The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-12-11
Continued from PAGE One.

Continued from Page One.
spring. when Niviani and his asso-
ciates were here to try to persuade
US 1" enter a tripartite alliance.
several members of the Foreign
Affairs Committee OF the Senate ex-
planned to NJ Niviani with forceful
Vig.r, at great length. and with
much detail about American con-
stitutional procedure. just how
large a part this committee and the
Senate as whole have in the man
agement of our foreign relations.
After the dinner / heard one OF
the Frenchmen say, with humorous
but nevertheless panied resigna-
ton. We understand now perfec,-
ly. We know that France has ou>
two things to fear. One is God. the
other is the United States Senate
and God Is far away"
1t is this understanding Of the
power and function Of the Senate
that accounts for the question that
Is on every foreigners lips. What
viii the Senate do?" I am certain
that as to some of the foreign dele
cations when they came here they
expected to demand ratification by
the Senate of whatever agreement
should be arrived at before they
themselves would sign it. At least
they expected either actual ratifl-
cation or satisfactory assurance
that it would be ratified. before
they should commit themselves by
their own signatures. They held
this attitude in the sincere belief
that the question of China could
not be satisfactorily settled except
by an agreement so formal and so
I binding and so necessary to be lived
up to for A long period OF years
that 1t would be necessary that II
be ratified by the Senate.
Chinese Failure Fatal.
The foreigners. and especially the
British. held tbs conviction, not in
any spirit of turbulence. and not in
any wish for selfish advantage, but
out of real regard for success In
what they were undertaking. They
believed that IL the thing that hap
pened about the league of nations
was unfortunate. the same thing
happening about China and the Far
East would be fatal.
They believed that to tear to pieces
the existing status quo in the Far
ISdSl. anu IItu nave IAN IN NiiS
effort to achieve something else,
would end in chaos.
| say that this is the feeling with
which the British and the Japanese
approached the conference. And let
me interject right here that in this
feeling they were justified and it is
not open to any American to criti-
else them.
. t.. ~, L. l.,
China and the Far East is extremely
delicate. Hardly any step could be
taken in the whole world as ii is
just now, more perilous than to
break up the status quo in the Far
East, imperfect as II is. and unde-
sirable as It is in some respects.
without being sure that there Is
ready to take its place a mechanism,
by whatever name you call 1t, suffi-
cient to take care of things in the
Far East as well as they are now
cared for. The British were particu-
larly tenacious of this view. Some
of the unofficial British here went
so far as to say that Great Britain
could never scrap her fleet until
after she was certain beyond doubt
that an acceptable 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
opened. Soon thereafter we heard
less of this, and for the FIRST three
weeks of the conference practically
nothing was heard of this point of
view. During the present week,
however. the same sort OF talk has
revived.
Let us now turn TO the point of