Evening star., 1943-11-10
Brewster Attendance
PROPOSAL Favored
By Maj. George Fielding Eliot.

cials Of Britain, Russia and the United
States is sound one, and his choice of
Chairman Connally of the Foreign Rela-
tions Committee is entirely logical.
This idea is a step IN the direction of
closer participation by the Senate in the
formulation of policy a. we'll as in pass
ing on policies already crystali7ed in
the form OF treaties. 1t long has been
apparent that some means must be found
to permit the Senate to advise" as we'll
as to consent" If consistent foreign
| policy for this country were to be at
tanned. Woodrow Wilson. as Senator
Brewster justly observes. made his great
mistake when he failed to include an
outstanding Senator or two in the dele
| CATION which he headed at the peace
conference after the last war.
1t would be almost unthinkable that
the Senate would reject a treaty in the
making OF which one of its leading men,
bers, man in whom his colleagues have
great confidence, has actively partici-
pated. Moreover Senator Connally
would be able to make far better case
for the treaty, both in his own committee
and on the f1oor II he knew it from the
inside out instead Of as a document sent
to him from the State Department with
few pages of explanatory notes couched
IN the dehydrated English with which
any one who reads State Department
reports becomes drearily familiar.
This whole task of bringing into closer
partnership, in the conduct of our for
eign affairs, the executive and legislative
branches of the Government, is of i'm
mediate and urgent consequence 1t is
all very we'll to say that we ought to
have constitutional Amendment by
which treaties could be approved by
simple majority OF both Houses OF Con-
gress. But we have no such amendment
now, and the chances OF getting one
adopted by the time it may be needed
are not too bright.
This writer would like to see such an
amendment go through, but In the
meanwhile we are faced, as Grover
Cleveland once said, with a condition
and not a theory. Under present condi-
tions 1t takes two-thirds of the Senate
to approve a treaty, and We must cut
the coat of our foreign policy to fit that
constitutional cloth.
So 1t would be a good idea for the
Executive to take the Senate into part
nership As we begin to shape the rela-
tionshlps between the country and our
Allies In this war, upon which the post
war unity Of the great coalition must be
founded Every war has a political
object, and think it can safely be said
that the object of this war (Which began
by being simply to survive) is now as
we turn to united offensive against
our enemies, something positive instead
OF negative, not merely survival anv
longer, not merely the defeat of Ger
many and Japan. but the establishment
OF an enduring peace throughout the
world
think that we can all look into our
hearts and flnd enshrined there this
hope OF coming peace That is what we
are nghting for, most Of us, when 1t
comes right down to an examination
OF conscience And the only way to
get such peace, a peace in which
men and women everywhere can have
confidence, peace under which human
beings can build and plan and pursue
happiness, is for this great Nation
to remain united with its present Allies
to maintain the peace as they have
been united to win the victory which
makes the peace possible.
In so doing, 1t is vitally important
that the representatives of the people.
the Senators whose duty it is to pass
upon the final acts Of our foreign rela-
tionships, should work hand -in-hand
with the executive branch in the pre-
liminary labors OF putting those treaties
together. In so doing, they will not
only know better those with whom the
treaties are being made, they will ac-
quire confidence in our Allies and be
able to lay at rest many suspicious and
prejudices which in the past have done
much to block the path Of international
cooperation for peace and security.
SO by all means let Senator Connallv
90 to the next meeting"-perham a
meeting of even greater significance,
and with even more distinguished par
ticipants than the Moscow conference.
And by all means let there be con-
stituted permanent council of foreign
affairs. as Nathaniel Pfeffer has sug-
eested In the Atlantic Monthly, to
consist OF the President, the Secretary
OF State. and the chairmen and senior
minority members of the foreign re-
lations committees of both houses OF
Congress. 1t Is one thing to call mem
bers OF these houses into occasional con-
sultation, as Is being done now; it is
quite another to have them as members
OF permanent, publicly known body
charged with co-ordinating and dis
cussing the vital problems Of foreign
policy. In the last analysis. 1t is the
people who make, who preserve and who
can break any foreign policy. Their
chosen representatives have a right to
know the facts, to have their advice
considered, and to participate in the
constructive work as we'll as the right
of veto.
Victory in this war is now assured,
though the sacrifices which that victory
will cost are not all made But greater
task is to see to 1t that this time the
gallant dead who have earned that
victory shall not have died In vain.
Copyright. 1a43, New York Tribune, Incl
By No Means Indifferent