The Washington herald., 1922-01-01
Yelling Terms of Treaty -
May Prevent Ratifying

ancient goddesses used to drop
clouds over their heroes IN trouble.
to permit the removal OF the Anglo :
japanese treaty.
Wanted American Accounts
What has produced all the
trouble, just as at Paris, is the fact
that for many long weeks the
American people were left totally
/ in the dark as TO what was going
on between their Representatives
and those OF other nations. No one
expected a front seat at the SEES
sions or a stenogrsphIc record Of
the conversations between Baron
Kato, Mr.. Balfour and Mr.. Hughes.
when they were drafting the four
power treaty. But what the Ameri-
can people did desire, IL would
seem, was to know from their own.
not the British or japanese press
agents, that a treaty was being
/ negotiated, why there was a need
1 of such a treaty and. when the
text OF the treaty was published.
what was included and what was
excluded from its purview.
Mr.. Wilson went to Europe talk
I ing about open covenants openly
arrived at" and after Paris, the
phrase became a bitter rtem OF re-
proach. The secrecy Of Paris de-
feated the results Of Paris in the
United States. quite as much as
the facts which were included In
the league Of nations and In the
/ treaty OF Versailles generally. And
the evil OF the thing lived after the
fight was over and the league
buried by the Senate. There was
created in the United States an In
finite amount OF suspicion about all
international conferences and SEES
sions.
Therefore IL was a matter OF life
and death for those who were
charged with carrying the Wash
ington conference through 70 sue
cess to avoid providing for this
, potential suspicion any basis for
real action. Instead. in the matter Of
the four-power treaty there has
been more secrecy than there was
at Paris-and I was at Paris and
say this thing deliberately and
without qualification. And this
secrecy, utterly unnecessary sec
recy has led to a crisis which at
least momentarily grsvely injured
the standing Of the conference in
the eyes OF the American people.
silence Maintained.
And after the mistake was made.
after the consent OF the American
delegates 70 the Interpretation Of
the treaty which Included the Jan
anese mainland was finally dragged
out, the same policy OF silence and
/ secrecy was maintained. One could
/ learn from British sources that Mr..
Balfour had proposed this thing.
from Japanese sources that Baron
Kato had opposed IL. From both
sources one could learn that the
American representatives had ac-
cepted it. But from first to last
Mr.. Hughes fatoly refused TO tell
his fellow countrymen what had
been the action Of the American
delegation, why they had accepted,
what they had said or done. al
! though the incident was closed and
the treaty actually signed.
Now / dwell upon these various
| circumstances for a single reason
We are obviously going TO have a
long n9ht in the United States Sen
ate over the four-power treaty, a
Tight which seems to me futile and
even wicked; futile for IL is incon-
ceivable that any one could believe
that the language OF the treaty it,
self binds us to anything which
amounts TO more than good be.
nngness to talk matters over with
our Pacific neighbors. Wicked, be-
cause IL the present agreements are
defeated in the United States SEN
ate, il will be a fairly long time
before Europe or Asia cares TO ne
gotiate new treaties with tie
United States
/ Yet the fight is made inc. able
not by reason OF what was one
but wholly as q result OF the way
IL was done. The real weapons
which Senator Borah and his asso-
ciates will have for use have been
forced into their hands by the
friends, the makers OF the treaty.
not its critics.
Frnnkness Eliminates Surprise.
The supreme advantage Of per
feet frankness all along the road Is
that IL leaves those who are at
work upon an international agree
ment relatively immune from the
! consequences Of accidents. II Amer
lean diplomacy, like the much di-
vided European. kept its people in
| formed, that fatal element of sur
prise, so disastrous TO Mr.. Wilson,
so embarrassing recently TO Mt.
Hughes, would not play a part.
There is only one safe diplomacy
| and that is open diplomacy, the Eu-
| ropeans know il and employ IL ha-
bitually. The governments use their
press to prepare their public just
as Col Roosevelt. in his DAYS OF
greatness and power. used the
| Washington correspondents 10 edu-
cate the country to his views and
purposes. In point OF fact in tn"
case of Europe, the more danger
Gus and unpopular the ends sought.
the more extensive the campaign
of education in the press in sd-
| vance
Another victory by the United
States Senate, another episode like
the rejection Of the treaty Of Yer
sailles whatever its effect upon
world conditions, economic even
more than political. would be a ma
final disaster for us. It would
mean an isolation complete and
costly beyond description. The pity
is that the obstructionists in the
Senate have been provided with
weapons all OF which were once in
the hands OF the American dele
| gates to the Washington confer
! ence. Once more the difference be-
tween American and European d.
| plomacy, between the so-cslled
new" and the "old-fashioned."
would appear TO be that the former
seeks open ends by secret methods.
| while the latter sometimes uses