The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1919-08-28

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| questionable until their people know
| final settlements of peace and the
forces which are TO administer and
| sustain II. Without deterininate mar
| kets our production cannot proceed
| with Intelligence or confidence. There
| cam be no easy or normal Industrial
credits because there can be no conf
dent or permanent revival of business.
There can beno sterilization Of wages
because there can be no settled condi-
ton Of employment.
every element of normal life
amongst US depends upon and awaits
| the ratification of the treaty of peace,
| and we cannot afford to lose Il single
summers day by not doing all that we
can to mitigate the winters suffering,
which, unless we find means to pre-
| vent it. -iii;ay prove disastrous to a
I. large portion of the world. and may, at
Il it's worst, bring upon Europe condi-
| tons even more terrible than those
! brought by the war itself.
Nothing, am led to believe. stands
in the way of the ratification OF the
treaty except doubts with regard to
the meaning and implication Of certain
articles Of the covenant OF the league
of nations, and must frankly say that
l am unable to understand why such
doubts should be entertained. You Will
recall that when had the pleasure OF
conference with your committee and
with the committee Of the house of
representatives on foreign affairs at
the White House in March last, the
questions now most frequently asked
about the league of nations were all
canvassed, with view to their imme-
date satisfaction. The covenant Of
the league was then in its first draft
and subject to revision. 1t was pointed
out that no express recognition was
given to the Monroe Doctrine, that it
was not expressly provided that the
league should have no authority to act
or to express judgment on matters
of domestic policy, that the right to
pressly recognized, and that the con-
stitutional rights of the congress to
determine all questions of peace and
war was not sufficiently safeguarded.
On my return to Paris all these mat
tiers We're taken up again by the COM
mission Of the league of nations and
every suggestion of the United States
was accepted.
1.-THE views of the United States
with regard to the questions l have
mentioned had, in fact, already been
accepted by the commission, and there
was supposed to be nothing inconsis-
tent with them in the draft Of the
covenant first adopted, the draft which
was the subject OF cur discussion in
March. but no objection was made to
saying explicitly in the text what all
had supposed to be implicit in it.
'"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 any
where else in existence or in con-
temptation, but only because 1t was
thought business to avoid the appear
ance Of dealing in such a document
with the policy Of a single nation.
with regard to domestic questions,
Article XVIV Of the covenant express
ly provides that, if in case of any dis
pute arising between members of the
league the matter involved is claimed
by one Of the parties and is found by,
the council to arise out of matter
which by International law is solely
within the domestic jurisdiction of
that party, the council shall so report
and 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 provision, 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 incontes;ably do
nestle questions with which no inter-
national body could deal.
"The right of any state to withdraw
had been taken for granted but no
objection was made to making it ex-
plicit. Indeed so soon as the views ex-
pressed at the White House conference
were laid before the committee it was
at once conceded that it was business
not to leave the answer to so impor-
tant question to Inference. No pro-
posal was made to set up any tribunal
to pass judgment upon the question
where Withdrawing nation has in
fact fulfilled all it's international
obligations and all its obligations I'M
der the covenant It was recognized
that the question must be left to be
resolved by the conscience Of the
nation proposing to withdraw, and I
must say that it did not seem to me
worth while to propose that the article
he made more explicit because I know
that the United States would never
itself propose to withdraw from the
league If its conscience was not en-
| tirely clear as to the fulfillment of all
its international obligations. It has