Evening star., 1924-01-20

An III tne opinion of SEN
wv ator Owen of Oklahoma.
" may be expected to recur
with varying degrees of
frequency, as long as the system of
'Secret diplomacy and the present method
of the European nations of conduct
ing foreign relations continues After
d careful and searching investiga-
ton, made in part during a long visit
TO European capitals, Senator Owen
recently laid before the Senate of
the United States the evidence he had
was the result of decisions of "A few
men in the foreign offices and on
the thrones of Europe
Until the parliaments and the peo-
Die of the great countries of the
world are in control of their foreign
relations, there can be no real hope
for long continued peace, Senator
owen holds. He predicts the his
tory of the future after reading the
history of the past contained in
:ecret interchanges between chanCcI-
ieries of Europe, between the mon
archs of many of the countries many
of which are now called to the at
tention of the Senate for the first
time.
Germans Not Alone Responsible.
1t is the contention of Senator
owen that Gsrmany-or even the for
me; imperial German government
may not be held entirely responsible
tor the starting of the world con-
fiict in 1914, which resulted in the
killing, wounding and loss of 81
$4,000 men. Probably half as many
women and children lost their lives
as a result of the war and famine
and pestilence which followed on the
heels of the conflict. 1t has been
estimated that the total cost of this
conflict was s20S,000, ,000. 900
This is terrific bill to place
against the names of a few dominant
leaders in the European foreign Off
ces. But Senator Owen insists that
it is chargeable to them, and has
produced evidence to support his con-
tention.
There is hope for the end of Sc
cret diplomacy in the approaching
elevation of Ramsey Macdonald, lead
Vi VI Tie istDoT party III fllSIdnO, TO De
prime minister Of that country. Mr..
Macdonald, according to news dis
patches, proposes to have the foreign
relations of Great Britain placed
within the control of parliament, in
stead of being run from No. 10 Down.
ing street.-the headquarters of the
prime minister. Furthermore, there
are strong forces moving in France
toward a similar end.
For Control by People.
The first of the fourteen points laid
down by former President Wilson,
when seeking to bring the world war
TO close, accepted by the central
powers as well as the allies, was t'the
end of secret diplomacy" No more
effective way of bringing secret di-
plomacy to an end can be found, in
the opinion of Senator Owen, than
in having the foreign relations OF the
nations controlled by the people of
those nations through their parlia-
mentary bodies.
The United States, the Oklahoma
senator asserts, should take the lead
in a movement to bring about the
abolition of the old system of secret
diplomacy, setting an example, as it
does, in favor of open dealing with
foreign nations, known to all the
people of this country. In the United
States, treaties and agreements with
foreign nations are negotiated by the
Chief Executive through the State
Department and are then submitted
to the Senate of the United States.
They have invariably been made
public either prior to action by the
Senate or Immediately after having
been approved. In more recent years
treaties have been discussed in open
executive session of the Senate-as
was the case with the Versailles
treaty which failed, with the treaty
of peace finally completed with Ger