The New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 1922. TO RESCUE THE WORLD

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11162, 18 March 1922, Page 6

The New Zealand Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 1922. TO RESCUE THE WORLD

In the name, but, we are fain to believe, without the authority of exPresident Wilson, the Democratio “filibusters" in the United States Senate have been opposing tooth and nail the Four-Power Pact. A number of Republican senators, too, are engaged in the same game. Judging by the cabled, summaries, however, the speeches against the treaty are singularly weak in argument; though, to be sure, in certain cases an endeavour is made to camouflage this weakness by strong and at times flamboyant language. Senator Johnson, for example, declared the Four-Power Pact to be “a quadruple alliance, born of fear, and an attempt to barter America’s heritage as a means of insuring America’s safety.” He would vote against the treaty, he added, because it sapped the spirit which was the genuine security of his country. Senator Borah, again, maintained that the treaty meant a revival of the old hal-ance-of-power alliances, and that it would be disapproved by nations which were not signatories but had interests in the Pacific and the Far East. The Administration leaders, however, have decided to press for the ratification of the treaty with the utmost persistence, in order to obtain a vote in spite of the filibustering tactics of the opposition; and, meantime, the editors of “Current Opinion,” one of the leading political organs of the United States, have addressed an open letter to Mr Woodrow Wilson, urging him to openly lead the fight for the adoption of the treaty. “This appeal,” declare the editors, “is not made to rescue the Republican Administration from a parlous position, bnt to rescue the nation itself.*’ They might, indeed, 'have added “to rescue the whole world.”

At the time of writing, no reply, apparently, has yet been received from the ex-President; but Mr Wilson Is a far smaller man than we take him to be if he does not respond to this appeal in the spirit in which it is made, and forthwith throw himself heart and

soul into the fight. Senator Underwood, one of the American delegates at the Washington Conference, and leader of tho Democrats in the Senate, Tery rightly declared, in the course of the Senate debate, that the defeat of the treaty would be a backward step in the nation’s life; while its ratification, on the other hand, would eliminate any real cause of war. He cogently pointed out that criticism of the treaty, based on the inclusion of only four Powers, lacks force, because the four Powers in question are the only ones capable of disturbing the peace of the Far East within the next decade. Senator Edge declared that the Four-Power Pact without reservations was the same as the League of Nations with reservations, and he would, therefore, vote in favour of the pact; while Senator Underwood, by his caustic declaration, “There is a feeling in the world that the United States cannot make a compact and be bound by it,” undoubtedly hit the right nail squarely on the head and at the name time, as our American cousins would say, “hit where they live” the Republican Senatorial filibusters against tlid Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations Covenant, and the tripartite treaty to guarantee the security of France against German aggression. He "would not, he continued, stand in the way of reservations which would not destroy the treaty terms, but he cou-ld not accept Senator Robinson's reservation (since defeated by 30 votes to 5), binding the four Powers to refrain from aggression, and providing that when a controversy arises which is not settled diplomatically, all the nations concerned shall be invited to the conference. That, he held, would destroy the treaty terms.

No little stir was caused in tho Senate when Senator Underwood read out a letter, written to him by Senator Hughes, in which the Secretary for State declared that failure to ratify the Pacific Treaty would be nothing short of a national calamity. Clearing up a number of misconceptions which appear to' have arisen in regard -to the treaty, Senator Hughes wrote: —. It seems to be implied, in some way, that the American delegates had been imposed upon, or that they wore induced to accept some plan cunningly contrived bv others and opposed to our interests. Apart from the reflection upon the competency of the American delegates, 6uch intimations betray a very poor and erroneous conception of the conference work, no part of which, whether within or outside the meetings, was begun, prosecuted or concluded in intrigue. Long before the conference met the United States took the stand that the Anglo-Jopanese Alliance should be abrogated, and this had been communicated to the Powers concerned.

There were, he added, no secret notes or understandings connected with the framing of the treaty; and he assured Senator Underwood that a full disclosure of the negotiations would reveal nothing contrary to the ■traditional policies of the United States Government. This letter, coupled with Senator Underwood’is declaring for the treaty, has evidently 'cleared the air to a notable extent; and, though the filibustering—both Democratic and Republican—still continues, it is manifest that ex-President Wilson has but, with his oft-proved magnaminity, to dedare himself an out-and-out supporter of the treaty to ensure its triumphant ratification. Mr Woodrow Wifaon, indeed, might well claim the ratification of the Four-Power -Pact as an absolute vindication, at the hands of his opponents, of the great principles which inspired his actions at the Paris Peace Conference and were embodied in the Treaty of Versailles, the Covenant of the League of Nations, and the ThreePower Pact under which the United fe'tates, Britain, and France undertook to guarantee—for that fa what it amounted to—the peace of Europe, just as the Four-Power Pact guarantees the peace of the Pacific. We regard the ratification of the Pacifio Treaty as only: a question of time, not a very long time either, and as one more milestone on the curve that will ultimately bring the United States within the true fold of the League of Nations, -which affords the only really practicable guarantee of the world’s peace.