The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-09-14

1t is a familiar principle of po-
htical strategy that, IL somebody in
your own group Is opposed to what
you are doing, II is better to put
him on the inside. with a lot Of re-
sponsibility, than to leave him fight
ing on the outside.
Mr.. Lodge is opposed not only to
openness. but to nearly everything
that the Administration has been
dreaming of accomplishing at the
| conference. Nevertheless. there IL
more chance Of his being kept from
wrecking things II he is one Of the
representatives Of the Administration
than IL he were sitting up on Capitol
Hill in a sulk.
Harding for Harmony.
President Harding does not belong
to the type Of cleveland. Roosevelt,
and Wilson men of fighting deterpli-
nation. VITA ideas OF their own, for
which they draw their war clubs and
go out willingly against heavy OBJ
stacles.
The President Is rather by nature
a member of a group or organization.
and his constant effort Is to work in
harmony with as large a part of his
organization as possible. He tries
even to keep on good terms with the
insurgent element in his party. al.
though he has less confidence in his
ability to do that than In his ability
to. keep together the reactionaries, on
the one hand. represented in this
conference by Lodge. and the mod.
crates represented by Hughes and
Hoover.
Some Of the things the Presid.nt
has been saying look a. II the man.
nj hn
result in a sharp conflict between
him and the liberal group in his
own party.
Senator Borah was much disap-
pointed when the Administration In
sisted on combining Borah's idea of
a conference on naval strength be-
tween Great Britain, Japan, and the
United States, with a conference tax
Ing up many Of the topics discussed
at Versailles.
Borah Is Waiting.
II am not going to throw any OBJ
stacles in the way of success for the
conference" Borah said to me, but
II IL fails I mean to show the publ:
where the responsibility lies"
or course It is an absolute common
place to say that complete dIsarma.
ment is a mere dream at present.
Everybody knows 1t. But there Is a
lot Of difference between emphasizing
that fact in a way to throw cold water
on the conference before II begins and
encouraging the hope of accomplishing
serious start toward reduction by
agreement. as Borah was doing.
1t Is not true all along the line, but
In the main It is true. that among
politicians those who want to accom-.
plish as much as possible are agitating
for publicity, while those who want
to accomplish as little as possible are
agitating for secrecy.
Lodge Talk Foolish.
Here again 1t is easy to drag in a
commonplace. For example. Lodge
says:
ITO say that they shall never meet
in committee, that they shall never
hold conversations: that one man or
one delegation shall not talk with an.
other man or another delegation: to say
that some agreement cannot be
reached without being printed yer.
batim in the newspapers: Is. OF coNSc
to propose q system which every nvl
knows to be impossible"
OF course such talk Is nonsense and
is knocking down a straw man. But
1t helps Lodge to his conclusion
the delegates representing the Gov
eminent of the United States use
every effort and exert their influence
for open sessions of the conference"
1t is always easy to find reasons for
not doing what one wishes to avoid
doing. as II is usually possible to find
ways Of doing what one wishes to do
People Pay Price.
Lodge is to be a delegate, Borah Is
not. And Borah expresses himself like
this:
at is now three years since the
war closed. and we are back to the
old system. The allied and asso-
ciated powers, the victors, are now
invoking II against one another. The
people are being taxed in all these
countries for vast armies and navies.
Secret conferences and closed doors
are again justified. The same system
Of secret negotiations Is relied upon to
solve the problems which confront US.
And already the system is bearing
fruit"
That is the issue embodied in these
two Senators. 1t Is the everlasting
issue between. the bureaucrats and
diplomats, on the one side, and the in
stincts of the helpless people on the
other. The bureaucrats and diplomats
have their way. while the people paw
the DriCe