Evening star., 1922-02-05
By n. o. MESSENGER.

~TATESMEN and diplomatists of
International fame and ma
tional standing. associated with
the arms and far eastern par
ley. recognize one great accomplish
and definite achievements of the
epochal meeting-the establishment
Of better feelings among nations. 1t
is something not written into the
treaties. pacts and gentlemen's agree
ments, bit a state of mind among
peoples of the earth. Without 1t, they
say, treaties might become in time
of stress mere scraps of paper. With
1t, they maintain. the agreements are
rendered impossible of violation.
It will be recalled that at the out
set of the meeting, such men as Mr..
Hughes, Mr.. Balfour and NJ. BRAND
uttered a sentiment echoed by other
delegates that the will to peace was
all important and controlling. That
the moral sense of the world must
first be found to exist before its ex-
ology of treaties that would be bind
ing. The outcome Of the conference,
in official opinion, has demonstrated
that the will does exist and that the
moral sense has been aroused into
definite expression.
X x x X
President Harding and Secretary
Hughes take into account this consld-
Grafton as the foundation for their
firm belief that the world has entered
upon a new era in which the provoca-
tion for great wars will be minimized
and that by the expiration OF the time
Nxed as the life of the naval treaty
public opinion will be so set in ap-
proyal of the regime created that
it will not countenance return to the
the old customs nor revival OF the
nmpetition in naval and military
Armament.
This is not an Ctopian dream, in
their estimation. but sound logic, the
basis of which is the common-sense
of the people of all lands and humans;
tarianism. 1t will be case OF the
higher ethics reduced to practicai
annlication and proved suitable. to
the everyday uses Of mankind and I
governments. ss:.f..&>>s:...i'f
Nothing else than the growth and
elimination Of good feeling amcng
nations, it is contended in conference
circles, could have produced the set
tlement of the Shantung issue be-
tween China and Japan, in which the
United States was deeply concerned.
and the composition of other strained
relations inherent in the commercial
and territorial questions confronting
China and Japan. There were hours
in the course of the negotiations. con-
Quoted outside the strict confines OF
the conference proper, though touch
ing directly the heart of the whole
undertaking. when doubt hung over
the result The presumed incorrigi-
biIities of poor human nature seemed
tospresent insuperable obstacles. But
human nature proved not to be in
corrigible, but amenable to reason.
Looking backward, how futile seems
the objection raised in the beginning
that the conference should be devoted
only to land and naval arms limita-
ton and how impossible it would
have been to have accomplished any
thing in that direction without first
disposing of conditions in the far
east which held the germs Of inter-
national friction likely to bring forth
war.
The doubters said that the far east
ern problems could not be solved and
that nothing would come of the con-
ference in consequence: Events have
dispelled this apprehension, refuted
this argument. In point Of fact. the
settlements reached in the far east
ern agreements have exceeded the
hopes of the promoters of the con-
ference in their scope and rossibilt-
ties Of peace for the future.
X + *
President Harding and Secretary
Hughes were cognizant, through
their executive position and knowl-
. edge of world affairs, of the serious
ness of the far eastern germs Of in
ternational disquietude. The public
only glimpsed them as through a
glass darkly. and the mass of peoples
probably not at all.
In their opinion at the time it were
better to risk failure of the whole
undertaking than to leave it incom-