The Washington times., 1922-03-06
4-POWER PACT
GROUND.
FAST IhSENATE
Borah and IrreconoiIabIe Group
Conceded Good Chance to
Defeat Treaty.
BY e. J. CLAP.


BY Il. J. CLAP.
After talking at length with Q
dozen Senators OF different view
points, my estimate Of the four
power treaty situation - ~ FOL
lows:
This treaty has been going
through the same stasW ~ the
treaty Of Versailles.
At first, the summoning OF the
conferences and the eloquent open
ing speeches at Washington caught
the tide Of popular sentiment for
peace. Just as Rorah and his small
group Of irreconcilablss held the
Versailles treaty up to the public
gaze until its entangling commit
ments were understood. 90 the
same little group. under the same
leader, are holding the four-power
Pacific treaty before the eyes Of
the country today.
Treaty Losing support.
These men know that IL they only
dig deep enough they can strike bed
rock oh solid independent Ameri-
canism. They are digging hard. One
fact 10 admitted by Republicans.
Democrats and irreconcilables alike
namely. that the treaty would have
passed with q whoop two weeks ago.
but that II would squeak through
narrowly II voted on tonight.
The attitude OF the three groups
is about as follows: The old guard
Republicans as o rule do not know
what II n all about. They want to
be strictly logical. and this Is the
logical outcome of the magnificent
gestures made by Harding and
Hughes in opening the conference.
1t is a party measure and We will
stand by the old ship. they say, and
they insist. without demonstrating II,
that this is different from Versailles.
They say we had to join the four
power treaty to keep England from
joining Japan alone. They say the
world depends on an Anglo saxon
union, and II is worth while having
this union, even II It includes Japan
which most OF them distrust.
Little Enthusiasm
1 can discover little real enthusi-
asm among the Old Guard. They
smile in a non committal way when
asked II they would be broken
hearted IL the treaty failed. Per-
haps the most intelligent Senator on
the Republican side says that he
would vote with Borah for the
treaty II Borah would vote with
him to build up a navy.
He says that IL Borah is going
TO force our disarmament. then We
must get the others to disarm. too.
lie Is highly alarmed at the Con-
gress proposal to reduce naval
forces to s0.00o men.
The irreconcilables under Borah's
leadership are four strong. but be-
lieve they have already made three
additional converts. They say no
reservations can make that treaty
safe to accept. They just want to
keep out of the alliance business.
They want no commitments to as
semble our representatives period
ically around a table with Euro
peans and Japs. They say that
every time this happens some kind
Of intellectual seduction 10 perpe-
trated upon our diplomats.
Claim Fog Is Lifting.
These irreconsilables claim that
the fog Is lifting. The key to the
situation Ia I'm the hands of the
Democratic, since the irreconcilables
are only a handful. One of the
Republican leaders asserts that the
treaty will 20 through easily, that
Fifteen Democrats will follow o.
car Underwood, come hell come
high water" These fifteen, to-
Qether with the standfast Republi-
cans, would give the Senatorial two.
thirds necessary to ratify the treaty.
However, / find many dissenting
porting the treaty because II
seemed the consistent thing 10 do,
after proposing the League OF Ma.
tons.
Now they are finding important
differences between this alliance and
the league. They say the alliance
commits US much more definitely
than the league. They say that the
alliance Is the sort of regional un-
derstanding which the league was
formed to supplant.
Battle Far From Lost.
They say that the alliance will
either break up the league or create
conflicting Jurisdictions that will
settle no dispute or settle it in con-
flicting ways. 1t is rumored that
TIcoiuSht "hSoh hoiuS SuSh NiSWo'
but 30 far no one has been able
to induce him to come out openly.
But even SO. there Is no doubt a
strong Democratic drift to the ire
concilables, a drift that will grow
stronger with the rising tide OF
popular understanding as to just
what the treaty let's us In for.
So today the situation IL that
General Borah blocks the way with
eft shall not pass" His reinforce
ments are coming up and the battle