3 MARCH 1923, Page 9

Monday's New York cables reported that President Harding " surprised

" the Senate by asking for the approval of that body for the participation of the United States in the permanent Court of International Justice established under the Versailles Treaty. This is interpreted by several of the correspondents as a definite step towards the " association " of the United States with the League of Nations. Mr. Hughes, in a long letter to the President, points out, however, that the Court of International Justice is " separate from the League, having a distinct legal status resting upon a protocol not contained in the Treaty of Versailles."