Putnam County herald. (Cookeville, Tenn.) 1903-1922, 1921-10-06
our WEEKLY
NEWS LETTER

Washington, D. c., Oct. demo
Gratis in Congress are hoping for thu
success of the coming conference foz
reduction of armaments. They very
properly take pride in It as Demo
cratic achievement Those who thinl
of it as a Republican move for popu.
lar approval have forgotten, in the
hurly-burly of events, the history Of
the movement A brief outline Of
that history will show that President
Harding did not discover the idea,
any more than Doctor Sawyer has
discovered a cure for golf.
AS recently as last spring the
President was much upset by Senator
Borah's resolution directing him to
call such conference. And the lat
ter did not himself discover the idea,
any more than Laddie Boy discovered
the Dog Star.
The whole idea OF such confer
ence to reduce the terrible burden Of
armaments is Democratic. Champ
Clark preached itIoff and on for
rs years, but 1t took another Missouri
Democrat to put the concrete idea in
to the Naval Bill in 1916-five years
ago. It was first offered by Repre-
sentative Walter L. Hensley as o
resolution and was then incorporates.
in the Naval Appropriation Act OF
1916, and can be found In vol. 80,
part 1, page 61S OF the U. s. Statutes
at Large I quote here the most Inn
portant part of the law:
'It is hereby declared to be the
policy Of the United States to adjust
and settle its international disputes
through mediation or arbitration, to
the end that war may be honorably
avoided. 1t looks with apprehension
and disfavor upon general increase
of armaments throughout the world.
but it realizes that no single nation
can disarm, and that without COM
mon agreement upon the subject ev-
cry considerable power must MAIN
tain "a relative standing in military
strength
'In view of the premises, the presi-
dent is authorized and requested to
invite, at an appropriate time, not
later than the close OF the war in Eu-
rope, all the great governments of the
world to send representatives to q
conference, which shall be charged
with the duty of formulating a plan
for court of arbitration or other trd-
bunal, to which disputed questions =
between nations shall be referred for
and peaceful settlement
and to consider the question of dis
armament and submit their recon-
mendation to their respective govern !.
ments for approval The President
is hereby authorized to appoint nine
citizens of the United States, who., in
his judgement, shall be qualified for
the mission by emfnence in the law
and by devotion to the cause OF
peace, to be. representatives of the
United States in such a conference.
When the Hensley provision was
up in the House, Speaker Clark left
he chair to take up the cudgels for
t, aiding Hensley to put 1t through.
rhe chief opposition came from the
ate Augustus P. Gardner, son-imlaw
# Senator Lodge, who is now ON the
Committee. The debate
AN be found in the Record of the
'4th Congress, vol SO, part 8, begin
ling at page 9S43. This piece of
egislation was also passed by the
Senate and signed by
be Democratic President and is now
be law as much as in 1916.
When the war was over and the
'reaty of eVrsailles was being made.
Wilson had the idea insert
d In that treaty as Article s. Thia
i'd not make 1t any more acceptable
tAC iSCPuUiiSoho, Al AoSSp SAV
hole idea OF such a conferences
eemed utterly repugnant to the Re
until President Harding
,ok it up and fostered it as his own
lea.
McKinley, Roosevelt, and Tat ~
He'd their hau1s at ''breaking 0o
olid South" Very popular outdoor
port. Now Harding is trying t.
lis friend, Colonel tpaper title) An
erson is running for Governor Of
irginia, aided by ample funds from
le Republican National Treasury.
|, speech the other day he said
lat when distributing Red Cross
,od to the people in the Balkans the
omen and children would kiss the
ag on his automobile. but that he
bit that he was perpetrating fraud
q them when he reflected that one
I the stars on that flag stood for the
tate of Virginia-anl more to the
anne effect He was answered by
udge Hundley whose son was des-
erately wounled IN Virginia regi-
tent THE battle front. The solid
outh may be broken, but 1t win not
=