The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1911-09-15
ROOSEVELT VOICES CRITICISM
OF FRENCH AND BRITISH
TREATIES.
Lacking In Explicitness, He Says,
.s to Allow One Set Of Advocates
l.. Saw It Binds United States to
,,bitrate Everything; Others to
Cav II Binds Us to Nothing.

.rotion treaties recently presented to
.,o Sonate in an editorial article in
tho outlook. He said in part:
81 think that the great majority
Of these persons who advocate any
ond every treaty which is called
treaty for peace or for arbitration
would be less often drawn into a
nosition that tends to humiliate their
country if they would take he
trouble to formulate clearly and
definitely just what it is that they
desire.
"Of course there are persons
wholly Indifferent to the national
honor and interest, who in conse-
ouence cannot be reached by an ap-
neal to national honor and interest;
and there are other persons whose
ingrained personal timidity is such
that they are more afraid of war
than of any dishonor, personal or
national.
Righteousness First.
eve, the American people, be-
lieve, and ought to believe, in right
eousness first, and in peace as the
handmade of righteousness. We abb
hor brutality and wrong doing
whether exhibited by the nation or
by individuals. We hold that the
same law of righteousness should OBJ
tain between nation and nation as be-
tween man and man. l, for one,
would rather cut off my hand than
see the United States adopt the at
titude either of cringing before great
and powerful nations who wish to
wrong us, or of bullying small and
weak nations, who have done us no
wrong
Mr.. Roosevelt cites the Revolu-
tionary War, the Civil War and the
Spanish-American War as instances
in which 1--WE put Righteousness above
peace"
He also cites the existing treaties
between the United States, Great
Britain and France, as better than
the proposed treaties, because they
make no false pretenses and exclude
questions affecting our vital inter-
ests, independence or honor. He
continued
Defects in Treaty.
"The proposed arbitration treaty
IS defective, in the first place, be-
cause it is not straightforward. It
sets forth that all 'justiciable' mat
ter shall be arbitrated. The Ian
guage, both of the opponents and
defenders of the treaty, shows that
even among our own people, and be-
fore a cause for applying the treaty
has arisen, there is hopeless confusion
as to what 'justiciable' means.
Such being the case, it can be
imagined how useless would be the
effort to define 'justiciable when a
serious conflict had actually arisen
and blood was up and passions high.
Loose Wording of Treaty
The wording of the treaty is so
loose, it so lacks explicitness, as to
allow one set of it's advocates to
announce that it binds us to arbi-
trate everything, and another set to
say that under it, we would not have
10 arbitrate anything we did not wish
to.
Now, no moral movement is per-
manently helped by hypocrisy. Does
the proposal in the treaties, if en-
tered into with various nations bind
us to arbitrate the Monroe doctrine,
the Platt amendment with Cuba, the
payment of state bonds to European
Dondholders, the question whether
various European countries are en-
utled to the same concessions that
canada is to receive under the reci-
proclty agreement, the right of other
foreign nations to Interfere in Pan
anna, our own right to exclude any
immigrants whom we choose to ex-
clude.
Senate Merely Performed Duty
II these questions arose / am
sure our representatives would pri-
Vately or publicly inform foreign
powers (and indeed would have tc
INFORM foreign powers) that the
american people would never abide
oE an agreement to arbitrate them
IN which case the only proper course
10 follow is that followed by the sen.
ATE committee and to say in honesi
fashion that there are certain ques
IONS which this nation will not ar
oitrate at the dictation of any out
side body. Criticism of the senate
IN this matter, talk as If it hat
usurped' a right in reality thu
senate merely performed a duty.
Clause Most Faulty
The fatally Objectionable featur,
of the proposed treaty is the claus
providing that the joint high commits
sion, which may be composed con
ciusiyely of nationals Of the tw'
countries, but which also may b.