Great Falls tribune., 1922-04-01
FRENCH TREATY
RESERVATIONS

ASO~A
tachs9 to the four power Pacific
entente treaty very pleasantly. The
reservation attached to the ratifi-
cation Of that treaty, with the con-
sent Of President Harding and the
foreign relations committee Of the
senate, states In substance that the
United States does not regard the
treaty as an alliance" Yet the
language Of the treaty is plain
enough and is in effect an al
lance" however senators may
quibble over the meaning Of that
word. This newspaper has held that
the reservation was silly and use
less, but If it gives offense to the
French people and causes them to
attach a few reservations Of their
own along similar lines, It may
prove worse than silly and useless.
It may in fact be the cause Of the
defeat Of the whole treaty. The
Paris Temps, suggests that the
French parliament before they rati-
fy the naval disarmament treaty
attach a reservation to the effect
that they do not understand the
agreement to be one that prevents
them from adding as many chips
to their navy as may at any time
appear to them as necessary for
the protection Of their colonial in
terests. The Temps adds that If
the American senate may vote re-
servation then other national par
liaments have the right to do the
same thing" There can be no dis
pute over that proposition. So #
France adds a reservation to the
effect that any clause in the treaty
which they do not exactly like
means to them something else than
the words seem to express, and
Japan does the same, It is entirely
conceivable that the treaty might
be not worth the paper 1t is written
on, and the Washington conference
might as well not have been held.
All international treaties are
likely to be compromises between
the respective interests and wishes
Of the parties TO them It is only
BY a process Of give and take and
mutual concession and compromise
that any international treaty can be
made as a rule. And when four
powers are parties to the treaty as
in this case there Is sure to be some
dissatisfaction in the home coun-
tries Of all the parties to it. We
note that In Japan the home news
papers generally think that Japan
got very much the worst OF 1t in
these treaties and gave up far TOO
much. In the United States the gen
eral comment among the news
papers is that Japan got very much
the best of it and that the United
States gave up too much. In France
they feel that France was the goat
in these treaties and regret that
they took any part in the Washing
ton conference, if we are to believe
much of the published comments.
In Great Britain there is little
criticism of the treaties and con-
siderable satisfaction expressed
over them. This may be one reason
why both in France and Japan pub
lie sentiment seems to regard Great
Britain as the chief gamer under
! the Washington conference treaties.
Insofar as Great Britain and
Japan is concerned they do not re-
quire parliamentary consent to any
treaties. They can be ratified by an
order In council without referring
the treaties to parliament for ap-
OfOVal. III I'll dASC ~ 40 0AAA - ~AHS'
The treaties must go to the French
parliament for ratification, and
therefore the talk about reserva-
tions to protect French interests
to be attached to the treaties may
well cause some anxiety at Wash
ington. Should the French attach a
reservation to the 5-5-3-3 agree
ment signed by their representa-
tives relating to dreadnought con-
struction, which said in substance
that they did not regard this agree
ment as a binding agreement" OF
the French government in case It
developed that they needed larger
ratio. the whole naval disarmament
agreement would be practically
worthless and the chief pride Of the
administration would turn out a
fizzle.
This mo alliance" reservation
'1ich has offended the Frenchmen