The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1922-02-14

inc cOuItIcllIe.
Of the conference as whole, the
president said the treaties are the
Covenants of harmony, Of assurance,
of conviction, of conscience and OF
unanimity," that they take the place
of various multi-power treaties, and
"serve to put an end to contradictions
and to remove antiquities and estab-
Ilish clear understandings"
The president declared the treaties
leave no power despoiled but on the
contrary the nine powers have been
brought closer together and are
stauncher "neighbors and friends,
they have clearer and better estimates
of one another, they have seen sus-
!picion challenged and selfshness made
to retreat" and have combined to
make the world "safer and better and
more hopeful place in which to live"
Discussing the question of entering
into the agreements, the president
had this to say:
either we must live and aspire and
achieve under a free and common un-
derstanding among peoples, with mu-
tual trust, respect and forbearance
and exercising full sovereignty, or
else brutal, armed force will domin-
ate and the sorrows and burdens of
war in this decade will be turned to
the chaos and the hopelessness of the
next. We can not more do without
international negotiations in these
modern days than we could maintain
orderly neighborliness at home with
out the prescribed rules of conduct
which are more the guarantees of
freedom than the restraint thereof.
Absence of Commitments
The presidents statement regard
ing the absence of commitments in
the four-power treaty was as fol-
lows:
"The four-power treaty contains no
war commitment. It covenants the
respect of our nations rights IN re-
lation to its insular possessions. In
case of controversy between these
covenantly powers tits agreed to con-
fer and seek adjustment, and if said
rights are threatened by the aggres-
sive action of any outside power,
these friendly powers, respecting one
another, are to communicate, perhaps
confer, in order to understand what
action may be taken, jointly or sep
arately, to meet a lmenacing situa-
ton. -
"There is commitment to armed
force, no alliance, no written or NOR
al obligation to join the defense, no
expressed or implied commitment to
arrive at any agreement except in
accordance with our constitutional
methods. 1t is easyot to believe, how
ever, that such a conference of the
four-powers is a moral warning that
an aggressive nation, giving affront
to the four great powers ready to
force world opinion, on a given con-
troversy, would be Jyenlbarking on
hazardous enterprise"
President Harding asserted that if
the nation may not safely agree "to
respect each others, rights, and may
not agree to confer if one of the
compact threatens, or may not agree
to advise if one party to the pact is
threatened by an outside power, then
all concerted efforts to tranquilize the
world and stabilize peace must be
flung to the Winds
The president said his service in
the senate had made him cautious on
the point Of contracting foreign rela-
tionships. He said the concern of
the senate in this direction had not
been forgotten by the American dele
gates to whose ability he paid high
respect. The conference has dissi-
pated "the apprehension of territor-
ial greed and concern in the world"
the president said, and with ratifca-
tion of the treaties he expressed con-
fdence that the United States will
have ''new assurances, new freedom
from anxiety, and new manifestations
of the sincerity of our own intentions
a new demonstration of honesty which
proclaims a righteous and powerful
republic"
Mrs. Harding sat in the presidential
gallery during the delivery of the ad-
dress and was accc mpanied by Mrs.
Hughes and party of friends. Sec
retary Of State Hughes, Attorney
General Daugherty, Secretary of Ag-
riculture Wallace and Secretary of
Labor Davis had seats in the senate
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