The Penn's Grove record., 1919-11-21
co-ardIy Desertion of Allies

AS to the precise effect OF uie
limited States Senate's reservations
mon the treaty Of peace and the
League of Nations, opinion IN EUROPE
is mixed, as is opinion here, u press
and public in enemy countries no ieSs
than in England, France and lValy
are in agreement in their lntefpTeLa-
ton of the spirit which has urged the
mutilation of the covenant.
When Senator Lodge announced MS
plan to rip the treaty or send 1t oack
90 the Peace Conference, Junker Ter
many hailed the project with sincere
enthusiasm. Various newspapers IN
that country spoke of the Senate pro-
pramme as rejecting a mighty change
of opinion on the part of America as
a great educational effort, as mdlcat-
ing the possibility of a separate peace,
as promising a revision of the treaty
and as fo~recasting the dawn OF a new
day. ~
Now that thirteen reservations, the
one relating to Shantung beng clear,
w an amendment, have been adopted
bv the Senate, the countries with
which we recently were associated IN
war are naturally shocked. From
them we have expressions of amaze
ment and despair, charges of ~falthless-
ness and abandonment; lntlmatlons
that we have turned upon our own
ideals, and gloomy predictions as 10
the fate of Europe and of the world
if the United States is to hold itself
aloof. assuming no responsibilities
and reckless alike of humanity and
civilization in conditions that are des-
perate if not appalling.
Applause from Berlin and reproach-
es from London, Paris and Rome are
what might have been expected, but
our attitude abroad is no more
wretched than it is at home. By the
performances Of the treaty-wreckers
we go far beyond proclaiming distrust
of former friends and an unwilling
ness to share with them the burdens
which partly by our leadership have
been forced upon them. We confess
lack of faith in ourselves. We who
never faltered in battle shrink meanly
from the consequences of the victory.
who staked our all upon a cause
notify the world today that we have
neither men nor money nor time nor
countenance for that aus except as
in a particular case we may be moved
to act.
In reactionary Germany there is
hope and in England, France and
Italy and many small nations not yet
sure of deliverance there is fear that
the United States has killed the
League of Nations. Has that been
the purpose of Senator Lodge and his
followers all along When the Re
publican leader of the Senate as ask
ed on Saturday if he thought the
treaty as interpreted and amended
be rejected, he answered in the
affirmative. "Then the treaty is
dead ?" was the rejoinder, to which
his reply was, "Undoubtedly."
If that be true, something besides
the treaty has persisted in the United
States, something more important
even than the treaty. We have lost
courage, confidence and resource; we
have made the Declaration of indie
pendence parochial instead of univer-
sal, and we have withdrawn selfshly
and afraid from complications that
never can be settled without our help.
To have fought a costly war to a VIC
torious end only to run away in and
from the problems of peace is not like
the United States, but, thanks to par
tyism and cowardice in the Senate,
that is the record as it stands.-New
York World.