The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1919-02-08
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PERMITS i)...jlFIT
Army Consumption MOI d lie
Prohibited.
r. Si'.ljI:0H HALF FI...ShED
( Opposition of Italy and Frrn>e Pre-
vent Approval OF 49,. -. :55a'nsr
Compulsory Service.

CCFIpUiSOTy SSfS'SS
par;s. Feb. Suhz.;T1. 9 y one
half IF the draft of The y1l- itulion
for the society Of nations his been
covered by the Chief conference conf
mission dealing With ti.is q r:'ton.
This is officially ;!nnoa..r :
In approving Il numht: - ;:','iti"h-
a. articles of the dat li,a 60. IL SSion
reached an accord IT * i ~. Oh
certain qres..cns Of the -. - st iIn-
i,ni'fancc concerning tEe passive func-
tiOnS Of the league.
While important deals OF HE So
ciety'S examination Sill remains to
,e agreed upon, the fact char more
han half Of the draft has been unani-
r1ously adopted. including an agree
ment upon the big general principles,
las raised expectations thar lie draft
will be ready for submission TO the
peace conference early next week.
Should this prove the case, it might
he possible to Obtain action upon 1t
before President Wilson'S departure
for the United States
lie nlClitt'SGS I'll ne toiitlil - VII nv
phas:ze. nevertheless. that the agree
ments reached 50 far are provisional
and in principle only.
The entire structure may yet have.
to be revised when it comes 20 agree
irg on details.
Eleven articles of the project for
the society of nations were discussed
and approved with small modifica-
t;Cns hv the commission. President
Wilson presided.
The only article not approved was
the paragraph concerning abolition o.
compulsory. military service unless rr-
CURED by reasons of national defense
under extraordinary circumstances
Signor Orlando, premier of LAZY. OPP
posed the para graph. saying if CON
scriptiOn once were abolished an at
tempt to revive it might lead to seri-
Gus trouble. even Il revolution.
Leon Bourgeois one of the French
members. joined in strongly opposing
the abolition of CONSUMPTION. He said
France. owing to her geographical po-
Sition. needs Il standing army and
could never consent to strip herself Of
her defenses. The paragraph was
then cancelled. 1t was decided to
leave to each country freedom to Sc
lect IA system of recruiting its forces
Up to the amount Of troops which will
b. fixed later by the society of ma
tons.
mother article which caused ami
~? ed discussion was that concern
ing The method OF apnlXing military
coercion to the countries refUS.n@ TO
comply with the Z '%:cn of the so
cie-y of nations or h.'e~ king its "lleS
Unofficial information s that prPsi-
dent Wilson'S proposal vas for an eN-
etutiye branch of FIVE members from
tha great powers and four members
from the small powers, making a
council of nine with a two-thirds vote
required for the adoption of meas
ures
Qualifications fer membership,
which also is being discussed, involves
the membership of neutral and enemy
powers as we'll as the great and small
powers The presence at the meet
in@ last night Of the nine representa-
tivcs Of the small powers with the ten
of the large powers was taken to
mean that the executive branch OF
the league as finally formed>will in
clude both the great and small ma
tons, instead Of leaving the eyecu-
tive direction exclusively in the hands
of the great powers.