Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-12-09
COOLIDGE s SPEECH
EVIDENCES CHlNCE:
IN FOREIGN POLICY
By DAVID LAWRENCE
Especial Leased Wire To The Journas-Copy-
rirht 1874

| right. 1910
| WASHINGTON, Dec. 6.-Presl-
! dent Coolidge has taken a significant
| step forward in developing the for
| eign policy of his administration.
| His speech before the Chicago Com
| merciaI club makes even palmer the
| broad purposes outlined in the an
nGal message sent to congress this
| week and means that the program
OF the United States toward Europe
will no longer be dictated by Sena-
| tor Hiram Johnson, of California,
| and the 'irreconciliable group"
| What MIR. Coolidge has just said
I about ending isolation and co-operat-
| ing with the other nations of the
world is what President Harding felt
| but did not express and what Mr..
| Coolidge himself has believed ever
| since the European war introduced
/ the European problem into Ameri-
! can affairs. But neither Mr.. Har-
| ding nor Mr.. Coolidge ventured to
challenge openly the "irreconcilia-
| bles."
| Today the situation is different.
| Mr.. Coolidge does not favor Ameri-
can acceptance of the present cove
ndnt of the League of NatiOns-he
made that clear again in his last
| message, but he utters the Ameri-
| can conception of cooperation with
| Europe with all the fervor expressed
! by the League of Nations advocates
| themselves. Some oe his very SEN
| fences might have been spoken by
the late President Wilson in decry-
Ing policy of isolation.
! MIR. Coolidge may differ with the
| democrats as to what is the best
| formula tor international co-opera-
! ton. He, like Secretary Hughes.
seems opposed to any rigid institu,
tlony or to any definitely established
| fu!es like those in covenant especial
| ~ because some of these are regard.
| ed as ambiguous but the detectives
| OF Mr. Coolidge as now expressed
| are the same as those of the Lea el1e
| OF Nations itself.
what has brought about this open
| expression OF friendship for a policy
| 81 ulrecO cooperation with Europe?
several circumstances have been re-
| SpolSIoie' one is the gradual disap-
| EC"'ahce OF the irreconciliab le''
| group o. their loss OF influence with
me C electorate Senator Lodge and
senator Brandegee are dead
Only BOrah Remains
Senator Medill Mccormick, of II.
| tlnols, was defeated in the nri,na-
res Tor denomination, and will retire
from the senate next March. Scna.
Tor Moses, of New Hampshire, has
not been hostile to Mr.. Coolidpe
SINCE the latter's cause trilImnhed
IN the New Hampshire primaries
senator Johnson, of California. was
repeatedly defeated in the presi
GENITAL primaries by Mr.. Coolidge
| himself
only Senator Borah remains. and
| he Is not likely to be able to corral
enough votes to threaten any Sc.
| rlous disaffection. But even Sentaor
Eorah favored the calling of an in,
| ternational economic conference
where his "irreconcilable" collea CUES
criticized him for deviating from
previous utterance. 1t would not be
surprising indeed if the Idaho sena-
| tor, who is the new chairman of the
senate foreign relations committee,
were willing to so as far as Mr..
| Coolidge in international co-oeera,
ton subject to the very limitations
described by the president. Mr..
| Bcrah has always insisted that
| America shall not become entangled
in any enterprise which restricts her
| freedom of action, Mr.. Coolidge
openly promises this which may sat
| isfy Mr. Borah completely.
There has been careful observer
OF the trend in sentiment in the
| senate ever since the war. He
| knows that at no time did the isola-
| tionists command a two-thirds vote
| There never was a time when the
| League of Nations was being depat-
cd that q tWo-thirds vote could not
! have been obtained for the Versailles
| treaty with some kind of reserva-
! tions. The treaty failed because of
a dispute over reservations. Tha
''irreconcilibles" who did not favor
the league at all were always in the
minority. Mr. Coolidges position
today is that the league covenant
has not been sufficiently changed to
| permit of American participation
| though the issue has so much of a
political flavor that 1t will be sew
eTal years before such an admission
would even be possible. The impor-
tant thing of the movement is the
expression by ME-. Coolidge of the
policy that most everyone inside the
! government circle realized was the
true wish of the majority of the
senate, namely real cooperation
with other nations.
Answers Davis Attacks
Mr.. Coolidge has taken occasion
! after election to answer some of the
attacks made on his policy by John
| w Davis. Mr. Coolidge gives this
all-important definition of American
| foreign policy:
I'VE cannot hope Indefinitely TO
! maintain our country as specially
! favored community, an isle of con
tentment lifted above the general
| level of the average of the stand
ards of humanity. ! know there was
time when many among is be-
ueved this was possible, but who
now can continue clnsing to such
a faith in view of the lesson which
the war brought. to us? If we could
not avoid involvement in a war
whose causes were foreign and
| whose issues We're chiefly alien to
us because We had settled them for
ourselves long ago, how can we hope
to avoid our full share of respon-
sibility in connection with other
world problems, which, if they are
ever to be solved, must be solved
| in an atmosphere of peace and good
Will We must be constantly ready
/ to help both at home and abroad
where our help is desired and will
be effective.
1--WE have been a peculiarly IA
vored people, For that We owe a
debt that is real and concrete which
We cannot reDudiate 1t is our visa
to live in a world which shall be at
peace. But We can no more assure
permanent and stable peace without
cooperation among the nations than
we could assure victory in war with
ont allies among them. We know
that the way is assured and perma
nent peace is slow and difficult. We
In Ii -. IL