Pueblo chieftain., 1921-12-11

| arrangement for the future had been
made not only about other nations
| scrapping their navies but also about
| the Far East.
| This was the way the foreigners
talked at the time the conference
of this, and for the first three weeks
I was heard of this point of view. Dur
| ing the present week, however, the
same sort of talk has revived.
Let us now turn to the point Of view
of Harding and Hughes and the
American delegation. Whatever they
| think about the best theoretical form
| for an agreement they must take into
account. the problem of what the SEN
ate will be willing to ratify., The ques-
| tion of what the senate will do up-
doubtedly marks the limit of what
Hughes and Harding and the Ameri-
can delegation regard as feasible for
| them to attempt Persons whose ca
pacity for knowing cannot be doubted
nave been quoted publicly as saying
that Harding regards gentlemen's
agreement to be just as satisfactory as
the most iron clad treaty. The presi-
dent has been described as feeling that
the essential thing Is mutual trust
and that this must be depended on
more than the letter Of any contract
possible to be written.
AS to the senate itself, what It will
actually do when the time comes can
only be estimated after we know more
fully and accurately Just what form
the outcome of the present delibera-
tons is to take. The possible forms
which the outcome can take are sew
eral. There could be a very binding
treaty in the matter of naval limita-
ton, and the matter of the Far East
can be put in a treaty or an agree
ment of a less binding form. On the
other hand, the two things, naval limi-
tation and the Far East, can be COM
pined IN single agreement. Several
different variations of this combina-
ton are possible. AS to the senate, IL
1t were presented with an agreement
about naval limitations standing alone,
there can hardly be any question that
they would ratify such a treaty and
would not be disturbed by any de-
gree OF risidity or binding quality in
A treaty for the limitation OF naval
armament would pass the senate al
most unanimously. Possibly a few SEN
ators would take extreme positions of
one Kind or another. But all the OBJ
)ections that would be raised in tho
eenate to treaty on naval llmita.
uohs alone would be negligible.
But a treaty embodying agreements
about the Far East would stand, in
the eyes of tho senate, on a quite dif-
ferent basis. How the senate would
act upon 1t cannot be discussed with
any adequacy until the form and sub
stance of 1t are better known. II tho
agreement about the Far East were in
such form as would be called by
the name Of "an alliance the senate
would look upon It with suspicion. The
word alliance has come to be, in
the eyes OF the senate. a sign of some-
thing to be scrutinizcd with Jealous
care.
Speaking in the broadest way, we
must all remember what the timorous
and we'll informed foreigners forEct,
namely. that in the league of nations
debate Wilson was of ono party and
the senate was OF the opposite party.
Gent are Of tho same party. What the
hepuolican senate would do with a
treaty by a Republican president ia
different from what the Republican
senate did with a treaty negotiated by
Democratic president This NAV be
sad. but It is an actually.
Ot course, the irreconcilables ara
sti!! with us. Most of tho irreconciI-
aoles arc less bound by party discipline
ana party loyalty than the other SEN
a.ors are. senator Borah Of Idaho. for
example who was unquestionabiy tho
leader of the irreconcIlables. would not
be moved from any course that seemed
to him right by the fact that he wa.
In opposition to a Republican presi-
dent. There was much truth in the
humorous line in which Wallace Ir.
win spoke of Borah as continuing TO
throw stones in the White House az if
ne had forgotten that Woodrow WI.
son had moved out
As TO how the public at large feels
ABOUT the conference, tho net OF tho
reports brought back to senator's and
conSressmen who have just been
spending a vacation in their homo dis.
,ricts is to the effect that the public
does not Understand tho complexities
of the Far East. that It has unlimited
S4nndence In Hughes. that whatever
aughes does will be all right. and
that II In any contingency a question
should arise about the wisdom of what
over hughes does. there * always Tho
senate to be relied upon for Vigilance.
In all Justice. and with all due re-
gard Tor our American point of view.
snouid be said that there is "A
genuine necessity for America IN
realize that If We arc to take a grown
up nations part in international ar
tairs. We must learn to make bindjnp
agreements and to live up to them, Tho
coroliary of this is that our leaders
must mus, 90 careful not TO promise more
than they can rely on our people 10
perform whom the necessity for per.
formance arises. This last sentence.
by the way, is a direction quotation
from the lips OF Theodore Roosevelt
many times repeated in Garment con-
Versations. What our people will be
willing TO perform should be the limit
OF our international promises. But II
IL also true that the outcome of Tho
war makes It less possible for us to he
Isolated. and more necessary for us
TO be willing to understand and to keen
International obligations.
Copyright 1921 by the New York
Evening Post. Tnc)
New York Evening Post Syndicate.