Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-14
T HE CONVICTION of a large
number of editors that the

" lie CON lCIlON or q large
number of editors that the
Treaty and Covenant will
eventually be ratified with amend
ments" or reservations" or Inter
pretations" has been greatly
strengthened by the series of mes
sages from Republican leaders call
ing for ratification with reserva-
tions.' A month ago Mr.. Root came
forward with his reservations. EX-
President Taft who has been stump
ing the country for the League, and
who has been considered its strongest
champion except the President him
self, has asked League opponents
and supporters to get together by
agreeing to ratify with certain lin
terpretations." Mr.. Hughes follows
suit with his own list of reserva-
tions. Thus the Big Three" of the
Republican party outside of Con-
gress have Indicated path in which
it would be easy for Republican Sen
ators to walk. And Chairman Hays,
of the Republican National Com
mittee, with an eye to party unity
and party success in 1920, also ad-
cised Republican Senator's to accept
the Treaty with certain reservations
to Safeguard the sovereignty of the
United States in every particular.
Republican Senators have allowed
themselves to be quoted as favor
ing ratification with certain rcser-
vations, and Influential Republican
papers from one end of the coun-
try to the other echo this demand
until the Philadelphia North Amer
lean is willing to stake its journal
iStic reputation on the prophecy,
There Will Be Reservations" which
appears in an editorial headline. Re
publican Senators are said to have
told the President that the Repub-
licans have votes enough to force
reservations through, and a New
York Times correspondent reports
that the confidence of the reserva-
tionists is bolstered up by word
which Senator Lodge is said to have
had from England that both Great
Britain and France would agree to
the reservations proposed pertain
ing to Article Y, guaranteeing ter
rltorial integrity; the Monroe Doc
trine; purely domestic questions,
such as immigration, the tariff, and
racial equality; and Americas right
to withdraw from the League upon
two years notice, America to deter
mine for herself if her obligations
to the League have been fulfilled" :"
While some predict ratification
ing that even among fighters for un-
diluted ratification there are doubts
about their own success. A New
York World correspondent says that
President Wilson may ultimately
consent to make easy the way out
for the statesmen politicians and ac-
cept qualifications that do not
change the effect of the document.
So some reservations may be eX-
pected." Senator Hitchcock (Dem.,
Neb), who is leading the fight for
the Treaty on the floor of the Sen
ate, is quoted by the Philadelphia
Public Ledger as saying:
The President wants the Treaty
ratified without a single change. But
he also wants to get the Treaty
through. Whether he would agree
to having reservations made if he
could not secure it's ratification
otherwise l do not know"
Seldom, says the New York Til
bune, the leading organ of Repub-
lican opinion, has an idea made its
| way forward more steadily than the
| reservation doctrine. This, it holds,
! is because ''it seemed to offer the
| only workable plan by which the
good in the Covenant might be re-
| tanned and it's evil eliminated, and
at the same time took the Peace
| Treaty proper out of peril" AS the
! Tribune notes, "Mr. Root came out
in favor of it, and quickly the plan
more than any other became that
of the majority of the Senate; then
Mr.. Taft fell in line, and now Mr..
| Hughes adds the weight of his au-
| thority." This Republican paper
even hears that President Wilson is
| seriously thinking of agreeing to i.
as offering him an avenue of escape
| from an embarrassing predicd-
ment," and it believes that 'if all
party pressure were lifted and per-
| sonal feuds and animosities laid
aside, it is by no means impossible
that ratification with reservations
would go through by practically 4
unanimous vote" The Tribune adds:
"The idea that the other nations
would reject the whole Treaty if
we appended reservations was
| preached for a few days, but did
not have vitality enough to livo
| long. The other Powers so much
want our. signature to any sort of
| international agreement that they
will not cavil. Business can go for
! ward on the assumption that tho
others Powers will tac'tly or ex-
| pressly accept our reservations"
The Philadelphia North Ameri-
can (Rep.) thinks that the fear that
! reservations would throw the whole