The Monticellonian., 1919-06-13
HOW HE SENATE
 WILL HANDLE PACT
PRESIDENT WILSON PROBABLY WILL DELIVER THE TREATY
 TO IT IN PERSON.
LODGES COMMITTEE GETS IT
There the Document Win Be Subjected to Careful Study and Oebate-New Peace Conference May Be Found Necessary.
By EDWARD B clARk

By EDWARD 8. CLARK.
 AaSilngton.--It is believed te he the Intention of President Wilson 10 stick to the precedent which he established ana t0 deliver in person the treaty of peace and the covenant If the league or nations to the United States sen ate, and to accompany the presenta- ton with speech of elucldation and ndorsement.
 Aifeudy summary of the covenant or the league of nations and the peace terms have been given to the American people, put the paets as they have been written in eXtenso probably will be made public only when the president appears before the senate
 he means of making and of secur- Ing ratification Of peace treaties and international pacts of all kinds is of particular interest todny In fact, 1t IS of greater interest, 50 some of the senators seem to think, than anything m connection with foreign affairs has been since President Monroe put forth the doctrine which has become his toric
 As soon as the president has ex- plained from his point of view all the sections of the treaty and of the cove nant which really has been made a part of the treaty, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Republican chairman of the committee on foreign relations. VIII make a motion to have the treaty referred to the committee over which he presides. This motion will.be agreed to unanimously because such is the regular procedure.
 Lodges Committee to Pass on 1t.
 In the committee there will be hours of study and debate given to the sub ject in hand. It is expected that in n large measure the committee proceed ings will take on the semblance of a court Experts on international af- fairs and on constitutional law will he summoned to bear testimony. II k even possible that the president of the United States may he called into con ference t6 give further explanation of some parts of the document in contro- VerSY. The sessions of the foreign re- lationS committee will be executive, and not until report k made to the senate will the public have full knowl- edge of what iS going on.
 There has been much discussion as 10 whether CT not the senate has the power to amend the treaty There is also question as to whether or not the senate has the power to separate The treaty from the covenant of the league of nations and to consider the two things separately.
 When the report f the committee is laid before the senate the first tests will come which will tend to show what the final fate of the document is to be. Party lines will be ignored. be- cause there are Democratic as we'll as Republican opponents of the treaty and covenant as they stand. It may be that the majority report of the foreign relations committee will contain amendments to the treaty. If the mi nority report contains no amendments, but accepts the documents as they are. the senate could sanction the treaty and the covenant by the acceptance of the minority report.
 It takes q two-thirds majority of the United States senate to ratify treaty. but so far as the proceedings on the floor are concerned ma jority Is suffi- cient to amend It is for this reason that amendments will be fought for nd nfput met against the treaty itself.
 "As Soon as Possible"
 There is in the Constitution of the United States specification that all peace treaties must be ratified "as soon as possible" Just how long "as soon as possible will mean in the present case it is hard to forecast. Ger tain it is that 1t will take a consid- erable time for the senate to get through with the business in hand. It must be remembered that the treaty is q long one S0,00o words in length, in fact. The limitations of human en- duranee and mental aeumen therefore. will prevent a quick consideration and adoption or rejection of the document.
 An authority has said this concern ing possible senate procedure:
 If the senate should determine to amend the treaty and if, also, other nations parties to the treaty should fail to concur, the result would be no treaty at all and Il new peace confer ence would have to be called In case no amendments are made, the treaty finally will come up for ratification in the form in which it is presented"
 Senators Themselves in Doubt.
 The fog which enveIoped two United States aviators on their approach to The coast of the Azores was no thicker than that which enveIops the United States senate to cover up the details of prospective action concerning the treaty of peace and covenant of the league of nations.
 Literally thousands of sheets have been covered with writings concerning the intentions of the senate in these two high matters, and yet confessed ly today on the part of many senators nothing has been written right, unless Derchance developments should show