The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1919-09-25
VOTING POWER IN THE LEAGUE.

Nations having been raised 1t cannot be settled Dy ne
mere platform sayso of Mr. Wilson, Mr.. Johnson, any
other individual The covenant of the league and the
construction placed upon the covenant by the nations
composing the league will determine the question.
Article XIV contains the of the matter so far
as consequences are concerned. The statement has
been spread throughout the United States that the council
is the real acting body, while the assembly is to be
mere debating society. Let us look at Article XIV
That article pledges members of the league to submit
to the council any dispute not submitted to arbitration
if the dispute is likely to lead to rupture Language
could not be broader The dispute light involve national
honor citizens rights territorial integrity and 1t
probably would involve them if the nation had refused
to submit the controversy to arbitration The council
nevertheless, would take jurisdiction and the nation is
bound in advance go forward with the procedure II
the council should agree upon recommendation byI
unanimous vote Excluding the of the parties to
the dspute) then the nation losing its pledges itself
not to 90 to war against the nation which complies with
the recommendation Thus, the United States might
become involved in dispute eecting its honor integrity
or vital interest and would have vote in the council
but would be compelled to accept the verdict whatever
Its nature might be- Now comes this important pro-
e vision:
The council may in any case under this article
refer the dispute to the assembly. The dispute shall
be so referred the request of either party to the
dispute - In any case referred to the assembly
all the provisions of this article and of Article XII
relating to the action and powers OF the council
shall apply to the action and powers of the assem-
bly," - y
l. The entire paragraph is there for all who may be
interested in the omitted portions The pertinent part
above quoted shows that the assembly may take over
q the action and powers of the council in the most vitality
mportant disputes and furthermore the council is com
neled to refer the dispute to the assembly if either dis
putant demands such reference Thus if unhappiy the
United States and Canada should become dspuants here
after Canada could oe the council to refer the dispute
to the assembly in which Australia, New Zealand, South
Africa India and the British empire itself have votes
each equal to the vote of the United States.
President Wilson told the Senate committee foreign
relations on August 10 that disputes can arise only
through the governments which have international repre-
sentaon In other words automatically speaking, there
is only one British empire The dispute, therefore,
would be between the United States diplomatic unit
and the British empire diplomatic unit Therefore
have assumed and confidently assumed that the repre-
w sentatves of all parts of the British empire would be
or excluded"
But that is a pure assumption and there is nothing
in the covenant of the league to Import it. On the con-
he arsy, the covenant expressly Canada and the
as other British dominon original members of the league
Sir Robert Borden premier of Canada, does not agree
I'LL Tho lfofac
of ment of dispute between any part of the British
ed empire and any other nation In speech the Canadian
house of commons on September 2, asking parliament tt
approve the peace treaty (why should Canada approve
e if it not member of the league Premier Borden
e reported by the London Times to have referred to tn
new status of the domnons by which their representa-
ves given the full powers of plenipotentiary dele
gates, including the power to sign the treaty"
a Premier Borden added that "the British dele
gates took the ground that the domnions should b.
to accepted members of the league the same basi
&c minor powers, but this recognition not with
al out constant effort and firm persistence. In all thes
~ efforts they had the strong and unwavering support
al the British prime minister and his colleagues The
stutona structure of the empire mperfecty under
nd stood by other nations by nation close in kin
to ship as the United States'
lily The Times gives this version of Premier Borden
perOration:
We On behalf of his country he stood firmly upon
ne this solid ground that in this greatest of all wars,
al in which the future of the world at stake,
ne Canada led the democracies of both American
lte tinents and the ndomitable spirit that made
ill her capable of that effort and sacrifice made her
nd equally incapable of accepting the League of Ma
tons the peace conference with status inferior
L. A.nAn lnl L.