Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-05
Secretary Stimson Stands Pat.

Moscow having piped the tune in
the Russo-Chinese incident, Washing
ton has had no hesitation in pitching
its latest diplomatic action in the same
sharp key. To the Soviet governments
gratuitous charge that the United States
committed IAN unfriendly act" in re-
minding Russia and China of their
obligations under the Kellogg-Bri
pact to keep the peace, Secretary
Stimson returns a reply, in the form
of public statement, which leaves
nothing to be desired in respect of
dignified f1rmness.
If Moscow "rebuked" Washington
for exercising a fundamental and
well-established international privilege,
Washington now "rebukes" Moscow for
venturing to lecture the United States
as to how it shall shape its own
policy" Secretary Stimson vindicates
our inalienable right to do that, in
language which is stern without being
discourteouS, but not lacking in force
and forthrightness on that account.
President Hoover's foreign minister has
no occasion to feel that he comes off
second best from his passage-at-arms
with M Litvinoff.
Far outstripping these diplomatic
recriminations in Importance is the
takes on the Kellogg BRAND pact. No
doubt can any longer exist, after this
American-Russian diplomatic clash,
that the Government of the United
States looks upon the general treaty
for remuneration of war as living,
vital thing. 1t has profoundly
modified the attitude of the world
toward peace" the American Secretary
adds, dared to send its reminder to
Russia and China, because, assessing
the pact at its full face value, we VEN
ture to comport ourselves, under its
aegis, with something resembling
honest consistency. We do not look
upon it as a scrap of paper.
Col Stimson does not conflne himself
to these straight from the-shoulder
blows at Moscow's truculent conten-
tions. Having delivered them, he points
at what after all is the cardinal aspect
of an incident likely to be remembered
as deplorable on various counts, viz,
that peace will probably remain I'M
broken in Manchuria. When everything
is said and done, that was the aim, and
the sole aim, of American "interven-
ton"
The Secretary of State concludes his
statement with the significant observa-
ton that 1.-The public opinion of the
world is a live factor" That it played
its role in persuading the Soviet gov
eminent not to extend its military oper-
| atoms in Manchuria beyond border
raids savoring of organized brigandage
cannot be doubted. World opinion, the
| Stimson statement declares, "can be
promptly modified" The United
States has now placed itself squarely
on record In favor of bringing about
such a mobilization whenever trouble
! makers and treaty-breakerS, within OF
without the Kellogg BRAND pact, essay
to re-establish the rule and reign OF
force in the arbitrament of interna-
tional problems.
That is the final result of the weeks
acrimonious events-a result which viii
outlive the specific cause which pre-
cipitated them If words mean anything
the American Government has now pro-
claimed doctrine vastly further-reach-
ing in its implications than the Monroe
Doctrine. That announcement COM
pretended only the southern extremities
of this hemisphere. The Hoover doctrine
the mobilization of world public opin-
ion to preserve peace-comprehends the
globe.