Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1922-01-27

ington conference to Americans, at
least, has been the vivid contrast be-
tween the attitude of Woodrow Will
son at Versailles and the part War
rem G. Harding is playing in the pres
cnt conference.
This matter of personalities is be-
coming an important factor in the
equation, for with the senate already
beginning to kick up fuss over the
treaty outpourings of the conference,
it is going to be Mr.. Harding's main
job to obtain senate ratification for
those treaties.
When the American peace COM
nlissioners finish with the conference.
they are through. Of course, they
will have to be on hand to explain
what has been done. The brunt OF
this will fall on Senator Lodge and
Senator Underwood, as they will be
on the senate floor. But after all, it
will be up to Mr.. Harding, not the
others, to get the treaties through.
just as it was up to. Woodrow Wilson
after having written the Versailles
treaty, to come home and get it
through the senate.
Failure in Senate's "No."
Wilson failed in the senate. The
whole Washington conference will be
failure if Harding should, in turn,
fail in the senate. And that is the
one best bet right now why the treat
les won't fail although the fight and
debate will be much longer than had
been anticipated. Should the United
States, after calling the conference,
having it meet here in the nations
capital and taking the lead in direct
ing the negotiations to successful
conclusion then wreck all that was
done by having the senate kick the
tableful of treati,s over, it would
leave American diplomacy bankrupt.
The rest of the world would say:
Whats the use of negotiating
anything with you, it's waste of
time, You talk of world agreements,
make them and then won't clinch the
contract on anything" This factor
is going to be an impelling appeal
when all the International documents
out, of the conference reach the sem
ate and. unless every insight into
American character is wrong, it is
apt to be more controlling than all
the bubbles and hair-splitting over
definition.
Why Wilson Lost
The personality of Woodrow Will
son, more than anything else beat
the Versailles treaty and the League
of Nations, OF course, every Ameri-
can is entitled to and perhaps has
his own individual opinion on that
subject. But anyone familiar with
the long treaty fight knows that not
once, but a dozen times, it would
have been all over, if Wilson had
only said the word and accepted res
ervations. He wouldn't.
All the Johnsons and Borahs and
Reeds in the world couldn't have
stopped ratification if Wilson had
been more bending and pliable-per-
haps if he had not been a sick man
and so more stiff in his own individ-
ual opinions than usual. He didn't
even have to take the Lodge reserva-
tons early in the fight, but his own
stubbornness prolonged "a losing
fight until the terms got worse. Tt
j. also a question of just what the
election meant-how much was de-
termined on the league question and
how much on Woodrow Wilson, the
man.
So it is when opponents of the
quadrilateral treaty, like Borah, pro-
claim that it the vote were taken to-
day, the treaty might pass, but that
it is slipping like the League of Ma
tions did it is both pertinent and
interesting to inquire if the basic ele-
ments fh the situation are the same
as before.
But Harding Is Different.
The most fundamental difference,
as observers here view it, is in this
difference between Wilson and Hard
ing personality and an attitude to-
ward the conference. Wilson went to
Paris and wrote the Versailles treaty
from the American standpoint prac-
tically alone. He offended much
American opinion when he went to
Europe. He distressed more in the
character of advisers he took.
Mr.. Harding called the arms CON
ference to meet in Washington. AS
pointed out, American responsibility
for its success can't be emphasized
too strongly as one of the big factors
that will tend stoward ratification in
the end. Harding named on the com
mission two senator's, Lodge and I'm
derwood- They viii be bulwarks of
strength when thee debate starts.
When the league was assailed, its de.
tenders had to rush to the White
House to get the answer. Often
they couldn't see Wilson. When the
treaties of this conference are at
tackled, men who sat in the confer
ences will be on the floor to give the
answer.
The autocratic manner in which