The Topeka state journal., 1911-09-07
SAYS 1t Is Worthless and Full OF
Hypocrisy.
AND WORSE THAN THAT
Ii Tends to Sacrifice National
Honor and Righteousness.
Its Terms Would Not lie Kept
in Certain Events.

y --
dant Roosevelt deals with the arbllIA-
tion treaties recently presented 70 tne
senate in an editorial article appeeiIliles : :
in the Outlook today He says IN Pc par. =
.sIt is one of our prime dunes - q
nation to seek peace. 1t is an even
higher duty TO seek righteousness II II
is also our duty not TO induiss u
ehatl7s not to make believe We are
r-et+j,is neace bv some patent con-
frivance which sensible men ought 70
Know can not work In practice, aho
which if we sought to make II MoNh,
might cause irretrievable harm. /
sincereiv believe in the principle OF
arbitration. I believe in applying 1haL
principle SO far as practlcablei put !. !
believe that the effort to Apply ~
where it is not practicable can not 20
800 and NAV do serious harm. Con
fused thinking and Willingness 70
substitute words for thought, even
though inspired by an entirely anna
bic sentimentalfty, do not tend toward
~ think that the great majority Of
those persons who advocate any ana
every treaty which Is called LSdls
for Deaee or for arbitration would pc
less often drawn into position thaI
tends to humiliate their country II
thew would take the trouble to forInu-
late clearly and definitely just what
it is that they desire VI course, me- 81
are persons wholly Indifferent to the
national honor and interest who IN
consequence, can not be reached by an
appeal to national honor and inter
aSt and there are other persons whose
inara med personal timidity is such
that they are more afraid OF war than
of any dishonor, personal or natonal-
we the American people, DeheVe,
ought to believe, in righteousness hfso
and in peace as the handmade OF
Righteousness. We abhor bruta llty
and wrongdoing whether exhibited py
nations or by individuals we hold
that the same law of Righteousness
+1s- hot
nation as between man and man. L,
for one would rather cut off my hand
than see the United States adopt the
attitude either of cringing before great
and powerfuI nations who wish TO
wrong US or by bullying small and
weak nations who have done US no
wrong
Americans Are for Justice
THE American people desire to do
Justice and to act with frank gel1er-
ositv towards all the other nations of
manl1ind; but I err greatly in my
judgment of my countrymen II tneN
are willing to submit to wrong and IN
Justice. Again and again IN the past
thew have shown, and rightly shown,
that when the choice lay between
Righteousness and peace they chose
also chose righteousness when the
choice lay between Righteousness and
war;
Mr.. Roosevelt cites the Revolution
ish-American war as instances in
which Eve put righteousness above
peace" He also cites the existing
arbitration 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 and
honor.
He continues: 1.-THE proposed arbi-
tration treaty is defective. in the first
nlace. because it is not straightfOr-
ward 1t sets forth that all 'justici-
able matters shall be arbitrated. The
language both of the opponents and
even among our own people and be
fore q 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 passion high. The wording of the
treaty is so loose, it so lacks explicit
ness as to allow one set of its advo-
Gates to announce that 1t binds US to
arbitrate everything and another set
to say that under it we would not have
TO arbitrate anything we did not wish
to. Now, no moral movement is per-
manently helped by hypocrisy Does
the proposal in the treaties. if entered
arbltrate the Monroe doctrine, the
Plat amendment with Cuba, the pay
ment of state bonds to European
bond holders, the question whether va
rfous European countries are entitled
TO the same concessions that Canada
IS to receive under the reciprocity
agreement, the right of other foreign
nations to interfere in Panama, our
own right to exclude any immigrants
whom we choose to exclude? If these
questions arose, / am sure representa-
tives would privately or publicly in
form foreign powers (and, indeed,
would have to inform foreign powersl
that the American people would never
abide by an agreement to arbitrate
them; in which case the only proper
course to follow is that followed by
the senate committee and to say in
honest fashion that there are certain
questions which this nation Will not
arbitrate at the dictation of an out
side body. Critics of the senate in this
matter talk as if it had 'usurpeds d
right, in reality. the senate has mere
ly performed a duty
No Time for False Prefenses.
Most men Of knowledge who are
willing to think know perfectly Wen
that this country would not as a mat
ter of fact. keep an agreement to ar
bitrate all Questions Of vital honor and
interest. even though it We're so unwise
as to make it. and it is a wicked thing
TO put us in a position of promising
what viii not and can not be per-
formed In such a matter the induI-
genee of false pretense in the present
would with an absolute certainty be
loiiowed by the breaking of faith in
the future
The fatally Objectionable feature of
the proposed treaty is the clause pro
vlding that the Joint high commission