PACIFIC PACT.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 March 1922, Page 3

PACIFIC PACT.

IN THE U.S.A. SENATE

REPUBLICAN SUPPORT.

AUSTRALIAN AND N.Z. CARLE ASSOCIATION

WASHINGTON, March 8. Senator Lodge, in a speech in the Senate, urged tiio ratification of the Pacific pact. He said that its acceptance was tlie only nifeans of ending the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and .of making passible a naval holiday. The defeat of the Treaty would mean the failure of the , Disarmament Conference. He inferred that the United States could not ratify the naval limitation treaty if the Pacific pact were not approved, because the Anglo-Jap-anese Alliance would confront tlie reduced American Navy. He said : —“The Pacific Treaty substitutes the assurance of peace, for the arrangements and calculations of war. Simultaneously, it keeps the United States clear of all alliances of any sort, which are in their very nature war breeders. The Pacific Treaty and the Anglo-Japanese Alliance which is the most dangerous element in American relations with the Far East, and is causing a growing suspicion, not only in the United States, but also in Canada. Senators should remember that the defeat of the Pacific Treaty endangers the Naval Limitations Treaty, the failure of which would shock the world. It would be a bitter disappointment to the people if we continue to preach suspicion and hatred of other nations. If we decline to deal with them, nothing can ever lie done. The United States never has permitted failure or defeat to Ua written in her history, and she will not permit it now.”

!' Senator Lodge was heckled hv sevl' oral Democrats. Senator Reed crossquestioned him regarding the divergence of view between President Hnrd--0 ing and the negotiators on tiie Treaty’s construction in reference to the inclusion of the Japanese mainland in the protective provisions. Senator Lodge admitted that the Treaty, at first, did appear to include the Japanese mainland, though Japan did not want it. President Harding informed the Senate tliat the T.a 11 sing—ls hi agreement is completely superseded by the Nine-Pow-er Chinese Treaty. The President explained that the Lansing-lshi agreement was merely an executive declara- j tion, which is supplanted by the formal treaty. It is variously rumoured that Mr Wilson, wishing the Pacific Treaty to he rejected, is co-operating with Senator Borah, instead of the Democratic Senators. Lobby gossip says that Mr Tumulty (Mr Wilson’s former secretary) is acting as the go-between, and is beeping Senator Borah informed of Mr Wilson’s attitude, and is furnishing the Senator , with material for opposing the treaty. The Democrats insist that they have no word from Mr Wilson regarding

the stand to he taken on the treaty. The “New York Times’s” Washington correspondent understands that the main* purpose of President Harding’s trip to Florida, to where lie is now eu route, is to carry out his declared intention not in any wise to interfere with, or influence, the Senator’s action in connection with the Four Power Treaty.