Evening star., 1925-10-21

theticaI questions. The administy5
tion. in other words. VIII mark tim,
1t vii! wait and see The League ct
Nations plans are a. Vet wholly j.
the formative stage. il j. a.tu@@thes
probable, but not absolutely certain.
that the league Will invite the uiea
States 10 participate in the projected
conference. President Coolidge is de
termined not to cross the bridge OF
acceptance or rejection until he get
to il. His real dilemma viii then y,
III sight.
=
There Is already a disposition iH
many world capitals - consider tha'
an international disarmament Confet
ence without the United states would
be like Hamlet" without the melar
choly Dane. Japan. il particular, j. fl
clined 10 hold of small value any Inns
tation treaty that leaves America free
to arm at her sweet Will ashore. alnt.
and atioat. We may be sur" thac
there viii be no lack Of foreign e..
fort during the next few months t1
induce this country 10 stretch lis ioUE
legs under the same mahogany around
which the nations OF Europe, Asia.
South America and Africa VIII Pre-.
emily gather To talk disarmament We
may be equally sure that there Viii
he the same kind OF pressure in the
United States itself. The League Of
Nations became partisan political
issue. but there is no politics in di~
armament Millions Of American men
and women, Republican ana Demo
cratic, favor rational limitation q!
armaments by international agree
ment. II is they Who may he e&.
pected To raise stenJorIan cries thac
America must not he missing from
the disarmament round table. The
are likely to make themselves heard
soon after Congress reaSsembleS. De
hate on the World Court. officially
fixed for December i, will prohahlH
provide the opportunity. LoCarnO aud
its aftermath Will bulk couspicuousiE
in the Washington picture before
next Winter is over.
! II the League of Nations confel
ence were TO Contine itself to land
armies Uncle sam would have a sound
reason for staying away. Iongres~
and the budget between them are Z
continuous limitation uf armamentS
conference. as far as the United
States Army is concerned. our mill
! tary establishment is already cut 70
| the bone In the opinion of men
| like Senator Wadsworth. chairman OF
| the Senate committee on military af-
| fairs, it is cut below tho bone. Amer
! lea, in other words, has nothing 10
trade to other nations when it comes
/ 10 bargaining about hattaIious We
have now just as few as we can pos
! sibly get along with, and far few"~
| than any country on earth Of our
| size, wealth and Importance. Bul
! there are possibilities of CurtailinC our
! power in the air and on the sea. pro
| vided we could do 50. as al Washing
! ton two years ago. on terms Of com
plete equality with other tirsl-Class
| naval powers.
This observer sees the hour ap.
preaching when the United States
may have to fight the League Of N
| tions battle all over again. There are
| those who will urge the adminiStra-
! ton to shun a leaguedirected con
! ference as it ShunS the league itself.
! IrreconCilables like Rorah, on the Re
publican side of the Senate. and Reed.
| on the Democratic side, look upon the
J league as still a pestilenCe not even
| the skirt hem of which America can
! touch without contamination. They
would fight our participation in q
! league conference, as they fought our
entry into the league, 10 the bitter
| end. They, too, probably are on the
road to the horns of a dilemma. For
as the world rejoiceS at the fruits of
| Locarno, the world finds 1t difficult to
| deprive of credit for the ripening Of
those fruits the agency which mainly
| bore them. That agency is the League
| of Nations. The question with which
! Europe is about to confront the Gov
! ernment and people of the United
States IS whether peace-loyng. ideal
istic America can consistently boycott
the first real effort at general disarm-
ament ever undertaken.
tGop-ri-ht. 1892