Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1919-06-13
FACTS WANTED AS TO
THE TREATY LEAK

me lAEhl LHAn
In the course Of q violent debat'
conserving the alleged "leak" through
which the Peace Treaty has come init
the possession Of certain special In
terests" in New York, Senator Lodge
described the treaty-text he had seer
rs follows: :
"That copy had an opportunity Z
examine, at least one article in it. Thu
text of the treaty covers 2OS foli'
pages. The whole treaty, French ant
English, covers AIS pages. The only
part that ! acquired any sort Of famil
iarity with was an article at the enc
which seemed to be a sort Of adden
dunn to the body Of the treaty will
Germany because it had nothing to d.
with the peace with Germany. Thii
established at great LENGTH think i
as long as the League Of Nations ar
ticle-a great and permanent organi
cation for the Decentralization o.
labor, q very interesting article"
Senator Lodge said further that I'll
would be q gross breach Of faith OF
my part to state the names Of the two
gentlemen, who are friends of mine
who told me they had copies" The
Senator also make the statement thai
he had been offered a copy of the
treaty to take back to Washington
with him but that he had refused il
because he felt that he could not have
q copy in his possession while Other
senators were denied it. He further
said that the gentlemen who had
showed him the treaty had no con.
nection whatever with the special in
terests" mentioned by Senator Borah
Now all this indicates a curiously
tangled situation. 1t is difficult to
see why the Senator from Mas
sachusettes and the Senator from
Idaho made such conflicting state
ments on what is presumably the same
body Of information. Senator Borah
spoke clearly of special interests" in
New York which had been furnished
copies of the treaty; Senator Lodge
makes q disclaimer of limiting any
such thing, he will not go beyond the
mere statement that there are copies
in New York.
What the country wants to know is
the facts. It is unquestibnably true
that, in some manner which is not
easily explainable q number Of copies
Of the proposed treaty have gotten in
to the hands of private individuals in
various parts Of the world, and par
ticularly in neutral countries. This
indicates bad management somewhere,
and IL smaclHs of unfairness to the
people Of this country, and particular.
" the United States Senate in view of
its Constitutional treaty-making pow
ers; however it does not, Of itself,
show that there has been negligence
or improper conduct Of any kind on
the part of our official representatives
either here or abroad, and any charges
or insinuations to that effect in the
absence Of some real evidence may
wen be regarded as political clap trap
or as the irresponsible utterances Of
unduly excited minds in the heat Of
The suggestion that neither
the President or any one officially as
ISOLATED with him could have been
guilty of giving out the copies said to
be now in New York is utterly un-
of serious consideration. No
sane person so completely in the pub
lie eye as they are would, even if he
had no conscience whatever, do
thing 50 paIpably suicidal; consequent
", this phase of the matter may as
wen be dismissed from mind at once.
However, since statements have been
made that copies Of the treaty draft
are in the hands Of unauthorized per-
sons in this country, the facts as to
how they were obtained should be es-
tablished in justice to all concerned.
There are obviously many ways, other
than the absurd one which has been
suggested, in which these copies may
have been obtained. The people of
The country have q right and viii in
Sist upon knowing the facts.
rHK STATUS OF