The Washington herald., 1917-01-05
MIR. Lodge Is Right.

70 Nhal tntfe Is no occasion TOT IL
whatever. The President Is con-
Quoting the negotiations. When
he needs our Endorsements he
should lay all the facts before us.
Until then Congress ought not
project itself into negotiations or
we thrust ourselves into danger
Gus felds."-(From the speech of
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, op--
posing the Hitchcock resolution in
dorsing the Presidents peace note.)
The above is an excerpt from a
logical and, it seems to US, convincing
argument against the Senate rushing
into passage of the ill-advised and
unprecedented resolution pending be-
fore it, thanks to the intense zeal Of
Senator Gilbert Hitchcock, of Ne
braska.
The burden of Senator Lodges ad-
dress is that if President Wilson
wished to be indorsed he would have
asked Congress to indorse him. More
over, he would have submitted to the
Senate, which with him is responsible
for the foreign relations of this gov
ernment, all of the facts and would
not have to depend upon the mere
newspaper reports of action he under
took without the advice of the Senate.
The Herald does not quarrel with
the superb humanitarianism of the
Presidents message. 1t is natural to
approve the kindliness of heart Of
every man. 1t is unanimously be-
lieved that any effort to bring a
speedier termination to the present
war is meritorious.
What The Herald does resent was
the unwarranted haste in which Mr..
Hitchcock undertook to pledge the
people of the United States to sup
port an unknown policy of Presi-
dent who has so strangely kept the
great affairs of this nation, particu
larly its international affairs, hidden
not only from the people, but from
the closest advisers of his own party.
Senator Gallinger, veteran in the
Senate, than whom there is no other
so we'll qualified to speak, warns US
OF the peril of rushing into a pledge
which may later abrogate the spirit
and the actual operation of the splen-
did doctrine enunciated by President
Monroe. That the Monroe doctrine
is sound and respected was given full
and complete emphasis by Mr.. Cleve-
land in his message to Great Britain
anent the Venezuela embroglio.
To abandon that bulwark of the
safety Of the territory of the Western
Hemisphere now entirely occupied by
free peoples would not only be fool
hardy, but criminal
The Senate will do wef1 to hesitate
before getting squarely behind the
President in his note. If thee Presi-
dent sent his circular communication
to foreign governments as an express
sion of his personal wish and as the
spokesman of 100000 Americans
and wishes those millions of his fel-
lowmcn to back him up he should lay
before the chosen representatives of
those people the facts In his posses
sion.
Moreover, if there Is in existence
any record of negotiations or commu-
nications showing that he was acting
in concert with any other person or
peoples, he should give to the Senate
of the United States full and COM
plete account.
Until ne does the Senate should not
adopt the Hitchcock resolution.
And even if the Senate does know
all Of the facts in the case, it strikes
the average observer that if Mr.. Viii
son desired an Endorsement, wished
the people to stand with him in his
role of peacemaker, he should ask
them to do so.