A DISAPPOINTMENT FOR CIVILISATION

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 108, 31 January 1935, Page 8

A DISAPPOINTMENT FOR CIVILISATION

Tt is hardly an exaggeration to say that the action of the United States Senate in rejecting the President s proposal for American adherence to the Permanent Court of International Justice at lhe Hague will be a bitter dis appointment to civilisation, especially as Mr. Roosevelt’s commanding Democratic majority, in the Senate had previously justified the conviction that approval would be little more than a matter of form. According to the cabled report to-day, the President and his supporters were over-confident about the issue, and undeiestimated tiie organising strength of the Opposition leaders, Senators Johnson and Borah. The result is stated to be the most serious reverse sustained by Mr. Roosevelt since he assumed office. It also emphasises, for the further enlightenment of observers, America’s foreign policy and the conditions under which it functions. The Constitution of the United States at every point makes provision to ensure that no political authority .in the Union, Federal or State, can take too much for granted. As one instance, of special interest to foreign countries, the President’s policy in external matters ' is at all times subject to ratification by the Senate. If that body refuses to ratify there is an end of the matter, as the late ex-President Woodrow Wilson, just after the war, and President Roosevelt now. have learned to their disappointment and mortification. 10-days dispatch states that the project of American adherence to the World Court is dead for a generation. That is surely a pessimistic view. The world should hope for a strong enough reaction on the part of American public opinion,against the isolationist dichards in the Senate to justify a further appeal.to it-