference.
CHI Mp CLARK,
SPOKE FOR MEASURE.
When the Hensley provision was up in
the House, Speaker Clark left the chair
to take up the cudgels for It, aiding
Hensley to put it through. The chief
opposition came from the late Augustus
?. Gardner, soI-in law Of Senator Lodge,
who is now on the conference committee.
The dLeate can be found in the Record
Of the Sixty-Fourth Congress, vol SO,
part 9, beginning at page 9843. This
piece Of legislation was also passed by
the Democratic Senate and signed by the
Democratic, president, and is now the law
as much as In 1915.
When the war was over and the treaty
OF Versailles was being made President
Wilson had the idea inserted in that
treaty as article s. This did not make II
any more acceptable to the Republicans
In fact, the whole idea of such a con-
ference seemed utterly repugnant to the
Republicans until President Harding took
it up and fostered it as his own idea.
80
Mckinley, Roosevelt and Taft all tried
their hands at breaking the solid
South" a very popular outdoor sport
Now, Harding is trying it. His friend
Colonel (paper title) Anderson, is run
ming for Governor Of Virginia, aided by
ample funds from the Republican Ma
tional Treasury. In a speech the other
day he said that when distributing Red
Cross feed to the people in the Balkans
the women and children would kiss the
flag on his automobile, but that he felt
that he was perpetrating a fraud on them
when he reflected that one of the stars
on that flag stood for the State OF Vir-
ginia, and more to the same effect He
was answered by Judge Huntley, whose
son was desperately wounded in a Vlr-
ginia regiment at the battle front. The
solid South may be broken, but It will
not be in Virginia In this year OF grace