The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-02-06

Far Eastern questions success This
Is a question which Is being asked and
answered ON every side rs. one of the
greatest oil international conferences
comes to an end,
out of the many varying point- OF
view. several fundamentals stand out IL
respective ef .tle politics, national OF
international which may color the i'm.
pressious of the critics.
First, the conference has eiIectually
checked Japan from buiiding larger
navy than She had, This was important
because officials privately admit the
American congress is IN AN economic
mood which will RoJ pas, off for many
years TO come and the chances are that
AGREEMENT or mo daretuient, the battle
hsmp progCoin of lalG never would have
. heop cenplcted..,-, at ~#.,
Second congress lstu- go ahead and
economic now WithnQt making the nava
strategists uneasy about Japan.
Third, whether a war has actually been
prevented over Far Eastern questions
may DE matter of endless debate but
Fit il generally admitted that war with
dapau has ait least been deferred tor a
long time.
Fourth. the United States has pur
chased safety from war with Japan at
a relatively low uricc-the scrappIng oil
many ships that would have gone out
of commission and been useless within
a few wears anyhow.
Fifth. the Far Eastern agreements
are not at all what might have been de
sired but they represented the greatest
advance vet made i'm the betterment OF
relations between Japan and China. This
means improved opportunities FOR eco
nomic growth.
Sixth. the value of tho restricting
agreements ON the use of khe submarine
on poison gas will always be question,
able Until there Il another war and
it l. determined whether international
law can he upheld in the heat of con
fict. no one wiH know whether the
agreements on these two points at Wash
iugtou are worth the paper they are
written on. Until they are violated,
however. their authors will insist that
they act as a moral barrier. Their
power of prevention Will be uf indefinite
duration. The immediate effects of the
WASHINGTON conference in reduced taxa
ton will be negligible. Tie heuctits will
be felt far in the future How much
This factor VIII he translated into AmerI-
can political campaigning is hard to say.
The truth Is the Harding administration
promised a great deal and hoped for
much out of the armament conference.
Land armament has not been reduced
and the administration points to France
as the alib for that The attitude of
Franco was tile single unhappy phase of
The whole conference. On the other
hand. the friends of cooperation have
derived much comfort out of the agree
mcnts reached at the Washington con
ference. They have seen America mix
into the affairs of China and other ma
tione 5000 miles away and come out
with clean hands. They wonder why
America cannot do an equally good loh
by participating i'm European problems
of an economic nature which are even
more directly Of value To the average
American producer and consumer than
the -tabiIzing OF China : finances OF
the management Of her railroads or kin
bred rights of commercial character to
he settlement of which the conference
has been giving its time for mans weeks
Granting that the Washington confer
encp was 81 ~ucces---and Vie Harding
administration admits 1.-THE next CUES
tiou is whether the government here
viii venture to hcln Euronc stabilize it
self 50 markets for American goods can
be created and the business situation i'm
this country improved through an cN-
port trade hat would, again Teaujre fac-
tories TO reopen and labor to be en-
ploycd.