New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1919-03-20

l. nave never nGtlTu
opinions. Or practice, whicn
we'll known. quoted against
ton or some other moderu
tons. It is even more str
hear Senator Borah urge the
ity of Washington against
of Nations, but say that if tho
Of mankind should revisit the 81
and declare for such a leagu
would nevertheless oppose it.
ordinary man, that senator's idN
authority in matters of opinio8
perplexing. No sensible man
for a moment assert that If,
to a change of conditions in the
ern world. he were convinced OH
utility and wisdom OF a depat
from the policy Of Washington
the great statesmen of his day
ought nevertheless to vote again
that departure because of opinions 6
pressed a century ago.
senator Lodge has told us th4
we ought to be very cautious
abandoning a policy laid down n*
Washington and followed for a huns
dred years. and there is good sens
IN the caution. 1t does not mea1Sa
that we are to be chained down to-
1mmobility by the traditions of the
TONS That would be wholly con-
trary to the American spirit and to
the character of Washington himself,
who was one of the greatest innova-s
tors in history, for the reason that he
h&ed his vision, not upon the past, but
on the facts of his day and the prob,
le'hs OIL 70 future. Senator Lodges
caution means only this, that the
burden of proof always rests upon
those who advocate something new.
! we accept that burden of proof. and
seek to show, what believe the great
mass OF our countrymen feel: That
| the Tune has come when the nations
| should cooperate to put an end to
| war SO far as posi- Bile. that from this
| humane effort the United States
should not stand aloof; and that the
| principles embodied in the Covenant
OF Parls, with such amendments as
| can no doubt be obtained provide the
pest means available for the creation
| OF such a league. This is what we
! are striving to prove and I believe
| that we shall prove it to the salts
faction of the American people.
LAS our senior SENATOR and as the
| leader of the republicans in the sem
ate, we have right to ask Mr. Lodge
| two questions: first, whether he will.
! or will not, vote for the Covenant
| of Paris, provided it is amended as
| he wishes: and, second, what amend
ments thereto he desires
| A further objection to the cove
| nant is that it contains no provision
for withdrawal from the league. If
| this is a serious cause of reluctance
| to its ratification there would prob
ably be no great hesitation in adding
| a clause that any m emil Der might with
| draw on giving a reasonable notice
| let us say a, couple of years-provided
all its obligations were fulfilled I'D to
the time it withdrew.
The Monroe Doctrine.
Next We come to the greatest bug
bear of all, the point on which popu-
! lar alarm is most readily awakened
by vague denunciation without def
| mite explanation. 1t is the Monroe
| Doctrine AS one of those who have
always believed strongly in this doc
| tr1ne, I understand that it means or
is by some persons supposed to mean,
several different things. In its origi-
| nal sense it meant that no foreign ma
ton should interfere with the indie
pendence, or seek by force to acquire
any part of the territory, of any coun-
| try in the American hemisphere.
Taken in this sense the covenant ex-
tends the doctrine over the whole
, world, or at least over all that part
of it which is covered by the league.
There is another later and broader
| sense in which the doctrine means
that no foreign nation shall acquire 9.
| foothold on these continents even with
the consent of the country that owns
| I1n yo1o Vii
| doctrine invoked in the case of Mag
| dalena Bay. a Japanese company
| proposed to buy from Mexico a tract
of land on this bay in Southern Cali
| fornia, ultimately, as we believed,
for the purpose of a Japanese naval
! station. Our government objected
! and the purchase was not made. Such
| a transaction is not forbidden by the
| Covenant of Paris, and if we went to
| arbitration about it the decision
| might be that Mexico had a right to
| sell land to Japan or any other power
If she wished to do SC. The United
! States would be justified in asking,
and in my opinion ought to ask, for a
clause in the covenant that no foreign
| power shall hereafter acquire by con-
quest, purchase, or in any other way,
any possession on the American con-
| tinents or the islands adjacent there
to. Nor do I believe that the Euro
pean members of the league would
object to such clause, because they
do not want another nation to acquire
| military posts or naval stations in
the neigh borhood of their own
coasts, canals or coaling stations
There is, however, a third inter-
probation of the Monroe Doctrine,
| rarely asserted, often repudiated. but
| nevertheless widely entertained. which
stands on a very different footing It
is that, while foreign powers are for.
| hidden to take territory from Ameri-
! can countries, we are a liberty to
| treat them as OLE interests NAV die