Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1919-08-22
PRESIDENT THROWS
LIGHT ON TREATY
WILSON AND SENATORS DISGUISE
PACT PROVISIONS AT WHITE
HOUSE SESSION.
Minute Explanations of Disputed
Points in. League of Nations Cow
enant Are Brought Out, Presi-
dent Urging Early Action.

shingtOn.-President Wilson in
/ terpreting the league of nations COW
ehant for the senate foreign relations
committee, OH Tuesday, declared it i'm
posed no legal obligation for the use
OF American military force In protect
ing the territory or independence of
any other nation.
But he added that the covenant
might involve, in certain circum-
stances, an absolutely compelling
! moral Obligation" which might be
even stronger than legal promise.
Pressed for more exact definition
by committee members, who insisted
That the whole arrangement was u
rope of sand" he asserted that on the
contrary he considered it as placing
the nations in ''in attitude of comrade-
| ship and protection" which would COM
pei respect for the principles of JUS
tice and liberty.
Meeting the committee in round
table discussion In the east room of
the White House, in contradiction to
the precedents of more than CEN
| fury and with the whole nation listen
ing through the medium of relay
of public stenographers, the presi-
dent went into many of the details of
the peace negotiations and touched on
all the holly debated questions which
have divided the senate In its cOnsid-
GRAFTON of the peace treaty.
| Aticle Y of the covenant, guaran-
teeing the integrity of league MEM
bers against aggression, he declared,
would leave to each nation complete
| freedom of choice as to the applica-
| ton of force" Even if the American
! representatives on the council joined
| in Il unanimous Recommendation for
military action the final decision for
| peace or war must rest so far as con-
cerned the United States with con-
gress, he said.
Whatever advice the council gave
under its authority to take such action
as is deemed appropriate" must also
be deemed appropriate by the United
States to be binding on this govern
ment, he argued, though in the back
ground would be such potential moral
force that he doubted IL the nation
would often decline to act.
The president revealed that Japan's
promise to return Shantung province
to China was reduced to written form
in the minutes of the peace conference.
He asserted he had every confidence"
that the promise would be carried out,
and told the senators it was "the best
that could be got" out of the negoti-
atoms, Japan having given notice she
would withdraw from the conference
If her demands were refused.
The American delegates, he said, had
tried to keep the nation free from OBJ
legations in European affairs, $50 far
us it was honorably possible to do so. :
but he asserted that it might be neces
Sary to keep some American troops in
the Rhine district under the treaty
for the next fifteen years.
He declared the nation would be its
own sole judge whether its obligations
had been fulfilled under the disputed
withdrawal clause of the league cove
nant; that purely domestic questions
were safe from the leagues interior
ence; and that the Monroe doctrine
was clearly preserved.
The league, the president explained
was built on the plan of General SHUTS
of South Africa.
Mr.. Wilson revealed that he ha(
suggested the United States take NJ
part of the German reparations, bu
had asked that the conference reserv,
disposition of the German Pacific
island of zap on suggestion tina
1t was needed for an American nava
station.
Early action on the treaty was urges
in statement by the president ut tn
outset of the conference. This wa
necessary, he held, 20 that peac
basis might be reached, and the othe
treaties under negotiations now at Yer
sailles We're being delayed until tn
world learned what would happen t
the treaty with Germany. He said h
saw no reasonable. digestion to senat
reservations, but thought 1t unwise t
incorporate them in the ratification
itself.