Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-12-31
HARDING WINS VICTORY
OVER SENATE IN PLANS
FOR ECONOMIC MEETING
President, Through Mild Terms, Has Put Upper
Branch of Congress Back Into Its Place, But He
Still Is Restricted by Peace Treaty and Laws
Governing Debt Funding Commission.

Hughes standing squarely and fear
lessly behind him. has really put the
senate in its place, automatically
speaking. and without being too bru-
tai about it has told that august body
that it should not attempt to NEEDLE
in international affairs until in the
course of human events it is called up
on by the executive TO exercise it's
proper function of ratification.
And while the president has won
his point that it is not proper or
seemIy for the senate to tell him when
or why he should take certain inter-
national steps. he still has q fight On
his hands before he will De a free
agent to conduct the most important
negotiations that lie before his admin
istration that may carry with them the
d~estinies of the world.
In telling the senate what it should
not do, Harding has very plainly init
mated to it that there are certain
! things which it can and should undo.
| These were done while the senate still
seethed in its w~rathfulness toward the
| Wilson administration and was still
| drunk with its desire to dictate to the
executive branch of the government
what it might not do.
The president panty feels that IN
some respects his hands are stu ted
by the senate and he is anxious that ne
! should be unfettered. The president
did NOT object to the lettering When
it was done, for his mind at that time
was inclined to 60 along with the
senate's, and he did not then believe
that America at the end or l922 wotih
be moving in the direction of extending
a helping hand to Europe.
Fettered by Peace Treaty
However. the time TO help France
has arrived, and the president flnds
himself hampered by senate hmlta-
tionasf
AS matters now stand. the president
| can do nothing in the matter OF the
reparations dispute, for the senate IN
ratifying the treaty of peace with Ger
many. made a reservation that the
United States should not be represent
ed on the commission without the con-
sent of congress.
Furthermore. in calling or entering
an international conference. President
/ Harding would find himself cramped
and embarrassed by the legislation
which restricts the American DEBT
funding commission to explicit terms
of interest and ultimate time of pay
! ment. AS the president ~pointedly: says.
il congress really means to facilitate
Fthe task of the government in deal
ing with the European situation, the
first practical step would be TO free
the hands of the commission so that
helpful negotiations may be under
taken.
Here then is the international sit
| uation in a nutshell:
President. Harding thoroughly ac-
| clstomed to the menace of conditions
in Europe, steadily from bad to worse
during the last 4 years. is anxious to
do something 0 to help.
viii France Listen to U. s.?
He finds himself hampered on this
side Of the water by certain leglsla.
tive restrictions and he finds himself
confronted abroad by a truculent
! France. France and England are near
/ the breaking point. They resume their
conferences in Paris on Tuesday. but
as there has been no change of heart
on the part of France since the re
cent meeting in London. little il ex
pected from Paris. If an open break
comes. the United States will try to
heal il. But France knows tina
American good judgment. as o will
call for d moderate policy toward Ger
many. not a policy of destruction. II
remains to be seen whether France is
willing to break with both England
and America. The situation unques.
tionably is tense.