The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1922-02-08
THE WASHINGTON CONFERENCE

: work of the Washington Con1erence
Just ended, the work of which has
been widely commended by states,
men of England, Japan, China and
other powers. The Herald says:
The achievements of the Confer
ence, now a thing of history, are of
two kinds. those that are concrete
and definite and those that are hui
man.
The definite achievements are
chiefly the abrogation of the Anglo
japanese treaty, the scrapping of bat
tleships with the ten year naval holt
day, the four Power treaty in the
Pacific, the maintenance of the in
tegrity of China, the open door in
China, the elimination of poison gas
and the restriction of the murderous,
unlicensed submarine.
The human achievements call for
a cordial frank, open discussion in the
handling of international problems
in conference with the purpose and
determination to reach just, fair and
unanimous conclusions; the human
achievements initiate a new idea in
Observation-Disclosures, simplicity,
earnestness that are of the essence
of American feeling and American
methods; the human achievements
provide for friendly consideration by
a conference of nations, in good faith
of all irritating international prob
lens such as hitherto have led to
war.
much as the vast cut in the cost
of navies means to the world the
elimination of the Anglo-Japanese
Treaty means more to the world.
With this treaty out of the way the
two great English speaking nations,
Great Britain and America, can CO.
operate to the advantage of the
world in mutual confidence and good
feeling as they never could have CO.
operated with this treaty in force.
"The situation in the Pacific was
strained. America could not free
herself from the acute appreciation
of Far Eastern intr CUES, entangle-
ments and dangers. And for US the
consciousness of Great Britain's COM
mitments to japan complicated and
intensified the many sided problems
CT the Far East. No one of the con-
crete achievements of the Conference
Will go further in making for peace
in the Pacific than the maintenance
of Chinese integrity.
"The world has a singular sen:i-
ment for China, a singular sentiment
for seeing this vast, ancient nation
continue as a unit and under the
direction and control of the Chinese
people. This feeling is so strong
that nothing else will satisfy the
peoples of the earth. In respect of
China, therefore, the. Conference has
achieved largely-enormously more
than anybody could have expected.
It now rests with China, herself to
make good the opportunities she has
for reestablishing herself among the
nations Of the world as a physical
and moral force.
splendid as are the concrete
achievements of the Conference, how
ever, il is a question whether in the
long outreach the human achieve
ments of this Washington interna,
tional gathering will not 60 further
and mean more. to the world than
the definite items of accomplishment.
1t is our belief that they will.
"The Washington Conference is
epochal. 1t stands out boldly among
all international conferences, great
est for its achievements. and sanest
for its businesslike procedure. 1t
could not have reached so high in
human endeavor except for the fine
body of men constituting the Con-
ference. Each nation participating
in the Conference was ably. repre-
scented, conscientiously represented
by its distinguished delegates. In
the main a spirit of cooperation ami
mated their purpose and character
lied their work, and their govern
ments at home s%plendidly supported