The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-06-12

Copyright 1929.
WASHINGTON, June I2.-Calvin
Coolidge, vice president and silent man of
the administration, has Just unbosomed
himself Of thought which no one in
the administration has thus far before
him ventured to say in public and which
has aroused, as was inevitable, a great
deal of comment whenever the league of
nations is mentioned.
The league has been for the most part
tabooed as a subject of praise. Even a
casual reference to it has been stu
diously avoided because of the sharp
lines of difference in congress. Mr..
Coolidge, who presides over the senate
and listens to debate with fettered Hps
and suppressed desire, gives vent oc-
casionally to his ideas in public ad-
dresses. He sits at the cabinet table
twice a week and it is reported that he
has very little to say there. He is
mostly a listener but his meditations
are none the less constant And so the
speech which the vice president made at
the graduation exercises of American
university here last week was bound to
attract attention though it is fair TO as
sumo there was nothing deliberately
significant about the making of it, Mr.
Coolidge is too discreet to 20 about MAX
ing indisereet speeches.
But Mr. Coolidge was an advocate of
international cooperation before he was
nominated for the vice presidency and
he kept on being an advocate of it dur
ing the presidential campaign of 1920
and it Is a noteworthy fact that lie be
iieved in ratifying the Versailles
treaty including the league eovenent
with reservation. And now after a year
and half OF silence on the part of the
administration as to the pledge made in
the campaign of 1920 for an association
of nations, Mr. Coolidge indicates that
he wishes the public to believe that the
administration of which he is no unim-
portant spokesman has not forgotten
that pledge. He said:
The lessons of the great conflict have
not gone UNDECIDED There IS general
admission throughout the earth of a
mutual relationship and a mutual re
sponsibility. There is the league of ma
tions, which whether it be successful or
not, whether imperfections may be con
tanned within its terms. is, at least. the
attempted expression of u noble aspira
tion for world association and under
standing.
This is the first public praise from a
member of the Harding administration
of the ideal which an American president
sought to have his own country adopt
Then as it might be thought that Mr..
Coolidge was lacking in praise for what
Mr.. Wilson 8 successor has done for IN
ternational cooperation, Mr.. Coolidge
remarked briefly:
The four-power treaty and the
covenants of the limitation of arma
higher and nobler aspiration and even
frmer reliance upon reason as the
foundation for all peace
Except for Mr.. Coolidge s speech there
has been nothing from the administra-
tion to Indicate whether the association
of nations idea is vet to be carried out
by Mr.. Harding though sundry hints
dropped in official quarters would give
the impression that enough has been
done In that direction by Americans
through the recent Washington confer
ence. The tendency of the administra-
ton is to praise the obiectives and the
ideals of international organizations
without favoring American membership
in what is characterized here as trigid
and formal Institutions = The failure
of the Genoa conference was of course
regretted here but it, like other Euro
pean conferences. has done much to
dampen the ardor of the present adj
ministration for even that small mea-
sure of international co-oDeration which
q year ago it was thought sure would
be vouehsafPd by the president and the
secretary of state without joining any
league or association of nations. Mr.
Coolidge 3 speech is the first word of
Arbitration for the league of nations
spoken in a long time and coming as it
does at a time when there is n lull in
American interest in European confer
enees the utteTance has been source of
announcement to those who steadfastlv
believe Mr.. Harding before the end of
his administration will attempt CO.
operation with the powers of the world
on broad European questions Just as he
did with those same powers on AsiatiC