The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-09-11
Observation-Disclosures
Ex-Presldent Roosevelt Says They Fall
Short Of the Remedies They Are
Supposed 70 Accomplish

part.
1T is one of our prime duties as q
nation to seek peace. 1t is an even
higher duty to seek righteousness. II
is also our duty not to indulge in
shams, not to make believe we are
getting peace by some patent contriv-
ance which sensible men ought to
know cannot work in practice, and
which if we sought to make 1t work
might cause irretrievable harm.
sincerely believe In the principle OF
arbitration; believe in applying that
principle so far as practicable; but
believe that the effort to apply it
where 1t is not practicable cannot do
good and may do serious harm. Con
fused thinking and a willingness to
substitute words for thought, even
though inspired by an entirely amia-
BILE sentimentality, do not tend tow
ard sound action.
II think that the great majority Of
those persons who advocate any and
every treaty which Is called treaty
for peace or for arbitration would be
less often drawn into a position that
tends to humiliate their country II
they would take the trouble to formu.
late clearly and definitely just what
! IL is that they desire. OF course there
are persons wholly Indifferent to the
national honor and interest, who, In
consequence, cannot be reached by
an appeal to national honor and Inter
est; 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.
1.-THE American people desire to do
justice and to act with frank gener-
osity towards all the other nations OF
mankind but | err greatly in my
Judgment of my countrymen II they
are willing to submit to wrong and
injustice Again and again in the
past they have shown. and rightly
shown, that when the choice lay be-
tween righteousness and peace they
chose righteousness. just exactly as
they also chose righteousness when
the choice lay between righteousness
and war
Mr.. Roosevelt cites the Revolutions
airy war, the Civil war, and the Span
ish American war as instances in
which I'VE put righteousness above
peace" He also cites the existing ar
bitration treaties between the United
States, Great Britain and France as
better than the proposed treaty, be-
cause they make no false pretenses
and exclude questions affecting our
vital interests. independence or
| honor
He continues: The proposed arbitra
ton treaty 10 defective. in the first
place, because It Is not straightfor-
ward. II sets forth that all "pustio-
liable" matters shall be arbitrated.
The language both Of the opponents
and the defenders OF the treaty shows
that even among our own people, and
before a cause for applying the treaty
has arisen, there is hopeless confus-
ion as TO what 'justihable means
Such being the case, II can be imagin-
ed how useless would be the effort TO
define 'justifable' when serious con
fiict had actually arisen. and blood
was up and passion high.
THE wording of the treaty is so
loose, II so lacks explicitness, as to
allow one set of its advocates TO an
nounce that il binds us to arbltrate
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, II enter
ed into with various nations, bind us
to arbitrate the Monroe Doctrine, the
Plat Amendment with Cuba, the pay
lment of state bonds to European bond
holders, the question whether various
European countries are entitled to the
same concessions that Canada is 10
receive under the reciprocity agree
ment, the right of other foreign nat
ions to interfere in Panama. our own
right to exclude any immigrants whom
we choose TO exclude?
III these questions arose. | am
sure our representatives would pri
yately or publicly, inform foreign
powers land indeed would have to In
form foreign powers) that the Amer
lean people would never abide by an
agreement to arbitrate them; In
which case the only proper course "a
follow is that followed by the Senate
committee, and to say in honest fash
ion that there are certain questions
which this nation will not arbitrate
at the dictation Of an outside body
Critics OF the Senate in this mattes
talk as II II had usurped' right;
in reality the Senate has merely per
formed duty.
The fatally Objectionable feature
Of the proposed treaty Is the clause
providing that the Joint High Com
mission, which may be composed eH
clusively OF foreigners, may. by un
anlmous vote, or by vote OF all but
one OF it's members, determine thai
any given question whatever must be
arbltrated. II is difficult TO charao
terlze this provision truthfully with
out seeming TO be offensive. Merely
to speak OF Il as silly comes far shor'
OF saying what should be said. II II
arguable that In certain cases either
ot the two component parts OF th'
treaty-making power, the president o.
the Senate. should delegate 10 thu
, other. for certain purposes, the powe
I OF exclusive action.
But no sound argument can b.
made for permitting both the presi
dent and the Senate TO delegate 4