FIRST SESSION.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18548, 25 November 1925, Page 13

FIRST SESSION.

| UNION. | BURNING" QUESTIONS. J nb o«f wm«BPondk:t.) <WaN FRANCISCO, October JO. * *n«»tion w« caused at the Gr.c ' T- of tho Intcr-Pairliamcntary l&lJld in Washington, when Carl feS of Stockholn,, at'23l the conference for failing to Efc in its agenda for discussion of *T-S> Questions, including tnc I < * n f* wtr -gainst the. Riffis in ifedhasen's speech interrupted luo fi-Se rf thc first ' Jay ' s pl ° Ce T -LhJiad included speeches from •few State Kellogg, Paul Lobe, <fc of the German Reichstag, Stir Boben Home, head ot 'he former Chan. "E; -i th* Exchequer. It caused i «*" °LTtbe delegates representing * l "3fc£%nd led to widespread forty./jr!" «W uW "!hjkh delegate included the Tb? sftSon» also in his charge ul "burning"' questions. the United States, Be «*7« nd Russia should be m in ■■; td that the Union JjJfJ-'rtpplntion inviting the United S £^ll!&gen' S address was not W Son of the League >f s£oTt opening,da,, held j.. AKith many American oppont'"**i league present Baron i-Wserd. also of rtwedcn, SSTof the Union, made fried plea for the. League that he was "harping on a ucstion." "If the people J M a justice, if they con8. and aggression wo shall irersal League of .Nations i« h member will take its re t for the solidarity of rnqnho future of civilisation, he ipression of theso hopes, i /arouse in some of you £• Mm Of uneasiness. At our last eonE£ an effort was even made to • *£* too frequent mention of. its ' "£ ft let m cease to play b.deffitfk with ourselves," he added. '*•' • Another Plea. \ addition "to appeal, directed *kL Jfinerican people, there was an- % hy Pa«i Lobe, presiZttftf* German Reichstag, who ' awerted that the President renew his ,Zrts for a world disarmament conferT«T "Germany already is dimmed £ the rest of the world should fol- , g?» he said. The exclusion or tho Shapurji feaklatsupposed to attend the «K«* as a member of the British, AWStion, , W as not brought officially first session. A lengthy let-Mr-from tho Communist, protestingJtoscttai of Mr K ellogg, Secretary of Stifeofj'the 'U.S" Government, sent to SflS'Boroh, of Idaho, chairman of ffilPelgil Relations Committee, was tft&njd to officers of tho Uunion. . 'Sjiretary 'Kellogg mado n sharp wM'&t Communism in his address of Wmt to the Union,' without menffiji Saklatvala's name or-the inei«Bf He yarned against encroachi«3rupQn constittitibnal government. mtoElXtibn of orderly ' representative (aw eminent apdtfbp of class nil© which may well give us serious thought," ho said. . Tho Secretary of State made a plea, for co-operation ' and amity among .nations, as a bnsis for world peace. v Sir Robert Horne denounced Com- ; iWtaism rs an obstacle to world peace in Mb speech at the opening session. Ho <Ka not mention, SSiklattaJa-or the inci~4ttt of his exclusion from the Union depurations, hut his allusion- was interVst«ted as the position* of tho British jjfckgatkm on the Communist's cxclu,«Cfr. "We find men iif seats of autbo;litjr who are representatives of a. poli?t«l creed which "avows e» its first the overthrow of Government p>y violence and even by massacre," ho iMcKuilev, of Illinois, who Nssb' v elected president of the . Union, 'gfcjeding Baron Adolswaerd, -welconigkv» delegates and sketched tho pro4w|» the six-day meeting would oW* under consideration. ||* , Code to Avert War. . JPlJnißoot, tho Hcll-knoAni American]! told the Union in a report TS&'tW Representative Burton, or * r aß!s i e timo d arrived for thc *i*Wd tp Jay down a common law cod© Itional relations, and remont in New York i of more than forty 1 opinion that tbo further postpon© tho Unised codo of intcrling an international settle disputes which, norial, Jiavo led to joommended developn automatic system uediate general eonserious irritation tions, whether it be cy or misunderstandor the determination' ind competent Court gal right arising bc- , an established systnd regulate arbitraring the opinion of selected by the pari controverted quesor wholly justiiiabio Burton introduced a, g tho methods which 'ollowed' in codifjing proved tho prelimiu:en by the committed stablishing a general s resolution urged a irvativo plan for coditho programme made « witb> view of dental conditions of the *sary, of methods of aratinn. of rights and which would "prove in promoting among rf order, of interiia- "-. of the Roumanian the third resolution, to a permanent com•mmittee on Judicial iertake the study of itical, economic, and wars oF aggression ical solutions for the

draw up a preliminary draft of an international legal rode'." Irish Pickets. Tho Irish Republic sympathisers, stirred by the hairing of Mary MacSwincy ;is n delegate to thc Interparliamentary Union and the seating of Richard Mulcahy as a delegate from ill',- Irish Free Htate, made a protest by pickctting the Capitol during the second day's proceedings of tbo confereiH.c. Nino pickers from .several States started to carry their cards excoriating Mr Mulcahy into tho Capitol, but tho police blocked their path and ordered them to move away from the building. Thereupon the pickets took a stand across tho street, whero delegates to the conference could see. their banners as they left the Capitol. One of the cards compared Mulcahy to Benedict Arnold. Another born thc legend, ''Mulcahy—murderer of 77 Irish Republican patriots.'' Four of thc nine pickets were women. In reply to a letter from Mary MacSwiney, Senator Theodore Adelswacrd, president of the Council of tho Union, informed her that she was not eligible to tho conference, as she does not belong to any Parliament. SakLatvala Again. Bsn Riley, British Labour parliamentarism, introduced the SaklatvaJa case in the open, and with applause from a half dozen colleagues in the British group, and as many more in the German delegation. Mr Riley told tho conference that unless it enabled all its members to enjoy equal rights and contribute to the work confidence in it would bo destroyed. £. SaklatvaLi, tho Communist member of the British Parliament, had been appointed a delegate to the. conference, but his entry to the United States had been blocked by Secretary Kellogg. At this stage Vladimir Moloff, president of the Bulgarian group, descried tho evil of Bolshevism, and urged concerted international action to prevent its spread throughout tho world. Bolshevism was a crime, he said, adding that it was anti-religious and a destroyer of patriotism. Ho was joined in his attack by Sidney Sehopfer, acting-president of tho delegation from Switzerland. •Sir Robert Horne issued a'statement strongly commending the action taken By Secretary Kellogg in preventing the entry into the United States of Saklatvaia, and Sir Robert's statement was issued after Ben Riley's comment, declaring it was unfortunate that a fellow member of tho Union had been debarred. Statements in the Press attracted Sir Robert's attention to the incident. He said: "In some papers it is reported that Mr Riley, ono of tho Labour members of thc British v group attending the Interparliamentary conference, stated, 'on behalf of his colleagues" that definite objection was taken to the prohibition of Saklatvala's entry into the United States and it is further represented that that statement expressed tho views of the British group. I desire to make it clear that nothing could ho further from tho truth. Mr Riley spoko only for his Labour colleagues, who form only a small portjpu of tho British members of Parliament attending the conference. It is notorious that the overwhelming majority of tho British, group if they had had the power, would have taken steps to prevent tho possibility of Saklatvaia attending the conference and thev were greatly relieved when Mr Kellogg took the steps which ho did in prohibiting his entry into tho United States. It is not for us to pronouneo upon a question of United States domestic policy, but so much talk has taken place that wc would venture to say that in our opinion Mr Kellogg acted most properly and wisely in.refusing an entry to a Communist of views so destructive as those 'commonly promulgated by Saklatvaia. Since I have been specially referred to as being guilty of having rebuked Mr Kellogg, I desiro to add, although i\s I have indicated I have no right to exnress an opinion, I entirely commend the course of action which Mr Kellogg took."

Arms Parley Plea. Calling of an international disarmament conference was urged upon President Coolidgoat another day's session of tho Union by Mr R. fc>. Hudsou, British M.P., in a speech in whicii Mr Hudson's proposal was loudly cheered when he declared that Great Britain was ready to meet other Powers in a conference to reduce botn land and sea armaments. "The initiative in regard to naval matters, if the conferences on land and naval armament arc to be treated separately, had better cpmo from that Power to which wo owo the summoning of the Washington Conference which witnessed the first decisivo international act of disarmament tho world has ever seen," Mr Hudson said. Ho was repeatedly interrupted oy applause when ho said tho world wao sick and tired of further continuing the race for military supremacy. i Mr F. Mayeda, of Japan, placed lis nation squarely on record as also favouring general disarmament. "Japan, is not onlv ready, but urges the call of a conference. I can say that n\ the name of my Parliament," Mayeda said emphatically. Mr Rennie Smith, British M.P., said the Union should itself pave uhe way for an immediate conference by. calling on either . President Coolidge k or the League of Nations to issue a general invitation. Pointed suggestions made by delegates to the Inter-Parliamentary Uniou that the "Washington Government again take the leadership in promoting a redaction of world armaments" were answered next day oy Representative Theodore Burton, of Ohio, iu an address beforo the closing session. Referring to thc desire often expressed hy the President for a new limitation of armaments' conference, Mr Burton said various propositions looking toward the same ideal were ocinc considered in various European conferences, and it would be an sion for the President of tho United States to ask for a conference m Washington while these efforts were bein<* mado He mado it clear later, however, that ho was speaking on # his own authority, and was not. lnspirea to make tho statement by the White House. Dominions and War. In bringing the. conference.to *]» end 6f its six xlays of deliberation, Uiedelegates voted unanimous approya for two more resolutions, one a committee to studv ways and means for eliminating customs or trade barriers existing between Luropeau countries and the other setting up a group •of experts to study and report to a conference on tho world's parliarnentarv situation. .. . One resolution of especial interest to Australia and New Zealand was a motion that would nut the Inter-Parha-mentarv Union on record as favouring autonomous decisions by British dominions, in the ovent of the British Enmire declaring war. Tins resolution was introduced in the Union by Thomas Johnson, representative or i the Irish Free State.