New Britain herald., 1922-02-06
WORLD POWERS SIGN TREATIES, BRINGING
 CONFERENCE ID END
(Continued from First Page)

honor of their respective nations to the good faith of the settlements agreed upon the great audience ex- pressed the hopes of the world in its loud and prolonged applause.
 At the conclusion of the ceremony of signing, President Harding deliver ed his address. formerly closing the conference as he formally had opened it little more than 12 weeks ago
 Harding's Address
 The address made by President Harding at the concluding session to- day of the arms conference follows:
 "Mr. Chairman and members of the conference
 Nearly three months ago it was my privilege to utter to you sincerest words of welcome to the capital of our republic. to suggest the spirit in which you were invited, and to inti- mate the atmosphere in which you were asked to confer
 Tn a very general way, perhaps. l ventured to express a hope for the things toward which our aspirations led us.
 To-day it is my greater privilege, and even greater pleasure to come to make acknowledgement It is one of the supreme compensations of life to contemplate a worth while accom- pishnent.
 Words of Satisfaction
 Tt can not be other than seemly bn ph ment so circumstanced as to be able to address the conference, to speak congratulations and to offer the thanks of our nation, our people; per haps I dare volunteer to utter them for the world. My own qualification is beyond my capacity to express.
 This conference has wrought a truly great achievement. It is hazard ous sometimes to speak in superlatives and I will be restrained but l will say with every confidence that the faith plighted here today, kept in national honor, will mark the beginning of a new and better epoch in human pro- gress
 Stripped to the simplest fact, what is the spectacle which has inspired q new hope for the world? Gathered about this table nine great nations of the earth - not all, to be sure but those most directly concerned with the problems at hand-have met and have conferred on questions of great import and common concern on prob lens menacing their peaceful rela- tionship, on burdens threatening a common peril. In the revealing light of the public opinion of the world, without surrender of sovereignty, without impaired nationality or af- fronted national pride, a solution has been found in unanimity, and todays s adjournment is marked by rejoicing in the things accomplished. If the world has hungered for new assur- ance it may feast at the banquet which the conference has spread.
 Americans Pleased
 "I am sure the people of the United States are supremely gratified and yet there is scant appreciation how marvelously you have wrought. When the days were dragging and agreements were delayed, when there were obstacles within and hindrances without, few stopped to realize that here was conference of sovereign powers where only unanimous agree ment could be made the rule. Ma jorities could not decide without i'm pugning national rights. There were no victors to command, no vanquish- ed to yield All had voluntarily to agree in transatsng the conscience of our civilization and give concrete ex- pression to world opinion.
 And you have agreed in spite of all difficulties and the agreements are proclaimed to the world. No new standards of national honor have been sought but the indictments of national dshonor have been drawn and the world is ready to proclaim the odious- ness of perfidy or infamy.
 Tt is not pretended that the pur- suit of peace and the limitations of armament are new conceits or that the conference is q new conception either in settlement of war or in writing the conscience of internation- al relationship. Indeed, it is not new to have met in the realization of wars supreme penalties. The Hague con- ventions are examples of the one, the conference of Vienna, of Berlin, of Versailles are outstanding instances of the others
 The Hague Conventions
 sThe Hague conventions were de reated by the antagonism of one strong power whose indisposition to cooperate and sustain led it to one of the supreme tragedies which have come to national eminenee. Vienna and Berlin sought peace founded on the injustces of war and sowed the seeds of future conflict and hatred was armed where conference was stif1ed.
 "Too often. heretofore, the decades following such gatherings have been marked by the difficult undoing Of AhAir decisions, But your achieve