The theocrat. [volume] (Zion City [i.e. Zion], Ill.) 1914-1949, 1919-09-13
DEMOCRATIC SENATORS
CONTINUE TO BOLT

CONTINUE TO BOLT
Not only are the mild reservationist Re
publican senator's deciding in favor of the
extreme reservations as proposed by the
foreign relations committee, but almost each
day, it seems, another Democratic senator
bolts the treaty. This fact is causing ex-
IRENE efforts to be put forth by Senator
Hitchcock and other administration leaders
to stem the tide of the Democratic bolt in
the Senate against the Presidents demand
tor ratification of the peace treaty, includ-
ing the League of Nations covenant, with
out any modification whatever.
No sooner had Mr.. Wilson departed on
his stump speaking tour, for the avowed
purpose of bringing public pressure to bear
on his Republican opponents, than his own
political followers began deserving his ship.
The defections have been one Democratic
senator a day since the president left
Washington, and more are said to- be on
the verge of declaring their independence
and joining the opposition in favor of the
adoption of reservations.
There are now seven Democratic SEN
ators favoring ratification with reservations.
Reed of Missouri, Shields of Tennessee,
Smith of Georgia, Gore of Oklahoma,
Thomas of Colorado and Walsh of Massa-
chusetts favor the adoption of reservations
because they believe the United States ought
not to commit itself to the obligations i'm
posed by the covenant as it stands.
Simmons of North Carolina favors re-
servations only as a practical necessity He
intends to explain to the senate that he
would prefer unqualified ratification of the
treaty, but realizes the futility of further
effort to bring about that result Conse-
quently he would effect compromise with
the opposition on mild reservations purely
lnterpretative of the provisions of the cove
! nant.
Democratic Senator Shields of Tennessee
shocked his Democratic colleagues in the
Senate when he arose and said:
Il am unable to keep silent any longer.
The time has come for me to speak on this
question, and [ must say that I cannot and
shall not vote for any treaty which does
not give the United States the right to with
draw from the league at will, nor which does
not give the United States complete sover-
eighty over its own affairs
Il am opposed to any treaty which does
not recognize the light of the United States
to manage its own affairs without the help
or interference of foreign powers"
Since Senator Shields pronouncement,
Senator Hoke Smith, of Georgia. has also
bolted the administration in its stand on
the League of Nations covenant
Following the presidents two addresses
in the city of St. Louis, Senator Spencer, of
Missouri, on September 8, delivered an ad-
dress in the United States Senate Among
other things, he said that his speech was a
reply to certain remarks of the President
while in St. Louis, his (Senator Spencer's)
home city. He said
The President has presented to the peo-
pie an issue in regard to the treaty which
does not exist. He has made it appear that
the issue was a choice between acceptance
and rejection of the treaty If this were
the issue, I would be compelled to vote
against the entire treaty
Il say with all the conviction in my power
that the treaty of peace as it is now written
will never be ratified by the Senate
Every one of the reservations announces
an American doctrine which is essential to
the preservation of the Republic
Senator Spencer illustrated the dangers
which would involve the United States I'M
der article ten by directing attention to the
possible purchase of lower California from
Mexico by Japan. By such purchase, he
said, lower California would become part of
the territory of Japan. He described what
would happen in the following language:
The news of that transaction would not
be more than "A hours old before an Amer
lean army would be marching to Lower
California, before the Japanese outposts up
on the point of Magdalena Bay would see
the smoke of advancing American men-of-
war to drive out the Japanese fleet from it's
assembly grounds.
Under this treaty what would Japan do ?
She would say to England and to France
and to Italy: Come; the United States, by
external aggression, is invading my terri
torial integrity, and | demand of England
and France and Italy and Belgium:that you
rally around me and fight with me to offset
the American army that l see advancing
and the American navy that is steanling
toward my vessels. And if France and
England and Italy and Belgium kept their
word as it is written in this treaty, they
would be bound to come to the assistance
of Japan against the United States