The Dominion FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1020. AMERICA AND THE LEAGUE

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 35, 5 November 1920, Page 6

The Dominion FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1020. AMERICA AND THE LEAGUE

. —-—f 1 Whatever its significance may be in tho field of domestic politics, the outcomc of the American elections materially affects the international outlook. The people of the United States have rclused to follow President .Wilson's lead in international policy, and this evidently means that American participation in the League of Nations as it is' at present constituted is no longer to be anticipated. To this extent the verdiit of the electors is decisive. If the United Estates is to co-operate in any way with other nations in maintaining world peace, it must be on some new basis of compromise. It is true that in directing their campaign the leaders of the Republican Party were at pains to deny that it disapproved of the essential purposes the League of Nations was intended to serve, and they appear to have succeeded in averting any clear-cut division of those who favour and those who are opposed to international action in tho interests -of world _ peace. Nevertheless there is' point m President Wilson's recent, observation that "no one who had opposed tho ratification of the Versailles Treaty or .the adoption of the League Covenant had proposed other adequate means of bringing settled peace." With his party, Governor Cox was pledged, to the immediate ratification of the League Covenant with two "clarifying • amendments": one that its object was to secure peace, not controversy; the other that it did not pledge the United States to do what the Constitution prohibited. Presumably these proposals contain nothing "to which the present members of the League would have taken exception. At the same time, Governor Cox' denounced the attempt made by the leaders of .the Republican Party—an attempt in which they have now succeeded—to subordinate the authority, of the President, so far as treaty-making is concerned, to that' of the Senate. Mr. Harding, on the other hand, made dt clear that whatever action he took in international affairs would be taken, as friends put it, "in cooperation with the Senate." He promised "formal and effective peace so quickly as _<i Republican Congress can pass its declaration for a Republican Executive to sio;n." The next step, as it was predicted recently by the New York Outlook, is that ' . . if Mr. Harding and the Republican Party are elected, then, either by a cull of The Hague Conference, or by soma ■ other method, tlio country will approach the nations now in the League with u . proposal to make the basis of internal Howtl relations judicial, not diplomatic in its character, and more in harmony . with the spirit of The Hague plan than J with that of tho Versailles plau. This, no doubfc, fairly epitomises the immediate prospects raised by tho Republican victory at the polls. The likelihood is that any offer now made by the United States to cooperate with the members of tlie League will be subject to the condition that the League should undertake a transformation of its constitution on lines which many of its members may feel little inclined - to endorse. The international policy of the , Republican Party may be inferred from the fact that Mr. Elihu Root is named as the new Secretary ol State. Mr. Root figures prominently. amongst those who..regard an international court as the essential means of preserving peace between nations. He holds that iilie true method by which pu'blic risthlf shall be established to control the attain of nations is by the development of la« and tho enforcement of law according t< the judgment of impartial tribunals. The establishment of an interna tionnl court is already accomplish ed. Giving effect to Article 14 ol - the Covenant, the League Counoi some months ago convened a con ference of European jurists to for mulate a basis for the- estab lishment of a Permanent Court o: International Justicc. The confer cncc met at The Hague in June and the represented wen sk Great'"Britain, France, Italy, Bel ™ gium, Japan, Norway, Holland Spain, and Brazil. _ Although th United States is outside tho League Mr. Root received and accepted ai invitation to attend. The confer ence resulted in an agreement oi the preliminary steps necessary t organise an international court, am the transfer to it of "vital func tions which the Council, a purel, [E political body, was designed to cj jE ercise." It is in regard to mean 2r - cif enforcing tho decisions of iii lff> international court that difficultic are likely to v arise between tli United States and the members c - tho League of Nations._ As far a 0., can be judged from their uttoranc< to date, Senator Harding an I those who are associated with liii in the active leadership of the R<

publican Party are absolutely opposed to anything in the nature ol a collective guarantee which in an emergency would ensure united international action against an offending nation or nations. The Republican plan, according to the New York Outlook, proposes stated meetings of an International Conference to discus 3 international questions, but without power to enforce its conclusions, and a Supremo Court of the Nations to docido international disputes voluntarily eubmihwl to it, but without power lb enforco its decisions. But that this summary appears in a Republican journal, it might have been supposed that its objoct was to demonstrate that the Republicans desire to reduce the League of Nations to a shadow and its proceedings to amiable futility. The somewhat slender hope _ remains that with their party decisively victorious at the polls, and Mr. Wilson "thrown to the wolves," the Republican leaders may so far broaden their outlook as to-enable the United States, to join the League in such conditions as will leave it some remnants of its initial promise as a power for good in international affairs.