Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-30
A NEW MYSTERY OF PARIS
FOR THE SENATE TO SOLVE
The Presidents AnsIo-French Treaty
Should Be Rejected First and
Inquired Into Afterwsrd

TT is the plain duty of the Senate tc
reject Mr.. Wilson's Anglo-French
treaty. in letter and in principle, wholly
and without delay. If there is upon the
majority side in Washington anything of
the patriotism and courage suggested, in
earlier demonstrations by Mr.. Lodge and
his group the scheme will be dismissed
with little ceremony.
Meanwhile the President needs to eX-
| plain not only the exact origin and pur-
poses Of the incredible document-a thing
which he failed utterly to do yesterday.
| He has even a greater need to explain
the mental processes that led him to ac-
! ccpt principle so violently opposed to
all the assurances which united the coun-
try in support of his earlier policy.
Unless Mr.. Wilson is moving in a
mythical world of his own creation, unless
| he continues to disregard the advice of
| his associates at Washington, he must
| know that the country is being swiftly
| disillusioned. 1t is anxious and it is criti-
| cal minded.
There was and is great idealism in
An erica, great hopes, measureless pa
| the President or to any one who will be
| a voice speaking the sane and clean de-
sires of all mankind. But it must be an
odd experience for those who followed
along trustngly with Mr.. Wilson to find
themselves now cropping in an atmosphere
of whispers and mystery, evasions and
compromises.
What happened in Paris? Who worked
the magic that brought about revolution
in Mr.. Wilson's spirit? "a new day has
dawned," said the President in his letter
to the Senate yesterday. "Old antago-
nisms are forgotten!" These phrases
seem thin and almost ironical IL the light
of the document urged, in the same
breath, to the favoring attention of the
Senate.
A new day has dawned indeed But it
reveals astonishing things at Washing
ton. The old antagonisms are forgotten!
By whom? The very text of the treaty
shows that the old antagonisms are to be
| perpetuated and hardened and that new
ones are to rise with them and keep them
company.
Unless Mr.. Wilson is practicing sort
| of strategy too subtle for everyday
| minds his convictions-the convictions
! that nations were willing to give their
| lives for-ddn't survive the Paris confer
ence.
The President at first grounded all his
policies upon moral principles. As he
| compromised and became expedent he
| lost strength. And he lost strength not
| only among those who believed in him but
among those who didn't. 1t is this that
may explain the treaty which we are
asked to make with France and England
in violation of the fundamental principles
| of the earlier Wilson doctrine.
There is one way in which the Senate
may instantly reveal the folly and danger
of that proposed agreement. The Senate
| should demand that the treaty be rewrit-
ten and that new clauses be incorporated
| in it to bind France and England to
attack any nation which may be guilty of
! unprovoked aggression against the
| United States, say, in the Pacific.
By this simple method the whole form
and purpose of the treaty will be revealed.
| The issue will be freed from the fogs of
half truths and implications that now
! surround it. We shall be in a way to
| formal participation in a new three
power alliance. We shall be able to un-
derstand the extent of the obligations
which we are asked to assume. 1t would
not longer be necessary to disguise the
hard and ugly truth in drapery of SEN
timental' phrases.
There is little doubt that France and
England would accept this arrangement
| cheerfully enough. A working alliance
with the United States is more than any
ambitious government in Europe ever
dared to hope for in the past If the
treaty were carried to its logical form we
could delude ourselves no longer with a
belief in the league of nations. We should
have to admit that the league of nations
was an agreeable sham.
| AS it is, the American people are in
danger of losing both ways. They are
asked to accept all of the disadvantages
of an armed alliance without any of the
usual guarantees.
Mr.. Wilson implies broadly that France
| wishes and needs the protection of a
treaty such as he has proposed 1t might
be permissible to inquire of whom the
President is thinking when he speaks of
France. Is he thinking. of the plain peo-
ple of France who endured the matchless
agonies of the war, who made the sacri-
fees, who desire only peace? Or does
he, like so many others, think only of M
Clemenceau and those who share the
Tigers theories, when France is men.
toned?
| There is nothing anywhere to indicate
that the French people wish to see a
revival Of the old diplomacy On a new
and grand scale. Our alliance would moi