The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1922-03-16


order to arrive at an understanding al
to the most effective measures TO b.
taken jointly and separately to NEE
the exigencies of the particular situa-
ton Obviously in such a conference
this country would be represented by
an agent of the executive. Whether ar
understanding may be arrived at by 9
majority of the representatives of the
four powers is not clear; but let IL be
supposed that the understanding must
be reached by unanimous action, and
that this unanimous understanding
should be that the powers should
jointly employ force. Would such an
understanding impose no moral obi
cation upon the contracting parties
To treat an understanding so arrived
at as a mere brutum fulmen, binding
in neither law or morals, would involve
an extraordinary method of constituting
a solemn treaty between sovereign
states To assert that no military or
naval sanction turks anywhere in the
background would seem hardly con-
sistent with the good faith that should
animate nations.
But if il were said that our repre-
sentative would need first to consent
to the employment of force by us. and
that we could not be brought into war
without our consent, precisely the
same thing is true of the council of the
league of nations. the decision of which
must be unanimous. The proponents
of the interesting view that our coun-
try would have incurred no moral OBJ
legation TO use force are brought face
to face with some of those lofty senti-
ments about national honor with which
they themselves elevated the discus
sion upon the league of nations. The
treaty creates a defensive and an en-
tangling alliance. 1t is the very sort of
against which Washington
warned us What reason is there why |
we should. for the first time in his
tory depart from his solemn injunc- |
ton? What have we or the world to |
gain? Does it in the slightest degree |
remove any cloud upon our title to the
Or increase our ability to defend them? |.
indeed one of the other treaties in the
group of treaties framed by the con-
'erence promises to prohibit us from
constructing naval bases at Guam or
IN the Philippines
"A distinguished British authority
ipon sea power declares that without
hose naval bases we could defend the
philippines only by airplanes or sub
marines. With those islands four thou
and miles distant from our nearest
laval base it would be as mad for us
o send our battleships there. as it was
or Russia to send her ships half way
round the world to get them sunk in
apanese waters. Is our surrender of {
he right and duty properly to protect 1
ssent to Japan's receiving the suzer-
inty of all the former German ISL .
nds north of the equator the price
re are paying for the four power T.;
realty? When before did ever a nation
ay a great price that she might be 5
WIN q ASctNg AeAbAAAAg 10 II
he ideal way in which to preserve the ,
eace of the Pacific for us to throw I
way the defenses necessary to protect I
ur far eastern possessions in case [
ar should break? Is that not rather ?
he way to cause than to prevent war? i
hese treaties as foreshadowed crown
ipan as the empress of the Orient 5
18th her naval bases so near the Chi {
a coast and her proximity to the open Z
)or. she is likely in any crisis to have II
II own way. The power of the West s
safeguard China against possible a
,gressions Of Japan will be much re- T.
iced by the abandonment of our right r,
fortify Manila and Guam. That ma g,
IN is to be congratulated upon the
umph of her diplomacy won single a
nded and in open competition with al
e western nations" OF