The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-03-23

4 Dy IHc w
/ ...lAM HARD ton conference
and all regarded as animated by
the same noble purposes Of disarm-
ament and Of peace. Senators who
were irreconcilables against the
League Of Nations have assured me
(and / have every reason to trust
their wor6 that the pressure
brought to bear on them from their
States in favor Of the four-power
| treaty Is many times as heavy as
any pressure that Is brought to
bear on them against 1t.
| We thereupon get situations such
as the following:
There Is certain Senator who
after full study Of the treaty has
been turned away from favoring 1t
and is now thoroughly opposed to It.
However, he is up for reelection this
fall and the people of his State. who
| by no means have had his oppor-
| tunity or his inclination to give the
treaty a full study. seem to be so
fascinated by the treaty at this mo-
ment that he fears defeat this fall
| if he should vote against It. He
thereupon arrives at the following
compromise between his personal
feelings and his political dangers:
II enough votes can be secured
| against the treaty so that his addi-
| tional vote would defeat it. he will
vote against 1t and take his chances
with his electorate back home, CAL
culating that II the treaty is dead
| dog this fall the electorate will more
| or less forget IT and go on to some
! thing else. But IL the requisite
| number of votes for defeating the
| \, hi hall COL n
not be secured and cannot be shown
in a verified list to him. he will
| vote in favor of the treaty and will
identify himself with its success In
| the eyes Of his State.
1t is such situations that very
largely explain the statement made
| to me today by a Senator who has
| taken a particularly active part in
| trying to assemble the Senatorial
! votes necessary to prevent the
| treaty from arriving at ratification.
| He said:
I'VE need only two votes more,
| or perhaps even only one vote more,
in order to prevent ratification. II
we win we shall win 10y a narrow
margin. But If we lose we shall
probably lose by a considerable
margin"
Now naturally there are quite a
few senators who will not take any
chances with the electorate even on
the basis of the theory that the
electorate would forget the treaty
| If the treaty had been defeated and
had passed away into ancient his
tory. These senator's, believing that
public opinion favors the treaty, are
going to vote for it although in
quite few cases they have
strong personal feeling OF dislike
and disgust toward 1t.
The question Of the moment for ar
understanding Of American politics
and for an understanding of whn
will happen in Washington today and
tomorrow then becomes this:
How can there be so much appar.
ent alleged public opinion in favor of
this four-power treaty proposition,
when no member of the electorate
had ever even heard of any such
proposition prior to December 10
last?
The answer to that question lies in
the organized propaganda which
sprung into being in this country just
as soon as the idea of disarmament
conference was first suggested.
Countless organizations then at once
began to hold meetings and to send
out letters, pamphlets, leaflets, bull
letins, communications. petitions, and
all the other literary features Of q
propa gandist campaign. This cam.
paign centered itself first on an earn.
st support Of the disarmament ideas
and of the disarmament conference
plans Of that admirable person, VIII
liam e. Borah.
1t was Borah who, more than any
body else, gave the disarmament en-.
thusiasts a program to rally around.
They rallied around it till Hughes
called the Washington conference.
Then they just transferred them
selves to rallying around Hughes.
They moved down to Washington
and formed central consolidated Or
ganization called a National Council
for the Limitation Of Armament" and
proceeded (most OF them) to be for
just about anything that the Wash
ington conference did, provided IT
would give them some disarmament
The wash from all this propagan-
da sweeps over the floor of the SEN
ATE anu gives the senate tne impress
sion as Of a vast and deep public
opinion. II the treaty is ratified. It
will be ratified not so much by the
Senate as by propaganda. outside Of
the Senate. Senator Borah should
look at this result with an ironic
eye.
re is for disarmament, but he is
not willing to pay a four-power
treaty for 1t. The ladies and gentle.
men who organized themselves to-
gether to support his disarmament
jlans now turn out to be most OF
them in favor Of paying just about
anything for disarmament. And,
while Senator Borah fights the
our.power treaty to the last ditch,
1t may tomorrow be seen rolling
over his PROSTATE form under the
driving influence of the indefa.
tigable propaganda of the very peo-
pie who a few months back were
acclaiming him as their favorite
hero. Senator Borah has humor,
experience, he will at any rate APP
perience, he will at any rate ap.
DreCiafe IL