Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-11-06

1t is useless to deny that France,
Great Britain. Italy and Japan are
coming to Washington with ideas
based upon doctrines Of the old diplo-
macy The delegates and attaches
talk in the terms of alliances, yet the
wiser statesmen from the old world
and from the Orient must know how
deerminedly the United States is
opposed to alliances.
No EntansIing Pacts
President Harding had taken pains
to make that point clear long before
Ambassador Harvey spoke Thursday
interested therefore in the formula the
United States, through Secretary
Hughes and his associates, will suggest
to the conference.
What commitments can the presi-
dent make in the name of the United
States that will be satisfactory to the
other powers and serve as a substi-
tute for their faith in alliance? Limita-
tion of ornaments can come only in
some form of agreement, treaty or
covenant, covering a guarantee of the
necessary international adjustments
that will make heavy ornaments no
longer essential to certain national
aims and aspirations. 1t is for the
United States to devise the means Of
attaining an international end by new
international methods.
Delegates In Capitol
The week has been marked by the
glamor of arriving delegates and
attaches, but the tumult and the shout
ing have not dimmed the fact that the
hope of the conference sits calmly in
the White House, confident in his own
optimistic mind that there is sufficient
of good in the world to make this new
move for humanity a success.
Already as result Of the contact
with President Harding and with the
clearer atmosphere of Washington,
where old world intrigues are unknown,
some of the skepticism brought by the
arriving delegates and the members of
their suites is beginning to melt away.
This skepticism had been but ill-con-
cealed behind the painfully polite state
ments given out by the distinguished
visitors. Being couched in the most
punctilious diplomatic language, these
statements were more or less meaning
less. But the skepticism has been
nothing to wonder at. Europe has
been witnessing q perfect parade of
Versailles was signed, and most of
them have been fruitless. But this is
the first great political conference of
nations to be held in the new world
and there is hope that it may mark the
beginning of a new order.
The foreign ENJOYS now in Washing
ton have found with emient satisfac-
ton have found with eminent satisfac-
stands and sympathizes with most of
their views. They are bringing to
Washington nothing that is new to
him, nothing that he had not considered
before he determined to call the con-
ference on limitation of ornaments
and to widen it's scope, to include all
of delicate problem of Pacific and the
far east. President Harding moves
about always in an atmosphere of con-
cilliation and it is this spirit that
leads to further hope for conference
success.
British Can Have Fleet
The British ENJOYS have learned,
possibly with something akin to amaze
ment, that President Harding does not
look with disfavor upon maintenance of
a big fleet by Great Britain--the big
gest fleet in the world for that matter.
The president feels it would be foolish
to close his eyes to the peculiar needs
of the several powers which will sit in
the Washington conference. Great