Evening star., 1922-12-23
||SOLAT|ON|STS FACE
| DEFEAT IN LATEST
us. MOVESABROAD
Administration Moves Show
Development. Not Chang
ing of Attitude.
"IRREC0NCILABLE" BREAK
! DENIED BY OFFICIALS
Gradual Swing of Pendulum To-
ward Interest in Affairs of
Europe Seen.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE

-Nhiei.cd foreign policy IL deN.i"p-
! ing-not changing. The most int,r-
esting attitudes are being assumed hg-
those who fought for and those who
Fought against a so-called Isolation
lst policy. No less a person that
President Harding himself taboos III.
word aloofness" in referring to the
scope OF American policy in the fI-
ture.
Is This Break.
Is this a break with the ..irrecot,-
clIaoles? Is il inconsistent with the
movement which killed ratification OF
/ the covenant of the league of nations
by the American Senate? The answer
given by administration people is an
emphatic negative. And as proof of
their contention they ask III" people
10 go back to the round robin Of
March. 1919. signed by approximately
iorty republican senators under tn.
leadership of Mr.. Lodge OF Massachu-
setts.
That document announced opposi-
tion to the covenant Of the league
IN The form now proposed bat un-
der no circumstances did il denounc.-
| The principle of international coop
Grafton. In fact. it urged that peac-
| between the allies and Germany he
concluded and that the proposal -
league of nations to insure the per
mantnt peace of the world should
! then be taken up for careful and
serious considerat ion" II went on
to say that ii is the sense of tie
Senate that til. nations of the worl-,
should unit" 20 promote peace ana
general disarIn;s ircnt
Harding on Round Robin.
Among the signatures t" the rouad
robin are Warren q. Harding of Ohio
and Senators Hiram ". johnson ~
California. William +. Borah of Ida aln-
Il
Every move the administration has
made in foreign policy has been con-
sistent with that doctrine. il is CO
tended. and there is a distinct Ia
. ency nowadays to argue that the pui-
pose has always been the same though
admissions are made>. that the :ia
ministration was NOT so inclined fu
work out its policy a year ago as il j.
! today.
! Swing of Pendulum Gradual.
In other words. the swing Of the
! pendulum toward an interest in lii"
I affairs Of Europe and the world gen
orally has been gradual. the need
for an export market the hope thar
farm products will get higher prices
If European purchasing power is re
stored. the natural expectation that
higher farm products will remove tn.
principal causes of discomfort in tht.
middle west and take AWAY the chief
thorn in the side of the republican ad-
miniStration today--.lll this has made
the foreign situation seem as inpoI-
tant a domestic problem.
Incidentally the attituGe OF tn.
| league of nations supporters is not
an unintereSting phase Of the. Who'll"
question. Tw" schools of thought
favored The league as proposed 10y
Mr.. Wilson-:he people who believed
il was step i'll the direction Of world
peace and an :.ltruistic development
of the American spirit Of world help
fulness which came to 4 climax in
the European war itself. and the peo-
pie who wanted the league establish
ed for economic reasons Th"
ternational bankers of the world. the
business men and financiers of Wall
street. the men vit3lly concerned
with foreign trade--all thrs.s inter
ests. both in the United States ana
European countries. saw in the
league an instrument of economic CO.
operation. The latter class WAS I"
no small extent republican in its
political afliIa ion.
1t is the economic school Of thouE ht
which has succeeded today in bring
ing the facts of international co
operation to the attention Of th"
Harding administration, althcuGh
the general desire to be helpful
without political enlargement remains
the same as it did i'll 1929. The
White House and Department al
State recognize the necessity of Sill
ting in European councils for eco
nomic reasons. There are many VIII"
believe that this in itself viii satisfs
many of the so-called pro-lcagucrS
especially those who always claimed
they were never committed 10 the
Wilson formula. but wanted som"
formula In place of the league of
nations to promote peace. Mr. Hard
ing. promised IAN association Of
power-pact idea and internati"na!
conference as the best way TO achieve
that objective. He doesn't favor
rigid and all-inclusive associations
or leagues.
Economic Aid Practical Issue.
AS for economic cooperation. that
is q practical question on which 20
specific formula has been evolved. cX-
cept to do for American interests all
that can be done without committing
the American people to an ultimate
use of physical power to enforce
obligations undertaken.
Those democrats who favored the
league of nations for altruistic rea
sons, and those who favored ii for
economic reasons. are not opposing
the evolution of Mr.. Harding's policy.
though, naturally, they say it doesn't
course. that the deeper he delves in
European questions the more likely
he is to come around to the view
they held in 1919, but it is interest
ing to note that never since 1919
have both parties been so nearly IN
accord on what ought to be done in
world affairs than they are today
they are united in wanting Europe
helped for the sake of America.