The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-12-05
SENATE BEGINS ITS
| DEBATE ON PEACE



-
Executive may negotiate. VIII we,
be free from embarrassment
should other nations say to us, Your
Chief Executive spoke in behalf of the
American public and supposedly voiced
their views That brings me to the
point of my motion.
rs the President sure that his in
depreciation Of the bases OF peace Is
the Interpretation Of the American
public? AS he has never made known
such Interpretation how. can he be
sure? Should he not in justice before
he makes any proposal on such mo-
mentous questions make known to the
public what Interpretation he places
upon his fourteen bases and should
he not afford the public an oppor-
tunity to voice its opinion?"
Senator F'relinghuysens assertion
that the President had left tho Ameri-
can people In the dark as to his con-
crete views aroused Senator Walsh
tMon0 to advance the suggestion that
although the fourteen terms had been
before the nation for more than nine
months It had only been after politics
grew hot that criticism or any dis
agreement with them was made mani
fest. He predicted that the Senate
would be embarrassed by not having
more clearly expressed its doubts and
disagreements.
Approval L. Assumed.
THE people of the world very Justly
assume that the views thus expressed
by the President were Endorsed by
this great nation" said Senator Walsh
Senator Poindexter (Wash.) wanted
to know II throughout the year and
even before America entered the war
the. Senator had not heard the Presi-
dent criticised for talking altogether
too much about peace. while the ma
ton was concerned only with the more
imminent problem Of winning the war.
Senator Walsh replied that this was
aside from the question precipitated
by the Frelinghuysen resolution. He
said he had heard nothing down to
within the last sixty days to show
that any dissent had been made from
these principles"
Senator Knox (Pa-) at once called
Senator Walsh's attention TO the fact
that Immediately after the President
had read his address with the delimi-
tation OF the fourteen peace points a
resolution from Senator Lewis Ull0
had been introduced In the Senate and
referred to the Foreign Relations Com
mittee. and that that committee had
never been able even to act on 1t, for
the reason that 1t would have caused
n Spirited and untimely discussion OF
the subject on the floor of the Senate
which would not be any advantage"
And that resolution" continued
Senator Knox, Ties in pigeonhole to
this day"
johnson steps Into Fray.
Senator Walsh admitted that the
Senators were not irrevocably COM
mitted to the fourteen peace terms as
the sole bases of discussion on behalf
OF America at the council table, and
Senator Johnson (CaL). stepped into
the debate saying:
mo man on this floor Is stopped
from questioning opposing or contro-
verting the terms laid down by the
President OF the United States in his
January address. recall that ad-
dress most wildly; I remember that
after that address was made there
were some OF us who dissented vigor-
ously from It, and l recall too that
Just one month later the President OF
the United States made another ad-
dress in which substantially he said
that his previous terms were wholly
tentative and that there was nothing
about them that was hard and fast or
binding.
II do not state his language eX-
actly; l state my Interpretation of 1t.
I remember also that after that Feb
ruary address some Of us commented
upon it and expressed our approval
OF II and our approval OF the fact that
it was a modification of the January
address. The American people do not
know-the Presidents interpretations
Of his fourteen points. Some OF them
are nebulous, some OF them are in
describable, some of them are not
understood. What we ask Is that he
interpret them first to the American
people and to the American Con-
gress."
The colloquy over the Frelinghuy
sen resolution ended with its refer
ence TO the Foreign Relations Commit
tee and Senator Borah introduced his
measure looking TO the contamination
through Senate enactment OF the
Presidents promise that the peace
treaty should be effected through
open covenants Of peace openly ar
rived at"
Senator Borah's Resolution.
The Rorah resolution follows: