The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-08-05
PEACE PARLEY
MEMBERS ARE
TALKED OVER
Washington Considering Pos
sible Makeup Of Comm g
Disarmament Conference
Harding Responsible.
HAS RARE OPPORTUNITY
BY MARK SULLIVAN

<1oAliAN0lO O->, aug. D. ne HALL
ing of Americas representatives in the
coming international disarmament
conference at Washington is wholly
President Harding's prerogrative The
senate does not have the privilege of
advice and consent" as it has in
the case of ambassadors.
The men who will account for Am
erica in the disarmament conference
will represent President Harding's
Judgment wholly. and by reason of
that fact they will have a measurable
share of his fate in their hands.
Chance Of a Lifetime.
Hardings chance to rise above the
level of ordinary presidents and be-
come conspicuous figure in history
probably will depend almost wholly
on how far the conference he has in
itiated goes toward bringing about
definite and permanent era of dis.
armament and peace
Such an opportunity for a really
high peak in history as is afforded by
the possibilities within this conference
Is not likely to come to Harding
again. Such chances do not often
come twice in one life.
BY the same token, the most fre-
quent subjects of sombre reflection
among the thoughtful deals with the
disasters likely TO come upon the
world If by any possibly the coming
conference should end with nothing
accomplished.
II would take good deal of telling
TO point out the immediate psychology
cal effect of failure on the peoples
of the world and the grim actualities
that would certainly follow.
Hughes to Head Americans
The nature of the case is such that
for the conference to meet and fail
would be very difficult and very much
worse than for the conference never
to have met at all.
Having called the conference, the
responsibility is extremely heavy of
President Harding to make it fruitful
In speculation about the probable per-
sonnel of the American delegation.
two things are universally taken for
granted.
One is that the president will take
notice of ex-President Wilson's ex-
ample by avoiding it and will not him
self be one of the delegates. The other
is that the head of the American dele
cation will be Secretary of State
Hughes.
Senate to Be Considered
From this point on, everything else
remains for the president, wholly
within President Harding's deliberate
ly ruminative mind. 1t is taken for
granted that the president will again
profit by the reverse of President Viii
sons example, and will give some
representation to the senate, as Will
son did not.
When individual senator's are dis
cussed the name of Lodge comes to
the front by reason Of his official pc
sition as head of the senate committee
on foreign relations.
That second source of information
that goes by the name of They say
that Lodge would like to round out
his career" with place in the coming
conference. Some persons with spite
ful dispositions, especially il they are
politicians in a competitive relation to
the Massachusetts senator, occasional.
ly speak with some acerbity about this
rounding out of Lodges career"
Adverse Comment for Lodge
They say 1t happens so often that it
has come to be a little like Madame
Bernhart's farewell tours They say
that Lodge-or Lodges friends plead
ing in his behalf-has been wanting to
round out his career" with the Repub-
lican nomination for the presidency
any time in the last sixteen years.
They say, further. that for the SAME
rounding reason Lodge would have
liked the position that Harding gave
to Charles Z. Hughes.
Those who object that Lodge has
not the temperament, or the long g-held
belief in the purpose of disarmament
that would fit him for membership in
the coming conference say with SOME
acerbity that Lodges career has al
ready been sufficiently rounded out by
the quantity and quality of the honors
be had had from the Republican party.
They say that what is needed are Goa
ferees less intent upon the honors
than the purposes of the conference
Lodge Has Advantage
Speaking more good-naturedly. how
ever. Lodges official position un-
doubtedly gives him a stronger lever.
age. The man who stands second to
Lodge on the senate foreign relations
committee is Borah of Idaho
Even more than this fact, Borah's
authorship of the resolution for a dis
armament conference, and the sue
cessful fight he made for 1t against
difficulties, suggests him as a mem
Der of the American delegation.
Borah would give the conference
one most desirable asset. His pres
ence would carry 10 millions of Ameri-
cans complete assurance that the CON
(Continued On pa,a I,ou-taenl