The sun., 1919-06-22
WILSON DEFENDS
LABOR COVENANT
Cables Gompers That British
Colonies Voting Power
VIII Be Helpful.
CHANGES ARE NOT VITAL
They Bring Convention Into
Harmony With League
Plan, He Says

ATLANTIC Crrx. n. J., June f1@The
fact that British colonies have voting
power in the League Of Nations the Gem
eral Labor Confersncs will prove q
source Of strength to the United States,
instead of an embarrassment" acord-
Ing to cable message from President
Wilson explaining recent charges In the
LABOR covenant, read At the American
I Federation Of Labor convention here to-
day By Samuel Gompera. leader Of or
gant.ed labor.
In the message received by Mr. Com
pers late to-day Prssidsnt Wilson also
asserted that he believed changes in
the labor covenant we're mot substan-
tally important, inamuch a. every la
Dor convention adopted By the confer
ence must be submitted TO our own Gov
eminent for ratification" thus leaving
the choice Of aoceptancs or rejection
in our banda
After frst setting forth In detail
the changes, which are similar to those
already published and indorssd at PCS
| terday's session OF ths convention, the
President then proceeded TO reply 10 q
point raised In . cable sent him by Mr.
0ompers. This petnt- according TO the
Prssidsnt's reply, now appears In the
treaty OF peace under Article toS.
what President say.. >s
7 am convinced" read the Presidents
message, that except for changes In
wording which do not affect tho sub
| stance and spirit OF those (before men,
| tioned) clauses they remain the same.
Second. likewise your protocol to
| Article 10 had been transferred TO tho
body Of treaty under Article <ob. The
resolutions adopted by the commission
do not appear in the treaty. inasmuch
as they were merely proposals OF sep
arate delegations and no part of the
report as unanimously adopted for incor-
poratton in the treaty.
Third, number of changes OF form
have been through the draft convention
to make It conform in phraseoloRy with
the covenant of the League of Nations
as redrafted by the League OF Nations
Commission For example, the words
the high contracting parties' now read
members and other similar unimportant
changes.
Fourth. on April II at tho plenary
conference. which adopted the report
OF the Labor Commission, Sir Robert
Bo;cea made the following remarks:
This convention II linked in many
the League Of Nations and think Il
desirable to make 1t perfectly plain that
the character OF its membership and the
method of adherence should be the Same
In the one case as in the other
He then offered the following reso-
luton, which was unanimously adopted
by the conference,
"-The conference authorizes the
drafting committee to make such
amendments as may be necessary to
have the convention conform TO the
covenant Of the League OF Nations in
the character Of its membership and IN
the method Of adherence
Tells Of the Changes
TN pursuance Of this resolution tho
following changes were made:
Article of your commission's report.
together with the first two clauses of
your Article IS. together with Article 80.
have been combined as Article 9s7 Of
the treaty TO rNad:
"a permanent organisation Is hereby
established for the promotion OF the OBJ
jects set forth In the preamble. The
original members of the League OF Ma
lions shall be the original members OF
this organization, and hereafter mem
bership Of the League Of Nations shall
carry with II membership IN the said
organization
AS you doubtless have IN mind, thu
| changes have the effect Of giving tho
British dominions and colonies separate
representation on the general conference
When you give your final judgment on
the importance OF these changes
earnestly urge you to entertain the fol-
| lowing considerations:
81. That Borden could not go back to
the Canadian people, who occupy a posi-
ito considerable importance IN tho
| industrial world. and tell them that they
| were not entitled TO repre- sen Ia ton on
the general labor conference at YER
sailles.
20. That the changes did, in fact.
bring tho labor convention into harmony
with the League Of Nations covenant
"Three-That the changes are not sub
| stantially important. inasmuch as every
labor convention adopted by the confer
tnce must be submitted to our Govern
| ment for ratification. Thus the choice OF
acceptance or rejection lies in our own
| lands irrespective OF the constitution OF
! the general conference.
| "Four-That the problems of the chief
British colonies and dominions are much
more like our own than like Great Bril-
tain's, so that their representation will
he source OF strength to our point
rather than an embarrassment.
| "Five-That In my opinion the changes
do not introduce any weakness or threat
of any particular weakness into the
| labor provisions
They still stand. thanks to your ef-
forts and guidance, as ono of the great
progressive achievements OF the Peace
Conference, something from which peo-
/ Piles the world over may take courage
and hope and confidence in a better
future
Il am sure that you will agree that
nothing could be more fatal to these
first aspirations than any failure to In
dorse these provisions. count upon
your support and sponsorship"
ouTcc ITpuoI nc ryrcurop