The Cordova daily times., 1919-08-20
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1919
THE LEAGUE COVENANT


with the senate committee, as re-
ported yesterday, said that Article X
of the covenant, around which so
much controversy has grown, "was
not of doubtful Interpretation when
read in connection with the whole
covenant" This probably will be
found to be true also with reference
to other articles which have aroused
comment The British government
recently issued a White Book in ex-
PLANTATION of the treaty and covenant,
and one of the matters dealt with is
that of amendments to the doc
ument, which is of timely interest
1t is as follows:
THE provisions of Art. XVI facil-
itate the adoption of amendments to
the covenant, seeing that all ordinary
decisions of the assembly have to be
unanimous.
''The second paragraph was insert
ed to meet the difficulties of certain
states which might fail to secure the
assent Of their proper constitutional
authorities to an amendment agreed
to by the council and the majority of
the assembly. They are now given
the option Of accepting the amend
ment or withdrawing from the
league; but there is little doubt that,
il the league becomes an institution
Of real value, the choice will be made
in favor Of accepting proposals that
already command such wide assent.
''It is the facility of amendment in
sured by this article, and the absence
Of restrictions on the activities of the
assembly, the council and the secre-
tariat which make the constitution Of
far to compensate for the omissions
and defects from which no instrument
can be free that represents the fusion
Of so many and various currents of
thought and interest,""
And here also is a pertinent excerpt
from an article on the League of Ma
tons from the Saturday Evening Post
which is worthy place in the COM
ment Of the day:
1T is a poor senator who could
not enormously improve the Ten
Commandments, or the Sermon on
the Mount, or the Constitution Of the
United States. If the authors Of the
first two utterances should appear
with the most painstaking arguments
in support Of them, it is the poorest
kind Of a lawyer who could not pile
up objections in detail, under hypo-
thetical cases, twice as fast as the
authors could adduce reasons for ac-
cepting the utterances. That is more
or less the trade of lawyers. Given
a body of men who want to raise
hypothetical objections, the first par
araph Of the Declaration of indie
pendence would have provoked so
many arguments that the document
would have been under debate to this
hour, and our half dollars would still
be adorned with the image Of King
George.
eff you take any possible cOnstitu-
oF T Of Ioti hn
last word that is ever going to be
said on the subject, as fixing now and
forever the terms of international
relations, and then set yourself to
conjuring up hypothetical cases under
which it might not work we'll, you
would never get League of Nations
And that-do not forget-is exactly
what some of the senatorial DIRECTORS
want: no League of Nations, but sub,
stantially the old international sys'
tenn, which gave the great war its
ample opportunity.
1.-THE draft of the leagues constitu
ton affords a working basis to begin
with. AS soon as the breath of life
is breathed into it, like all living
things it will begin to change, There
will be notifications and amend
ments as experience shows the need
of them"