New-York tribune., 1921-01-23
D;yorce Senate
From Treaties,
Says Vanderlip
Banker Suggests Council of
Foreign Relations Com
posed of 80 Persons, To
Be Elected by the People
! i. S. Diplomacy Assailed
State Department Is Often
Composed of Third-Class
Clerical Force, He Asserts

naelsr;ng that ''we need a new way
=, dealing with our foreign relations"
n avert "a great social catastrophe" )"
frank A. vanderlip yesterday, at a
reet;nr of the League for Political
saucation, at the Town Hall, proposed
.ha formation OF a Council of Foreign
: relations" to take from the the SEN
:: + are its treaty making powers"
!, IS described by Mr.. Vanderlip, this
: new body would be composed of thirty
s r,rsons elected by the people of the
country for terms of ten years each.
Of thi. number three would retire
, avery year, others being elected to fill
Z their plsces. The council would sit
:. continuously in Washington, but half
: of lis members would always be abroad.
II woula supervise the administration
Of the State Department and confirma-
( tion of ambassadors would lie in it's
hands.
I "Now, let me answer right off," he
explained, WHY l think that this plan
might be politically possible. Broadly
{ speaking, it would be idle to think that
You could get the Senate to agree to
rbrogating any OF its mowers, but if
there were thirty men in the Senate
Who might go into super-Senate, and
/, Il there were ninety-six men in the
Senate who thought they might, they
might look with some complacency on
the creation of this new body"
Cabinet Head Sometimes Messenger
Before Mr.. Vanderlip launched his
plan. which he agreed may be imprac-
Iicabie, and even impossible, he had
spoken extensively on the foreign pol
icy OF the United States from the time
Washington made his warning. about
@entangling alliances" up to the pres
ent, and of what invention and ma
chinery have done to make communi-
cation with Europe and Asia compar-
atively easy.
Speaking of the time when Washing
ton was President, Mr.. VanderNp said
that 1.-THE executive work in regard to
foreign affairs was lodged in q De-
partment of State, with a Cabinet off
Ger at its head. And then with the de-
sire for checks and balances that our
fathers had, a Senate was given power
q confirmation Of ministers, of am
bassadors and of the Secretary of State
himself, and the power of review of all
treaties, and treaties must have the
approval of the Senate"
examining this method by asking
"How has it worked 2" Mr.. Vanderlin
said sometimes pretty well and some
times very poorly, adding at one point
that there have been times when the
Secretary of State seemed to be re-
garded by the Executive as a messenger
boy" -
Differences Over Treaties
he went on to speak of the differ
ences tnar always crop up between the
Senate and the President about treat
les, saying that the Senate Committee
en- Foreign Affairs was frequently com
posed Of men not at all informed on
foreign affairs, men without foreign
experience and frequently man who
had never travelled outside of the
country and men who were narrow and
without interra tional minds" The an
continent of ambassadors, he said. has
always been largely based on the
theory of political reward" and the
state Department composed often of
Athird class clerks"
Explaining that he was criticizing
no one party, he said: "Still we have
got on pretty we'll. Why not go on the
way we have been going? Well, now,
have We got on pretty well 2"
Elghty-six per cent of the present
TOTAL expenditures Of the government
ef the United States" he replied, "have
0een incurred through the army and
navy. Ihat means pensions and inter-
ssI on DEBT incurred in war, and be-
cause OF the army and navy establish
aN,1a msnss. We are spending billions of
dollars annually or the cost of army
ana navy directly and indirectly. Now,
Fnas Is the, army and navy for?. We
may need moderate army and navy
.cr domestic police purposes. We un-
aOupsedly do. But the army and navy
~ sne main is to enforce our will when
~e nave tailed in diplomacy, and we are
x.epareo to spend untold billions on
ass proposition, and then we set up
81. ssMe OF dealing with our diplomacy
wa. Is inherently weak, Impossible ad-
sqaateiy to handle the business.
World Economic Organization
~+,.. NOW the one thing" he declared,
's. can avert what would regard as
nssn .leat social catastrophe-I don't
irs isa 'o-day or Tomorrow; / am talk
ssns OF century-would be the eco
Avm,c san organization Of the world"
ous all that" he said at later
kssas, needs broad vision not by a few
sas og many. 1t needs an understand
II o. what foreign trade and foreign
sa.ions ought to be, an economic un-
ss.,ss3nding, -, an understanding with
.ssl vision, and that, then, is the real
sssoh, important beyond measure,
sryohd merely these billions we waste
array and navy, that is the real
Ss'n IN ny mind why we need new
tsIss 2, cealine with our foreign rela-
Ia answer to his own question, "Well,
sla: SIsI shall it be?" Mr.. vanderlip ex-
xsssned what he frankly called his
ss.'a and said that his first step
ccooid be TO propose change in the
constitution, even though "that is bad
r.,s ssa1 7. with. Let me tell you, I don't
.s.s.... 70 aee the Constitution made a
rLs.. oook, II ought only be changed
iar The ."ess chsn is the most serious reason
s,ts cnanse, he aaid, for the scheme
rr.sposed rs.p' by him, however, Is quite
inssnsary. inss lie then vent on to explain
* ~ now shis body would be formed in
- way already outlined.
Long Stride Toward Peace
:. Desi"yc that such an organization
gave pointed out here would. after
,i.s.. 49,. running, make imposs BILE such
.as1on ss,..s.n as exists to-day between thig
sHsfy and Japan. / believe II would