The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-12-29
Roosevelt Tells Why He'll Not
 Sit With Taft
Ex-President Scores Peace PO.i- cies of Administration in
 Ringing EffusiOn
Big Banquet Tomorrow Night Will Have to Get on Without Presence of Teddy Who Throws Harpoon Into Projects of His Successor
fspecial from United Press. ]

Especial from United PreSS.)
 New York. Dec. 29-On the eve O.
 the widely heralded peace dinner" tc
 be held here tomorrow night, and al
 which President Taft will be the gues
 of honor, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt
 today emphasized his antagonism to-
 ward the general arbitration treaties
 which are among the chief policies o1
 the national administration by bitter
 ly denouncing them as being desf gnec
 to tell against peace and put us as
 a nation in an attitude of unct1ous and odious hypocrisy"
 By inference, at least, he severely criticises President Taft if regard te the treaty matter. Abrogation of the Russian treaty, he declares, puts this tin honor adopt the proposed arbi- tration treaties. In his editorial. the former President says:
 By Theodore Roosevelt. From the
 current issue of The Outlook.)
 'I cordially approve the action taken by Congress in abrogating the Russian treaty because men must vote and ac: on the situation that actually con- fronts them. And in the actual event Congressmen had only two alterna- tives, namely, to abrogate the treaty or to submit to the continuance of conditions which have become intoler- able to our national self-respect and which represent continuing wrong. especially to American citizens of Jew ish faith. I still believe that in so serious a matter it would have been we'll first to endeavor to secure a de- cision by the Hague court on the in- iofi fra ' am confident that such a decision would, of necessity, have been in our favor, and. if so. it would have en- abled Russia to have retired from an position with good grace and no loss of self-respect-an object that should always be held in view in deal ing with any foreign nation with which, at any time, we have difficult ties, while, if the decision as to the of the cause in question had been adverse to us, we would then at once have abrogated the treaty and have been clearly right in doing so.
 This was the position held by that diplomat, MT. Oscar Strauss. But nd movement has been made by either nation looking toward any other method of settling the mat ter than the one actually adopted. Congress was confronted by the simple fact, unless the treaty were abrogated would remain as they now are, and under the circumstances Con gress acted wisely and properly in declaring for abrogatfon.
 ''But this action was taken while the universal arbitration treaties are pend ing in the Senate. These treaties are avowedly championed as being the kind we are to enter into with all na- tions, including Russia as well as Eng land and France. These treaties. if ratified by the Senate unamended, will explicitly pledge the honor and artttrate precisely such questions as that which at this very moment we announce that we will not endeavor to arbitrate in the case of Russia. Under these circumstances, to ratify the general arbitration treaties would put the American people in an atti- tude of peculiarly contemptible hypo- the derision of all thinking mankind, for we would put ourselves in the po- sition Of making sweei Eng and insin- cere promises, impossible Of perform ance at the very time, when, by our own actions, we showed that we would certainly not keep such promises. nor translate them into action.
 1T believe that we can normally ar bitrate the question of the interpreta- tion of treaty even if only as the pre- iminary to adopting the very Seri- ous action of denouncing such treaty. But I do not believe that we can arbitrate, with the intention of an- swering by the arbitration, such ques- tions as treating all our citizens alike, without regard to their creed, in the matter of passports, or such question as the Monroe doctrine, the admis- sion of Asiatic immigration in mass or the refusal of the United States to pay bonds or many other similar mat ters
 can afford to arbitrate questions of vital interest and national honor or queS gonS of settled American govern mental policy. Moreover, the attitude we are now taking as regards Sthe ab- rogation of the Russian treaty shows beyond a possibi ity of doubt that, if we were so foolish or so timid as to agree, as an abstract matter, by general arbitration treaties. to arbi- trate such matters, we should immed- lately repuGIate the agreement when ever a concrete case arose in which any considerable number of our citi- zens took an active interest Under such circumstances, to proceed with the ratification of the general arbi- tration treaties, unamended, would be not merely a farce but a farce played at the expense of our reputation for national good faith and sincerity.
 T believe most earnestly in peace and in taking any step for arbitration which vii genuinely tell in favor of peace. and I oppose these treaties be- cause, if unamended. they would tell against peace and put us as a nation in an attitude of unctious and oCGous Both the Lodge and the Root amendments should be adopted.
 Ut cannot be too often repeated that these general arbitration treaties are nothing whatever but general prom lses. These treaties are drawn in such sweeping terms. especially in the use of the word .justifiable' that they might, in any concrete case, be held to mean anything or nothing. and to encourage the kind of double dealing and bad faith that is now being shown. I believe that we were right in abrogating the Russian treaty. just because I a'so believe that the general arbitration treaties are not worth the paper they are written on. It is ar rant hypocrisy for this naTon to sup port the unamended arbitra tion trea- ties at the same time that we abro- gate the Russian treaty, and to do 50 Is to put this nation in a thoroughly false and discreditable attitude. Hy- pocrisy is as revolting in a nation as in man, and, in the long run, I do not believe that it pays either man or nation