RATIFIED.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 73, 27 March 1922, Page 4

RATIFIED.

i The voting in the United States Sen-] ate on the ratification of the Pacific Pact is highly satisfactory. It had been suggested that the Treaty was in : danger, but after numerous reservations; had been rejected by large majorities, ratification was carried by GT votes to. 27, the vote in favour being larger than ■ the two-thirds required. The suppleraen-, tary treaty eliminating the homeland of Japan from the scope of the agreement,! has yet to be ratified, but there is noth-j ing to indicate that this will not be passed by an equally large majority.: The one reservation to the treaty agreed to by the Senate dues, not alter the document; for the treaty clearly docsj not bind any of the signatories to eomej to the assistance of any associate. Thcj details of the voting are instructive. The 1 Republicans, the party which wrecked the chances of ratification of the Ver-1 saillcs Treaty, supplied 55 of the 07 votes i for the Pacific Pact, and the Democrats,! Mr. Wilson's party, 2:1 of the votesi against. Ratification of this treaty, like: ratification of the Versailles Treaty, became largely a party issue. \\ c Bay "Mr. Wilson's party," but we do not credit the report that the ex-President j used bis influence to try to procure the I rejection of the Pacific. Pact. Now that this treaty has been ratified by the element in the Constitution that has equal treaty-making rights with the President, the fate of the other fruits of the Washington Conference should be assured, and the whole world will breathe more freely. One of the most promising at-. tempts ever made by man to maintain peace was threatened by national pre-i judice and party manoeuvres, >.nd it is good news to know that these forces! have failed. Their success would havei been a world calamity. | I