Evening star., 1925-02-03
COURT PLAN TO co
TO NEXT CONGRESS
Action on Protocol Consider
ed Unlikely at This Session,
Experts Agree.
by FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.


10 leave the Secretaryship of State
without realizing his hope to take
| the United States into the World
court Elimination of the adminfstra-
t,on world court proposal from the
senate steering committee program for
tne remainder OF the session practically
postpones action until 1926.
1t will be two years on February "a
since President Harding. through
secretary Hughes. submitted the
| original court proposal to the SEN
| ate President Coolidge resubmitted
IL and in all of his messages to Con-
gress mas urged It's adoption. But
ene senate, despite administration
control, has not moved
| There are suggestions that the ir-
reconcilables, who are more powerful
I IN the foreign relations committee
| 'hdn In the Senate as a whole have
| sworn vow not to permit the World
nour protocol to be ratified while MI
Hughes is Secretary of State Wheth-
er Mr.. Kellogg. IL and when he es-
pouses 1t. will have any better luck
| remains TO be seen. If Mr. Hughes
| desired to leave office laurel-crowned
as far as the World Court is con-
| cerned and considering 1t the climax
0. MS constructive record, he Is to be
cheated out of that glory Only a
senatorial miracle can vouchsafe 1t
10 MIN between now and March A.
Proposal on Calendar.
contrary to popular understanding,
| the World Court proposition is before
the Senate proper in the sense that
IL is on the calendar 1t can be
| called up for debate and disposition
| at any time. What the foreign re-
! iatlons committee reported out for
tnat purpose is the resolution intro
uuceo by Senator Pepper of Pennsyl-
rania. The purport of this resolution
Is to supplement the Coolidge Hughes
| proposal with conditions that shall
| Ieave no manner of doubt that the
United States in adhering to the
World Court in no way. shape or
| manner "entangies" itself with the
| League of Nations. The Pepper reso-
| luton was adopted by the foreign re-
lations committee as a substitute for
the Democratic resolution fathered
by Senator Swanson of Virginia. The
Swanson proposition would in effect
| carry the adhesion of America to the
| court under the conditions submitted
by the administration
Hold Senate Indifferent.
Supporters of the Pepper resolu-
| tion claim that 1t Is Indifference, not
intrigue. that is responsible for in
| action on the World Court in the
| Senate. They contend that anybody at
any time can ask for a vote, but, as
nobody does, they insist there is
plain evidence that nobody is suffi-
| ciently concerned to do SO. If the
administration were fired with any
| crusading spirit in the matter, lead
| erslike Senator Curtis or Watson or
! Butler, it is explained, would force
action. But evidently inspiration or
| instigation from the White House Is
not forthcoming. So, barring de-
yelopments which nobody foresees,
| the World Court founding will be de-
| posted on the doorstep of the Sixty
| ninth Congress next Winter a neg
| lected bairn Of more than years
| Of age,
Treaties Apt to Go Over.
Two other major foreign projects
| fathered by the Coolidge administra-
tion seem likely to go by the boards,
along with the World Court, as far as
| the expiring session is concerned They
are the so-called Lausanne treaty with
| Turkey and the German commercial
| treaty. There is violent opposition to
| the Turkish treaty from the Friends
| of Armenia" in America, headed by
| former Ambassadors Morgenthau and
Gerard. Before the. treaty could be
| reported out, hearings would have to
| be held on 1t. and there Is enough op-
| position in sight to make either con-
| sideration or passage before March
| impracticable.
Secretaries Hughes and Hoover
| were this week in executive session
| with the foreign relations committee
on the German commercial treaty. The
| Senate steering committee has put the
treaty on the preferred list for consid-
Grafton during the remainder of the
session, but conclusive action is not
| certain in the brief interval between
| now and March 4. There has been no
excessive speed on Capitol Hill in deal
| ing with the German pact. 1t was sub
mitted to the Senate by President Cool
idge as long ago as December, 1923.
Pact With Rumania.
Snags also have arisen in connec-
| ton with the Administrations extra
| dition treaty with Rumania Ques-
| tions of capital punishment and the
sovereign rights of American States
| are involved. Rumania does not i'm
pose capital punishment for murder.
| Under the treaty, certain objecting
Senators point out the State of New
York, for example, which inflicts capi-
| tai punishment, might hand over a
! convicted murderer of Rumanian cit
| izenship to his own country, with the
| result that he might be spared his
| life
other treaties which have not been
reported out by the foreign relations
| committee include a trade mark
| treaty with a group of Central
! American countries, a treaty with
| Great Britain with reference to
American rights In Palestine. and a
| treaty with the Netherlands concern
| ing the Island of Palmas.
The present session Of the Senate
J L4, ed
| smuggling treaties with Great
Britain, France. the Netherlands and
| Panama 1t also concurred in the
| arbitration convention with Sweden
| and in a treaty with Guatemala and
! other Central American states pro-
viding for common inquiry and
| amicable adjustment on the occasion
of controversies with the United
States. Three other treaties to which
the Senate gave its constitutional
advice and consent" concerned our
| relations with the Dominican republic
and a treaty with Great Britain pro-
| viding for extradition from Canada
of violators of our narcotic laws.
| If the session ends with a less ex-
| tensive record of senatorial ratifica-
tions in the foreign affairs realm,
| authorities say 1t Will be due to the
| preoccupation of both the adminis-
tration and Congress with domestic
affairs That condition is said to be
ominous of what the future holds in
| store. The future, 1T is asserted, will
| be distinguished in ever-increasing
| degree by concentration on matters
| of more direct concern to the aver
| age American than issues as far
I aield as The Hague or the Near East.
| Copyright, 1921