Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-07-05
THE MONROE
(Continued)


No definition of the Monroe Doc
trine having official sanction has ever
been given except by Presidents or
Secretaries of State; and, except IN
the few concrete cases that have re-
quired its application, they nave gem
orally contented themselves with des-
cribing its historical origin and the
general principle on which 1t is found
ed. Even the Senate, in ratlfy1ng the
Hague Convention of 1907, and III
seeking to reserve the Monroe DOC
trine, referred to it as our TRADITIONAL
attitude toward purely American
| questions" leaving the character OF
that attitude as much subject TO
question by the signatories as it had
been before the reservation was
made. And, although, on the one
hand, Secretary Olney in 1895, in the
Venezuelan controversy, said: To-day
the United States is practically SOW
ereign on this continent and its nat
10 law upon the subjects to which 1t
confines its interposition;" on the
other hand, President Roosevelt in
1901 said that the Monroe Doctrine
did not prevent foreign nations from
collecting by force debts owing by
American nations, and in 1856 this
country refused to protect Chill when
Spain was bombarding her ports. be-
cause it would not intervene in wars
between European and American
states "if they are not pushed. to
the political point"
Difficult to Define
These references serve to point out
the difficulty of an attempt in any dip
lomatic document to define the Mon
roe Doctrine.
But however inaccurate it may be
- uoF1u - @l~ AHonr0a nNDfr;ao &c a
regional understanding" Article
XXI correctly describes it as "secur-
ing the maintenance of peace" 1t was
of the essence of the Doctrine that
foreign nations should not be permit
ted to implant among the nations OF
| the Western Hemisphere autocratic
| principles OF government lest they
| Shout econ a menace to the free
institutions of the United States, and
we might again have to resort to
arms for the maintenance of the prin-
ciples settled by the Revolution; and
in practice the dominance of this
i country in the affairs of the Western
| Hemisphere has undoubtedly saved II
| from repeated exploitation at the
hands of European and Asiatic n
| tons. The frequent revolutions u
South and Central America, often ac-
| companied by the seizure of power
in the name of liberty by disloyal and
INSCRIPTIONS dictators, would have
afforded tempting opportunities to
European autocracies at small e x
pens and by the use Of a merely
nominal force, to secure a permanent
foothold upon the continent, gradu-
ally establishing colonies which would
have become a to our repub-
lican institutions. or at least a source
of national disquietude. All of this
has been prevented without the use
in a single instance of military force
by the Monroe Doctrine, which is
therefore. aptly described in Article
XXI as securing the maintenance OF
peace"
A Possible Reservation
But If the Senate is of the opinion
that the use of the words regional
understanding creates any doubt as to
the meaning of Article XXI, it can,
in ratifying the treaty, make a dec
laration that it's action is taken I'M
der the reservation that the Covenant
is to be so construed as to leave the
Monroe Doctrine unaffected. In view
of the general purpose and effect OF
| the League, referred to above, such
a reservation would not be regard
ed as a substantial amendment of the
Covenant. Upon this point the Official
commentary of the delegates of Great
Britain upon the revised Covenant il
particularly pertinent. They refer t;
the Monroe Doctrine and similar un.
derstandings as having Shown them,
selves" in history to be not instru,
ments Of national ambition but guar