The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News,Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1923. A STEP NEARER.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 48, 26 February 1923, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1923. A STEP NEARER.

I far the cause that lacks aaeietune*, For the icrong that needs resistance For the future in the distance, Ami the good thai tee can 4e.

Since he was elected President iv opposition to the Wilson policy of American participation in European affairs, Mr. Harding has spent a great deal of time in devising means of putting into operation cautiously the very policy that the American people rejected. The request he has now made to the Senate that it should sanction negotiations with members of the League of Nations for the admission of the United States as a' member of the Permanent Court of

International Justice is an important move in this retracing of eteps. H comes as no surprise, for in October last •Mr. Harding's (Secretary of State announced that the Government wished to share in the responsibility for the Tribunal. The present position is peculiar. The Court was set up by the League of Nations, from which the L'nited States has deliberately kept itself clear. Members of the Court are chosen by the Council and the Assembly of the League, and although the United States is not one of the electing countries, an eminent American jurist is one of the judges on the bench of the Court. Moreover, ac Mr. Hughes points out. Mr. Elihu Root, the greatest American international jurist of his generation, was a member of the advisory committee that drew up the plans for the Court at the invitation of the League. America thus had a share in the establishment of the Court, and supplies one of its judges. America, however, has no voice in the election of judges and does not contribute to the Court's maintenance.

It is important to remember that when Mr. Wilson appealed to the people for ratification of his policy at Paris, the Court had not come into existence. Tt has now been in being for a year, and has impressed the world with its value. It is likely to be more effective than any previously constituted body of the same kind. The following matters are recognised as being generally suitable for arbitration: the interpretation of a treaty, any question of international law, the existence of any fact which if established would constitute a breach of any international obligation, and the extent and nature of reparation for such breaches. The Court may give advisory opinions on any question referred to it by the Council or the Assembly" of the League, and it will interpret provisions of fourteen treaties that have arisen out of the peace settlement. The Court is functioning, and has already given decisons of importance. The American people are thus asked to identify themselves fully, not with a shadowy conception, but with a definite achievement.

The question that will occur to all is. however, what will this lead to? Can Amerka, as Mr. Harding proposes, become a member of the League for one purpose and not be drawn in for others? For if the United States is admitted to the election of judges of the Court it becomes, for this particular purpose, a virtual member of the League, however much the American Government may safeguard itself by declarations, and recognitions by other Governments. Tt is a condition of adherence that it "shall not involve any legal relation of the Lnited States to the League of Nations or the assumption of obligations under the Covenant." The Powers will not raise

serious objections to this condition; indeed, it is highly probable that before Mr. Harding addressed the Senate on this subject he sounded them. Mr. Harding could not help imposing such a condition, but opponents of the League in American may well be apprehensive lest this approach should develop into closer relations. It amounts to a measure of recognition of the thing thac America spurned at the last Presidential election, and as such it is of great importance to the world. Following on Mr. Hughes' proposal for an economic conference, it indicates that the American Government 13 prepared to participate- in the settlement of European affairs. While the world rejoices, it will not be disposed to hurry the great Republic. Events, however, may hasten the day when the United States will be striving in full co-operation with its former associates to save Europe.