New-York tribune., 1921-12-12
Way Now Open
For Association
Harding Sought
Four-Power Peace Society
Formed by New Pact
Will Grow TO Include
Others, Statesmen Feel
Welcomed on All Sides
Foreign Officials Clad to
Make Washington Clear
ing House for Issues
By Frank RI. Simonds

by Frank RI. SlInOnd5
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1l.--Will the
four-pQ association of nations, which
was disclosed as already provided for
in the treaty presented to the session
of the conference yesterday, prove the
nucleus Of permanent association OF
Pacific powers, with a Washington
headquarters and some provision for
later gatherings? This question was
asked and answered in the affirmative
on many sides to-day. And there was
general agreement that a further un
derstanding involving nine powers
that Is, all Of the Pacific powers repre-
sented at the present concerence-prom
ised a rapid expansion in the members
Of such an association.
The truth would seem to be that the
session Of yesterday cleared the air in
many directions. First of all, it made
it possible to discuss the general sub
jcct OF an association of nations with
out falling ut once into the bog of
League Of Nations disputes. We know
now with some degree of exactitude
what President Harding means by an
association of nations and we also
know that his conception finds rela-
lively Insignificant opposition in the
United States Senate.
AS q consequence there has been an
immediate revival of the talk of pro-
viding some way Of perpetuating the
present conference, or, more exactly,
Of making hereafter applicable the con-
ference idea ns it has been employed
here and expressed in the fourpower
treaty of yesterday. Manv reasons
combine to explain the belief that such
course would be useful, might even
prove necessary, and that the creation
ty, III e - cl,o,
ing house for all Of the nine Pacific
powers would be q logical extension of
the present situation.
Sources of Danger Passing
The bricfest examination of the busi-
ness Of the present conference ex~
plains this. 1t is clear that we have
already practically eliminated the Pa
cifc islands as a scene Of American
Japanese rivalry. In the same way we
have disposed of the Anglo-Japanese
! alliance and will, no one doubts. agree
upon naval ratios and thus remove any
chance of naval competition.
After all, however, it was over China.
not the Pacific islands or the naval
ican-Japanese collision arose. and given
the best will in the world there re-
mains the unmistakable fact that not
all Chinese matters can be settled at
the present con erence. Many things
must be left contingent upon future
developments.
What would be more logical or more
natural, then, than that Washington
! should be made the seat Of other con-
ferences upon Far Eastern matters Of
utmost concern to all Pacific powers
Moreover, what would be better cal
euiated to meet Chinese feelings, given
| the fact that not ali Chinese demands
t can possibly be met at the present time,
than the assurance of q friendly tri-
be heard as conditions change or new
issues arise?
The danger Of trouble in China can
not be completely removed by any de-
cision reached in Washington at this
time because of the existing situation
in China. Therefore the best promise
Of permanent removal o the danger
of any misunderstanding between the
PACIFIC powers and, above all, between
the United States and Japan over
China, might be found in the creation
of some body in which American and
Japanese contact might be assured and
mutual cooperation and comprehension
made possible.
Such possibility, was discussed
widely in the early days of the con
ference, but it was rigidly kept in the
ton of the success or failure of the
conference remained to be answered,
and there was always the danger Of
awakening all the old passions and sus-
picions which the battle over the
League Of Nations had created There
was at the bottom the feeling that any
extension or perpetuation of the pres
worth while only if it came as a nat
ural and spontaneous development,
something that justified itself on its
own merits and those of the confer
ence itself.
Welcomed by Statesmen
But since Yesterdays session, with
the end of the present conference in
full view, further suppression of this
/ discussion has seemed both impossi-
Bile and unnecessary. 1t is fact that
practicall7 all the European delega-
tions welcome the idea of making
Washington clearing house for Far
Eastern questions. They also perceive
that actual settlement Of the Chinese
problem is impossible, and that fire.
quent exchanges of views between Pa
cific powers will be absolutely essential
Thus there is developing a very gen.
/ eral desire to see the conference idea
employed again in Pacific questions and
particularly in Chinese matters, and
feeling that the four-power associ-
alton already created and the nine
power association already assured will
offer the opportunity for expanding the
experiment. Such an association would
inevitably be restricted to the simplest
possible limits. 1t would be blessed
with no machinery and CONSTRUCTED by
no written constitution. Practically
everything would be left to future