The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-04-09
HUGHES TO STEER
CRAFT OF STATE
President Redeems Pledge
Gives Free Hand to
Secretary
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
CABINET BUSINESS

Congress Not to NEEDLE i'm Treaty NegO- !
tiatiOns - Problem Is Loaded With
Delicate Observation-Disclosures First Adj |
ministration's Policy.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE. 80. Il
Especial Despatch to The Reformer.) |
Copyright 1921.
WASHINGTON, April 9.-Charles |
Evans Hughes has assumed the leader
ship in formulating Americas foreign
policy. There is no longer any question
about the directing force behind the new
MISUNDERSTANDING longer any doubt |
on Capitol hill where reservationists, ir- |
reconcilables and bitter enders have had
their own way during the last two years, |
and no longer any doubt at the executive !!
end of the avenue where Mr.. Harding, |
true to the pledge he made in Florida,
has given Mr.. Hughes complete freedom
of action in the conduct of foreign rela-
tions.
The significance of what has been GO
ing on more. or less under the surface
or rather on the quiet--in the last fort
night is just beginning to be fully under
stood. The process of making each per-
sonahty in the situation understand that,
after all. the executive is charged with
the conduct of foreign relations under
the constitution and that the secretary
Of state accepted the portfolio with that
idea in his mind, has been accomplished
without friction or diSSensiOn. There is
no trace of diScord above or below the
surface of things. Practically every
body concerned recognizes that Charles
Evans Hughes has dominant mind and
| that he means to do the best he can with
| the tangle i'm which he found Americas
| foreign relations and that while the SEN
ate foreign relations committee will be
| consulted, the initiative must rest, as it
always has, with the department of
| state.
| Free Hand For Hughes.
Already Senator Lodge, whose difficult
| ties as Republican leader We're multi
pick when his party was on the offensive
| i'm congress. is using his talents as con-
ciliator in bringing the party into line
| back of Mr.. Hughes from a defensive
| point of view. OF course, a handful of
| senator's may never play ball at all. but
the Republican majority is sufficiently
| large To put through any Harding
| Hughes policies that comes before the
! senate or house in respect of foreign re-
| lations. Most of the talk about the
| Knox resolution must be accepted with
| the knowledge that Secretary Hughes
| will determine the exact moment when 1T
| il discreet for Congress to act. This is
no mere seizure by him of the reins of
| power, because of personal or official
| pride. 1t is due to the probabilities of
J the situation. Mr.. Hughes has embarked
| on the bOldeSt, if not the most difficult,
| policy that has ever been confronted by
an American secretary of state. Every
| day he is negotiating with foreign govern
| ments listening to the oral conversations
| of foreign diplomats or examining care
fully the confidential memoranda from
our ambassadors and ministers abroad.
| He must have a free hand. President
Harding recognizes it at the outset. The
| senate foreign relations committee now
admits il.
Secretary Hughes is trying to retain
for America the rights which our govern
ment says accrued to Us as a result Of
| war. whether or not the Versailles treaty
| is signed. The strong language of Mr..
HugheS'S. declaration and his powerful
logic have been commended on all sides
here, but it is realized that the allies
will not supinely surrender to the Amer
lean viewpoint. They will bicker and
| barter as long as they can. There are
already indications that London is get
ting ready to question Mr.. Hughes's ar
gumentS on the ground sthat war ques-
tiOns with Germany were closed by the
treaty of Versailles and that, while a
Willingness exists to treat America equit-
ably. it must be understood that the
treaty is not under negotiation, but a
closed incident, because forty nations
Secretary's Point Complicated.
From the European point. the situa-
ton is complicated not because of any
antipathy to Americas arguments, but
because to reopen the treaty may offer
Germany a lOop-hole of escape from her
obligations. For instance, some diplo-
mats see a particular danger in granting
Americas point on that article of the
Versailles treaty whereby Germany was
to renOunce all her rights and claims to
overseas possessions only to the princi-
pal allied and associated powers. Ger
many might range herself alongside the
United States in declaring many provi-
Sions of the Versailles treaty invalid be-
cause the United States did not become a
member of the PREPARATIONS commission,
for example, or take part in other de-
cisionS provided for by the treaty The
allies have had enough experience with
| Germany not to offer her chances to es-
cape by technicalitieS such as this.
To Demand Square Deal.
Secretary Hughes will try to compel
Europe to give America equal treatment
throughout the world on all questions
arising out of the war and may withhold