Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-09-24
BRITAIN'S LEAGUE POWERS

| ~ against the league-ot -naIloIS cove
nant by Incorporate denunciation Of Mr.
Wilson.
The President seriously weakens his
| position by Withholding from the public
so important an Interpretation of the
league covenant as is the letter which he
and Lloyd George and Clemenccau signed
and dispatched to Sir Robert Borden
| premier of Canada.
The British Government is transpar-
emily casuistic in rating India, which has
vote in the league assembly, as self
| governing colony.
! The whole vital question of British au-
| thority in the international partnership,
! which is now concerning the Senate, is
| bccloudcd with partisan prejudice on the
one hand and msreprescntcd by cgoistc
obstinacy on the other.
! The American public is not composed
| exclusively of international lawyers.
| Mr.. Reed tells them one thing. The
| President fatty contradicts it. To COM
pletc the conflict, the covenant itself
| fails to shed the desired light on the
matter of the British voting power.
| What is the average citizen, unequlppcd
! with the legal powers of a Root or a
! Taft, to think? Whatever Mr.. Reeds
motives in bringing up the point, the
! public is his debtor if Qualification of the
| subject ensues.
The President has committed n two
| fold mistake. In his recent speeches he
| has told only part of the story by insist
| ing that although Great Britain by the
| ranking of her major dependencies as
national entities has six votes i'll the
assembly, yet in the council of the league,
which is the determining body, the
British empire has but a single vote.
| SophStry and apparent truth arc neatly
dovetalcd here. That the explanation is
| inadequate is disclosed by the damaging
letter contending that the "sclGgovcrn
! ing dominions of the British empire may
be selected or named as members Of the
| council"
By his disinclination to be frank con-
| corning communication Of such moment
| the President of the United States has
presented vulnerable front to an oppo-
ncnt whose record is notoriouSly un-
wholesome and oblique. To decent
| Americans it comes as disagreeablc
shock to be championcd by James A.
Reed, marked as the pestiferous antago-
mist of the indispensable Herbert c. Hoo
yer. 1t was equally distasteful to be
compelled to heed Senator Norris when
he disclosed the Shantung blunder.
Yet if Norris, who opposed the war;
and Reed, who vilied Hoover, have sig
nifcant facts TO report it is imperative
for the public to consider them. That
the President has laid himself open to
attacks by men of such calibcr is deeply
rcgrettablc. 1t is one of the many penal
ties of self-sufficient secrecy in a critical
period.
At the present moment it is true that
the British empire has but single vote
in the council of the league of nations.
That is because the members of that body
are the principal Allied and associated
powers" the United States, Britain,
France Italy and Japan. Four additional
members of the council "shall be selected
by the assembly from time to time"
Until the league machinery is in motion,
| however, the first four powers in. the
rotation system are specifically named
in the covenant. They are Belgium,
Brazil, Spain and Greece.
But by the Wilson-Lloyd George
Clemenceau reading of the pact as ex-
pressed in the letter to Premier Borden,
the five alleged self-governing dependen-
cies of the British empire (including In
dia!) are eligible for entrance into the
council on the same basis as sovereign
nations. 1t is in the power of the assem-
bly, to enable Great Britain to have five
votes in the council. Mr.. Wilson has
been hitherto silent on this possibility.
Mr.. Reed is stridently vocal. The letter
supports him.
Can the council, all action of which,
unless otherwise specified, must be unani-
nous, reject selections made "from time
to time" by the assembly? The cove
nant has nothing to say on this theme.
1t is indefinite, moreover, concerning
whether or not the assembly shall choose
the rotation members of the council by
unanimous vote. If the entire assembly
must agree before the four transtory
members be elevated to the council, the
United States is by its veto power armed
against British control. 1t is conceivable
that there may be occasions in which this
country would gladly wish to admit Aus
tralia or Canada to the council. There
are crises imaginable when so many
British imperial votes in the upper cham
Der would place our legitimate interests
in serious jeopardy.
Americas entrance into the league
must be contingent upon clear under.
standing of these questions. The sena-
torial inquiry is a good thing. The Presi.
dents plight and the venom of Reed are
subjects subordinate to all exact and un,
equivocal realization of just what the in,
ternational partnership-in itself splen
did ideal-will mean to this country.
Uncle Sam has no complaint to make
concerning the immigrants now landing or