The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-06
OUR FOREIGN POLICY.

OUR FOhElGN POLlCY.
 Certainly the one national question that must be frankly and intelligently settled is that of our foreign relations. At present we have no foreign policy. We are far from having, as much of foreign policy as we had under Roose- welt. We have shamefully withdrawn from that road hewn out so resolutely and with such enlightenment by John Hay, broadened by Governor Cleveland, and extended by Woodrow Wilson. The result is a national loss of diplomatic prestige, and sacrifice of our influence upon the shaping of the course of world policies.
 The reactionaries under Lodge re- treated to such abnormal recesses of iso- lation and dereliction in our world obll- gations as to render it difficult for the Republicans to come back even to the form of foreign relationships without confession of gross political and admin istrative error. And yet, as the Republic ans remain in power, they cannot longer delay a definite decision as to foreign policy. The nations are moving along their chosen paths and are formulating and adopting fundamental principles of future international conduct that cannot fail to affect the United States. Having no share in the evolution of these prin- ciples. we are in imminent position of be- ho i1Iri cd foreign nations in our foreign contacts, instead of occupying our rightful posi- ton as a strong co-ordinating influence in outlining the world program.
 The time for vacillation and delay on our part is past, unless we are willing to sacrifice by our inaction those very items of independence Lodge and his co-con- spirators absurdly argued we would sacri- flee by following the Wilsonian policies of world leadership. The nations are go- ing ahead. They perceive that the old rules which were endurable when nations were separated by disabilities of time and distance are not endurable now that time and distance have been all but annihilated. They perceive that, as long as armies were incapable of being quickly transported with their supplies for long distances and in considerable forces, 1t was possible to fight a war without throw ing the whole world into disorder. But now it is not possible to do so. War be- tween any two important nations on large scale means the upsetting of condi- tions everywhere, with the chance that they can not be restored in less than two decades of endeavor.
 War between two nations is no longer war between two nations. Its effects, particularly its ill-effects, are visited upon all non-combatant nations as well. Therefore, the prospect of a war assumes proportions far exceeding those of for mer times. The prospect of war IS cause for the grave concern of all gov ernments, whether participants directly in the matters involved or not. There fore, the rules governing wars must be revised. They must be more than re- vised; they must be replaced with some machinery that will compel settlement without war, except in emergencies more extreme than any two disputing nations have ever yet been called upon to face.
 There is also our great and growing commerce to consider. This commercial interchange brings our nationals into constantly more intimate relationship with foreign governments, and into more and more intricate contact with the laws and customs of other nations. These laws and customs are growing up and being developed by agreements among nations, whether we participate or not. And whether we participate or not, we cannot escape recognizing and dealing with them.
 And so, the United States must get into the conferences of nations, with full and complete official standing, to help settle questions in which she is inescap- ably involved; or she must let other na- tions settle such questions for her, pos sibly not always to her liking. In the face of such alternatives there is only one course this nation can honorably take. The present condition this nation can no longer quietly tolerate.
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 ENGLAND'S NEW PREMIER.