King Country Chronicle Saturday, February 2, 1935. ISOLATION OF UNITED STATES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4652, 2 February 1935, Page 4

King Country Chronicle Saturday, February 2, 1935. ISOLATION OF UNITED STATES.

By the Senate’s rejection of the proposal for the adherence of the United States to the Permanent Court of International Justice, President Roosevelt has suffered the most severe setback since his assumption of office. It might be said that the action of the Senate is a blow to the other nations of the world, for it is most essential for world rehabilitation and peace that the co-operation of the United States be secured. This is the third occasion that the Senate has rejected the proposals of the President, and his mana has consequently suffered. From the time of Mr. Woodrow Wilson, all the Presidents have been in favour of the United States joining the Court of International Justice, and on every occasion the proposal has been rejected by the Senate. The measure required a three-fifths majority before it became effective. The voting was 52 in • favour of ratification and 36 against. Had it not been that seven of the Democrats wavered,, the proposal of the President would have been carried. This latest development in the politics of the United States is another instance of shortsightedness and intense selfishness on the part of a large section of the Senate, led by Senators Borah and Johnson, the last survivors of the “Irreconcilibles” who fought the great fight against Woodrow Wilson and his League of Nations. This left the United States in the peculiar position of having brought the League of Nations into being and then deserted it. Yet during the Chino-Japanese War the United States practically made an appeal to the League to interfere. To make the League thoroughly effective it was necessary to have the full co-operation of the United States, but that country refuses to link .up its fortunes with the League, preferring to stand aloof, though not backward in giving advice. The United States was also responsible for the “gentleman’s agreement” called the Kellog Pact. This proposal was hailed with delight as showing that the United States was at last beginning to realise its world responsibilities, and the hope was born that it was a preliminary step towards joining the League. Up to the present, however, the United States has made no overtures in this way and the country still maintains its policy of isolation. The Kellog Pact has proved futile in preventing war, and has proved nothing less than a farce. On the other hand, the League has justified its existence by preventing more than one war; it has done- a tremendous lot in suppressing the drug and white slave traffic, and upheld the rights of the minority countries. The League has been severely criticised from time to time for not taking more drastic steps in some disputes, but this was impossible without the whole-hearted co-operation of the United States, Japan and Germa'ny. The support of the United States for the World Court is a small matter as compared with the League, but this latest development shows that there is an influential section of the politicians of the United States who have a horror of foreign complications. They believe that their country can stand aloof and allow other countries to settle their differences without their country taking its proper share of its responsibility. Yet the United States is very much concerned in foreign trade, and it is in its own interests to safeguard overseas markets by preventing war. The United States has already lost the bulk of her foreign trade by her impossible and selfish policy over the war debts, a'nd it is rather ironical to read of a suggestion from that country for the creation of an international board to allocate, country by country, the world’s output of raw and finished goods. If the United States wants co-operation in trade matters, her politicians must be prepared to listen to the suggestions from other countries. The management of the internal affairs of the United States is not such as to warrant faith amongst the other countries to make that nation a world leader.