Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-08-07
SENATE COMMITTEE
QUEST|C;",,";' ;,,;''' lnnvinu ',i'i 1''It'
Secretary of State Expresses
Opinion That Shantung Pro-
vision of Treaty Is Inconsist-
ent with Self-DeterminatiOn
GIVES PERSONAL VIEWS
On Many Questions He Declares He Did
Not Have Facts Sufficient to Answer
and He Requests Time to Prepare
Statements

Washington, Aug. 6--Secretary Lansing,
before the Senate foreign relations COM
mittee to-day expressed the opinion that
the Shantung provision of the peace
treaty did not square with President will
sons enunciated principle Of lself-deter-
mination, but maintained that the treaty
as n whole carried out substantially" the
Presidents fourteen points.
Declaring his unfamilarity with many
details Of the peace negotiations and of
the treaty itself the secretary told the
committee he was unable to answer many
of its questions and reminded senators in
answering others that he merely was
expressing his own personal views.
Ask the President" the secretary said
when pressed for details of the Shan
tung and League of Nations negotiations
On three of the points raised he asked
permission to refresh his memory and
make statement to the committee later.
and when he was asked for a detailed
construction of the labor and reparations
clauses, he protested that he could not
be expected to carry the minute of an
80, o,o00-word document in his mind and
reminded the committee 1t was much
easier to TASK questions prepared before
hand" than to answer them offhand.
GIVES PERSONAL VIEWS
AS his own personal view, Mr.. Lansing
said that Japan probably would have
signed the treaty without the Shantung
provision: that the United States would
ask no part of the German reparation
that the Kaiser could not be legally
tried; and that the mutual guarantee of
territorial integrity from external aggres-
sion as contained In article ten of the
league covenant, imposed a moral obliga-
ton, but not legal one.
! The secretary said it was true that the
fourteen points had not been discussed to
his knowledge in the preparatory stages
of the peace negotiations; that the Ameri-
can draft Of the, League of Nations never
was pressed" before the conference: that
the President had asked the peace con-
ference not to lay before the French Senate
| the records of discussions on the league
and that the United States did not know
of secret treaties between the allies and
Japan regarding Shantung when this
country BY the Lansing -Ishii agreement
recognized Japan's special interest" in
China.
/ 1t was not true, Secretary Lansing said
that he and other members of the Ameri-
can delegation. protested" against the
Shantung settlement; that Great Britain
|
dom of the seas by the peace conference
or that any of the American expert ad
visers had resigned because they dis
agreed with the decision regarding
Shantung.
COMMON SENSE" THE BASIS
The general basis on whicn the treaty
was framed was common sense and gen.
eral principles with an avoidance of policy
and eXDediency" Verbatim records OF
the discussions, he told the committee
had been left in Paris, adding that he
would not favor giving to the Senate the
less complete transcripts in the posses
sion of the state department because il
might cause Irritation" to other govern
ments.
Both the Shantung provision and the
league covenant, the witness said hat
been negotiated largely by the Pres
dent, who alone of the American delega
tions would be able 80 reveal details o.
the discussions.
The secretary was before the commit
tee during the whole of an all-day ses
sion, and. although senators APPARENT,
had finished their questioning of hin
| when adjournment was taken tonight
it was thought likely that other point!
| might be brought up when he appears
again next Monday.
Mr.. Lansing asked to be given unit
that time to prepare the statements II
| reply to questions asked to-day abou
the Lansing -Ishi agreement, the attitud,
of the United States towards Japan's 2
demands of China in 1915 and what par
this government took toward brint
China into the war.