Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-17
c. 0. P. SENATORS SHIFT
TO LEAGUE OF NATIONS
Under Taft's Leadership Repub-
licans Are Shifting Views ON
Wilson's Peace Plan.

Washington, Dec. I7.-Ex-Prcsiden
William II. Taft, who is advocating with
out reservation the plan for League of
Nations which President Wilson has gone
to Europe to urge for adoption as one Of
the cardinal planks in the peace treaty,
is playing very active roll in endeavorlng
to develop support in this country for the
project while the President is trying to
win its adoption at the Paris Conference.
The value Of the aid that President
Wilson is receiving from Mr. Taft was
made apparent last night when it became
known that there had developed re-
markably sudden shift in alignment on
the League of Nations project in tho
Senate. Two days ago il seemed almost
certain that the foreign relations COM
| mittee would take favorable action on the
resolution Of Senator Knox Of Pennsyl-
vania. which seeks to have the Senate
record itself In disapproval Of the coupling
| of the League of Nations project with the
! peace treaty The resolution aims TO have
| the Senate declare 1T TO be the sense OF
| that body that the question of n League
Of Nations should be considered sepa-
rately from the treaty.
CAN'T REPORT THE RESOLUTION.
For "A time it looked as it virtually all
! the Republican members of the com
mittecs would support the resolution and
| that they would pick up enough Demo-
| cratic votes in the committee TO favorably
report the resolution to the Senate. A
careful canvass now indicates that the
Republican members of the committee
rs well as the Republican members of the
Senate as "a whole, are split over the
League of Nations project and that
enough votes will bc mustered in com
mIttce to prevent the reporting OF the
Knox resolution The committee is To
meet tomorrow, and the information last
night is that il will not report the resolu
ton.
] he shift IN sentiment IN the Senate
has been such as to prevent action on
The floor IN condemnation Of the pro-
gram for League of Nations. There
will be speeches. among them one to be
made by Senator Lodge Of Massachusetts
later this week, in opposition to the League
Of Natl ions project Besides Mr.. Lodge,
other Senators mainly Republicans, will
speak against the scheme But a study
~ the present situation indicates that the
Senate will not cmharra S. tic PresIden
to he extent OF formally recording IT.
self against the League of Nations idea,
n least not while he is working for II IN
Europe.
INFLUENCE OF MR. TAFT.
Mr.. Taft is credited with being rtspon-
sIhle in large degree for the sudden
change in the announced determination
Of Senate Republicans as a whole TO
stand behind the Knox resolution. Mr..
Taft. who advocated the idea of a Lea que
Of Nations even before the present war
started and who feels that, unless pro-
vision rs made in the peace treaty for a
League OF Nations, the project may be-
indefinitely postponed. or absolutely lost,
has fguratively rolled up his sleeves and
served notice that he Is prepared TO GO
before the country In speaking campaign
in favor Of the plan if Senators OF his
party undertake to have the Senate re-
cord itself in opposition to putting the
project into the peace treaty.
The ex-President has conferred with
members Of the Senate and has taken
the attitude in conference with members
of his party that the Republicans will
he playing into the hands OF President
Wilson and the Democratic Party in
1920 if they unite at tins time IN con-
demnation Of the League Of Nations idea.
MIR Taft hopes there will be no hight IN
the Republican Party over the League
81 ~NElH1US I1td. Iul - w
close personal friends TO be of the opinion
that If there must he fight the sooner
the better.
Senator Lodge in his speech this week
will declare ms belief that the proposed
League of Nations is impracticahle
There appears 10 be considerable mis-
understanding Of the attitude Of Senator
Lodge in Paris. One newspaper dispatch
from Paris today carried the statement
that Senator Lodge statement" of
the League Of Nations was accepted in
certain quarters in Paris as showing that
the entire country was behind President
Wilson on the principle.
The dispatch went on 70 say that this
understanding OF the attitude Of Mr..
Lodge and Of the nation is having "a
dampening effect on certain European
circles which were nourishing the be-
lief that Mr. Lodge and the nation
were not standing behind President Viii
son on the League of Nations idea The
same dispatch dealt with twenty-one
points" which some persons in Paris
seem to think Senator Lodge has laid
down as a basis for peace
BASED ON NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
This dispatch is based .on a thorough
not only Of Mr.. Lodges
position respecting the League of Nations,
bur as to his ideas as to the terms on
which peace should be dictated Senator
Lodge has laid down no "twenty-one
points What the dispatch evidently has
alluslon 10 Is the program for peace pre-
pared by the Executive Board of the
National Committee on Patriotic Socie-
Il * which was laid before the Senate
Iast week by Senator Lodge This program
Of peace terms contained twentv-one
terms suggested for adoption at Versailles I
and PARIS -Four OF the twenty-one terms
dealt with questions OF restitution and rep
aratiOn, ten related TO territorial matters,
and seven were general ID their nature
Senator Lodge laid this document befor;
the Senate only by request, and did not
subscribe to the document Senatora
frequently receive communications which
they lay before the Senate, without
themselves to the contents
One of the twenty-one planks in the
document laid before the Senate by
Mr. Lodge suggested on behalf Of tf,e
Patriotic Societies that the Peace Con
ference adopts this plank
international arbitration and league
of nations as complement of policy of
national defense The Central Powers
NOT TO be admitted into the league until
full discharge Of their obligations under
the treaty and until they achieve penna-
ncnt establishment Of free institutions"