The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1905-02-18
TREATIES AMENDED
SENATE DIsREGARDs REQUEST OF
PRESIDENT.
Effect of Amendment Is to Refer
All Agreements Made Under the
treaties to fhe Senate for Rat.
ifiCafiOn-Only One Word Is
Changed.

washington, Feb. 13;.-The senate
Saturday in executive session ratified
the arbitration treaties between the.
United States and eight governments.
lt required two sessions to reach an
agreement. At the first session con-
slderatlon was given to communica-
ton from the president to Senator Gull
lom, chairman of the foreign affairs
committee, IN the form of a protest
against any amendment being adopted;
at the second session the treaties were
amended and ratified with only nine
votes against the amendment made by
the senate committee on foreign rela-
tons.
The situation in the senate over the
arbitration treaties has been strained
for several weeks. The first protests
against the treaties were made by sem
ators from Southern states, who sug-
gested an amendment which precluded
the possibility of arbitration of claims
against their states by reason of the
repudlated bonds. Later it was sug-
gested that an amendment should be
adopted which changed but one word.
that of "agreement" 4 to treaty in
article 2, making the. article read as
follows:
In each individual case the high
contracting parties, before appealing
to the permanent court of arbitration,
shall conclude special treaty defining
clearly the matter in dispute, the scope
of the powers of the arbitrators and
the periods to be fixed for the forma-
tion of the arbitration tribunal and the
several stages of the procedure
Effect of Amendment.
To use the presidents words, "The
effect of the amednment is to make it
no longer possible, as between it's con-
tracing parties, to submit any matter
whatever to arbitration without first
obtaining special treaty to cover the
case. This will represent, not step
forward, but step backward. If the
word agreement were retained it
would be possible for the department
of state to-as, for instance, it has al
ready done under The Hague treaty in
the Plus fund arbitration case with
Mexico-submit to arbitration such
subordinate matters as by treaty the
senate decided could be left to the ex-
ecutive to submit under jurisdiction
limited by the general treaty of arbi-
tration. If the word treaty be sub
stituted, the result is that every such
agreement must be submitted to the
senate; that these general arbitration
treaties would then cease to be such,
and, indeed, in the amended form
they amount to a specific pronounce
ment against the whole principle of a
general arbitration treaty"
The amendment answered the pur-
pose of the protests made by the south
ern senators and in addition to that es
tablished the principle that any mat
ter in the nature of treaty with a
foreign government must be consum-
mated by the president, with the
consent of the senate" In this form
the committee reported the treaties to
the senate.
The first session of the senate was
confined almost exclusively to de-
Tense, by half dozen senators, Of the
senate's right to amend treaties. The
president was criticized sharply be-
cause Of his letter declaring it to be
back ward step to ratify the treaties in
the form proposed by the committee on
foreign relations.