New-York tribune., 1922-10-31

n y
mics enforced, efficiency vastly In
creased and our great national cori-
| Germs snfeguarded
sThis ncthod and result ARE due to
/ tho spirit and purpose which have
| dominated the Administration. The.
| tho inexhaustible energy, the constant
| labors, the intimate knowledge OF
human nature as we'll as governmental
affairs, the immediate and inst APP
praisement of difficult situations, the
courteous consideration and kindly dis
position and especially the untiring
| zeal for the public interest which char
acterize our chief, Warren G. Harding,
the President ~ the United States.
| 'Tt would hs iifficuIt to Imagine a
worse tangle In our foreign rotations
than THAT with which this Administra-
ton was required to deal. II took Of
flee two years and nearly four months
after the armisticc, but we were yet at
evoked bitter and undying contro-
versy. 1t had been patent, I think, to
those who had cndeavored to estimate
the public Judgment that the American
people would never consent to assume
any obligation, moral or legal, which
| would fetter their appropriate freedom
of action In unknown contingencies.
while we havo been justly solicit
| tous Of American rights and interests
in every part OF the world, we have
been eager to do all within our power
In accordance with the genius of our
institutions to promote peaceful settle
ments and international cooperation.
We favor, and always have favored, an
international court Of justice for the
determination according to judicial
standards of justiciable international
disputes.
II believe that suitable arrange
nents can be made for the participa-
tion by this government in Che seiee.
tion Of judges Of the international
| Court which has been set up. so that
this government may give its formal
support to that court as an indie
pendent tribunal Of international
Justice. To support an institution you
must have proper provision for a
voice in it's constitution, and | think
that provision TO this end can be made.
Europe Raeked Internally
"The fundamental and pressing
problems OF Europe are political prob
lens involving national hopes and
fears; deep-seated convictions as to
national safety and opportunity; ma
tional ambitions, in some cases long
cherished, in others recently awak-
ened; established policies which have
become postulates In the thought Of
peoples. The reason that the main
problem of Europe cannot be solved,
save ns Europe helps herself, lies in
the fact that each major difficulty
centers in the self-determined action
Of Independent states and is beyond
external control.
There is no reason why we should
fritter away our helpful influence by
becoming partisan feither party to
such controversies, much less make the
fatal mistake attempting to assume
the role of dictator.
Meanwhile we have been unstinting
be given. No appeal for the starving
and distressed has been made to gem
erous America in vain. Hundreds of
millions Of dollars have been poured
out in relief. .5t a~
what is even more importsnt Is
that a host OF productive undertakings
in Europe have turned to America for
help and have not been denied. The
help needed has been credit, and the
response has been made in about four
billions Of dollars invested by our peo-
pie in Europe since the armistice.
Europe is at this moment burdened
with the expense of large armies
heavily disproportionate to the 1inan-
cial ability of the respective states to
maintain them. These armies are
hension and national aspirations
Every effort to remove the burden by
agreement as to limitation OF land
armament has failed.
Europe Shelves Army Cut
"The European powers, despite COM
plste organization designed to facili-
tate the removal Of this burden, have
apparently put the problem aside for
the time, viewing 1t as inseparably re-
lated to condition of political in
stability which can be cured only by
voluntary action.
at is recognized that nothing can be
done without the consent Of the powers
not ready to consent. There Is no
machinery which can serve as sub
stitrto for that consent.
"But while the question Of reduction
in land armaments could not be solved
because of conditions in Europe, there
was an opportunity presented to us, be-
cause of our special relations to the mat
ter, to deal with the question Of naval
armament and to stop the naval con1pe-
tition upon which we had entered with
Great Britain and Japan
This composition was both econom-
ically uniustitied and provocative of
trouble. We could not cure 1t by
simply talking about It; the facts were
known. We could not cure 1t without
sacrifice. But our relation to that
problem was such that we could talk