Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-01
Politics at Large

IL
| to consider the American reservations
| to the adherence Of the United states
| to the World Court, American parlci'
nation in the court is receiving ils
knocks from Senators who Voteo ioi
adherence but are now sorry Iof IT,
Senator Gooding of Idaho, Repuo'
lican, seeking reelection, mas an
nounced that if he had 1t to do over
again ne would vote against auhe,
ence, In Florida, Senator IraInIlleN'
Democrat, has also recanted. he was
! for the court with the Senate reserNa'
tons, but only with those reservations.
Now he is against the court, lock;
stock and barrel Senator Trammeil
is not up for reelection this year
His colleague, Senator Fletcher, VINO
also favored adherence to the court
! is running for reelection. however,
and it is confidently predicted he VIII
be reelected.
Out in California Senator Hiram
Johnson has been roaring up ana
down the State in an effort to de1eat
Senator Shortridge, his Repuphcan
colleague, for the senatorial noHina-
ton at the primaries held YESTERDAY.
He favored Judge Robert NJ. Clarke'
recently converted to opposition 70
the World Court. Senator Ellison u.
smith. whose political career was put
TO the hazard in yesterdays Demo
cratic primaries. was also under at.
tack. because of his vote In favor OF
American adherence to the Norlu
Court. by at least one Of his oppo.
nents, Edgar A. Brown, speaker OIL
the General Assembly of South Iaro-
lima. Senator Cole Blease or SCUM
Carolina, it will be remembered. was
one of the two or three Democrats III
the Senate who joined with the IT.
reconcilables in their efforts to de1eat
the resolution for American adnefence
to the court. Senator Lenroot OIL VIZ.
consin is battling in Wisconsin .ooaS
to survive his vote for the couit T.,
These flurries over the Woru Nou 80 9
are hut samples Of the mixed frame OIL
n,;nJ in which the rank and file and
even the leaders of the two major po'
I;tical parties find themselves as the
campaign warns up. The titular heao
of the Republican party, Presloent
Coolidge. did more than any other Sill
gle man to bring about the ratncatioh
of the resolution proposing adherence
to the World Court. When the reso-
luton was adopted with only II votes
cast against it In the Senate, 1t was
hailed as a triumph for the PRESIDENT
as it was. But now some Oh the men
who voted for the court ana VINO
must be reelected wish they mad not.
Some Of them have already met de1eat
at the polls, including Mckinley IN
Illinois, Pepper in Pennsylvania and
Stanfield in Oregon. On the other
hand. some of those Senators who
voted against the court are counting
on that fact to help pull them
through, as in the cases of Watson
and Robinson in Indiana and Harreld
in Oklahoma.
The World Court, like the tariff,
however, appears to be something OF
a local. tissue. The opposition to the
court is dependent upon geographical
and racial layout. In Idaho, Sen
ator Borah, the outstanding figure
in the entire State and a national
figure. is violently opposed TO the
court, and has threatened to campaign
against men who supported 1t, Sen
ator Gooding'S recent declaration
against the court may help him to win
his way back to the Senate next No
vember. The court is not an issue be-
tween the two major parties. Both
President Coolidge and the Democratic
leaders of the Senate, barring Senator
Reed of Missouri, espoused the cause
of adherence.
The old anti-League of Nations
spirit. famed by the harsh criticisms
voiced by European leaders against
the United States in recent months,
has come a-running in aid Of the anti
courters this Summer. There are
politicians who say the Republican adj
ministration is running in luck be-
cause it now appears that the mem
Der nations of the league and of the
court will not agree to the American
reservations. and thus America will
remain outside Of the court.
Former Secretary of War Newton
u. Baker stirred anew the interna-
tionalists in American politics when
he declared for cancellation of all the
interallied war debts He was not
the first member of President Wilson's
cabinet to favor cancellation of the
debts owed the United States by it's
associates during the war. The late
William Jennings Bryan. One-time
Secretary of State in the Wilson cab
met, spoke feelingly at times in sup
port Of such cancellation. But Col.
Bryan had little effect on the policy
of the Government and the country in
regard to the war debts and it is un-
likely that MIR. Baker will have more.
The war debts and their settlement
have been made a political issue in
this country. and most assuredly in
European countries. for a number of
wears. The American taxpayers
have been told that the debts must be
paid by Great Britain. France. Italy
and others or the American taXpay-
ers will have to bear all the burden
1t is not an easy argument to COM
bat. 1t is scarcely likely that Mr.
Baker can hope to make debt cancel
lation a party issue. If he could do
so. it would be welcomed joyfully by
the Republicans. But Mr.. Baker
must have made his suggestion re-
garding debt cancellation without con-
sulting the leaders of his party in the
Senate. There they have rallied
against the settlements with Italy and
with France as far too lenient. Sen
ator Pat Harrison of Mississippi, Sen
ator Reed of Missouri and others on
the Democratic side of the chamber
have attacked these settlements on
the ground that they dispose too
casually of the American taxpayers
money.
Back of the determination of the
dry leaders to give Senator WadS-
worth of New York the gate this Fall
is something more than desire 10
eliminate one of the wet" Senators.
They are thinking ahead to the time
when Senator Wadsworth may loom
up as a strong contender for the Re-
publican presidential nomination and
for the presidency itself AS a presi-
Dental possibility Senator Wadswortn
would look worse to the drys than a
three month drought to a farmer. If
they can kill him off this year, de-
feat him for the Senate and cause a
new deal in the Republican leader
ship of New York State. they figure
fha,. u,in haze ACCOMPLISHED some.