Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1919-08-22


ltional rights of the Congress to deter.
mine all questions Of peace aad war
was not sufficiently safeguardsd. On
my return to Paris Ill these matters
were taken up again by the commits
sion on the League of Nations and
every suggestion of the United States
was accepted. r. ~ -
! No Interference with Monroe
i -. Doctrine.
The Monroe Doctrine Is expressly
mentioned as an understanding which
is in no way to be impaired or inter-
fered with by anything contained In
the covenant and the expression
regional understanding like the Mon
roe Doctrine" was used, not because
anyone OF the conference thought
there was any comparable agreement
anywhere else In existence or In con-
temptation, but only because it was
thought. best to avoid the appearance
of dealing in such document with
the policy OF single nation.
Domestic Questions Exempt. 49,.
With regard to domestic questions
Article XVI of the covenant expressly
provides that, IL in case of any dispute
arising between members OF the
league the matter involved is claimed
by one OF the parties land is found
by the council to arise out of mat
ter WHICH by international law is sole.
~ within the domestic jurisdiction Of
or<u 6n
shall make no recommendation as to
its settlements. The United States
was by no means the only government
interested In the explicit adoption of
this proposition, and there is no doubt
In the mind of any authoritative stu
dent of international law that such
matters as immigration, tariffs, and
naturalization are incontestably do
nestle questions with which no inter-
national body could deal without ex-
press authority to do so.
Right to Withdraw.
The right OF any state to withdraw
had been taken for granted but no
objection was made to making it ex-
plicit. So soon as the views ex.
pressed at the White House confer.
ence were laid before the commission.
it was at once conceded that it was
best not to leave the answer to so
important a question to Interference,
no proposal was made to set up any
tribunal to pass judgment upon the
question whether a withdrawing ma
tion had in fact fulfilled "all it's inter-
national obligations and all it's obi
cations under the covenant" It was
recognized that the question must be
left to be resolved by the concern of
the nation proposing to withdraw; and
I must say that it did not seem to me
worth while to propose that the ar
1cle be made more explicit because
knew that the United States would
never itself propose to withdraw from
the league il it's conscience was not
entirely clear as to the fulfillment of
its international obligation, it has
never failed to fulfill them and never
will
No Doubt About Article Ten.
Article is in no respect of doubt
tul meaning when read in the light of
the covenant as whole. The council
OF the league can only advise upon"
the means by which the obligations
OF that great article are to be given
effect to unless the United States is
a party to the policy or action in oues-
ton. her own atfiliative vote in the
council is necessary before any advice
can be given for unanimous vote of
the council is required. If she is
party, the trouble is hers anyhow, and
the unanimous vote of the council is
only advice in any case Each gov
eminent Is free to reject 1t il It
pleases. Nothing could have been
made more clear to the conference
than the right Of our Congress under
our constitution to exercise it's indie
pendent judgment in all matters of
peace and war. No attempt was made
to question or limit that right. The
United States will undertake under
Article x to respect and preserve as
against external aggression the terri
tortal integrity and existing political
independence of all members of the
league" and that engagement consti-
tutes "a very grave and solemn moral
obligation. But it is a moral, not a
legal obligation, and leaves our Con-
gress absolutely free to put it's own
Interpretation upon it in all cases that
call for action
Article X seems to me to consti-
tute the very backbone of the whole
covenant. Without it the league
would be hardly more than an 1ntluen.
tial debating society.
interpretations Acceptable.
It has several times been suggested.
In public debate and in private confer.
euce. that interpretations of the sense
in which the United States accepts
the engagements Of the covenant
should be embodied in the instrument
of ratification. There can be no rea-
sonable objection to such interpreta-
tions, which should not, however, con.
stitute part OF the formal resolution
of ratification, long delays would be
the Inevitable consequence. inas1nuch