AMERICA AND LEAGUE.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 January 1921, Page 5

AMERICA AND LEAGUE.

THE PRESIDENTIAL America’s future attitude toward the League of Nations was discussed by Mr W. D. Boyce, a Chicago journalist, who arrived in Auckland last week. Mr Boyce stated that the recent Presidential election could not in any sense be accepted as a guide to American public opinion regarding the League of Nations. Unfortunately, he said, this international question became mixed up in the hurly-burly' of party politics, and people outside America were inclined to believe that the Presidential election was fought and won on the question whether America, as a nation, should or should not join the League. “As a matter of fact,” continued Mr Boyce, “that is a fallacy, because many thousands of people in the United States who favour the League voted for Mr Harding. My judgment of the position is that there were so many local questions surrounding the campaign that the League was only a matter in the background. My opinion is that ultimately America should and will join the League of Nations. The greatest men in the United States are in favour of it, and people who understand the world and have travelled know that we will have to take our place with the other nations at present comprising the League. The United Stated,” added Mr Boyce, “ought to be more in favour of the League than any other country in the world, especially from a financial standpoint. Europe owes America- 10 billion dollars, and will never be able to pay it if the policy of building large navies and maintaining standing armies is continued.”