Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-09-10
BITTER ATTACK MADE ON
WiLSUN I'm Lung kErUK1
(Uontinued on page three,

|
Shantung to China instead of Japan
and to halt American participation in
various commissions set up in the trea-
| ty.
League reservations on the right of
withdrawal, article 10, the Monroe doc
trine and domestic questions are nexs
taken up and the report concludes.
When we are once caught IN the
meshes of a treaty Of alliance or g.
league of nations, composed Of twenty
six other powers, our freedom of action
is gone. To preserve American indie
pendence and American svereignty and
thereby best serve the welfare of man
kind, the committee proposed these
amendments and reservations"
The report follows in part:
"The treaty of peaeo with Germany
was laid before the senate by the pres1-
dent ON July 10, 1919. Three days were
consumed in printing the treaty, which
was i'll two languages and filled 537
quarto pages. The treaty, therefore, was
not in the possession OF the committee
for action until July IA, 1919. The rc-
port upon the treaty Was ordered by
the committee on September 4. Deduct
ing Sundays and holidays, the Treaty
has been before the committe on foreign
relations for 45 days. The committee
met on 81 of these working days, sit
ting whenever possible, both Ii. the
morning and afternoon. The eight work
ing days upon which the committee did
not sit were lost, owing to unavoidable
delays in securing the presence Of wit
nesses summoned by the committee.
In view of the fact that six months
were consumed by the peace conference
IN making the treaty, III addition to
month of work by the various delega..
tions before the assembling of the con
ference, the period of six weeks con.
sumed by the committee in considering
1t does not seem excessive.
"These facts are mentioned because
there has been more or less clamor about
delay in the committee This demand
for speed in the consideration of the
most important subject which ever came
before the senate of the United States,
involving as il doea fundamental
changes in the character of the govern
ment and the future of our country for
an unlimited period, was largely the
work Of the administration and its
newspaper organs and was so far wholly
Artificial also was the de-
nand for haste disseminated by certain
great banking firms which had a direct
'eeuhiary interest in securing an early
opportunity to reap the harvest whlcn I,
'hey expected from the adjustment of
he financial obligations of the coun-
RES which had been engaged in the war.
lhe third element in the agitation for
taste was furnished by the outcry of
many excellent people who desired
'arly action and who for the most part {
lad never read the treaty or never got (
'eyond the words League of nations {
which they believed to DC the establish !
nent OF eternal peace. To yield help
essly to this clamor was impossible to
hose to whom was entrusted the Der
ormancc of solemn public duty
1.-The responsibility Of the senate in !
egard to this treaty is equal to that OF
he executive, who although aided by
force of thirteen hundred assistants,
xperts and otherwise, consumed six
months in making it and the senate and ;
is committee on foreign relations can
Iot dispose of this momentous docu-
nents with the light hearted indiffer- 3.
nee desired by those who were press
ng for hasty and thoughtless action
pom it. The committee was also ham :
ered by the impossiblity of securing
he full information to which they were I
ntitled from those who had conducted e
he negotiations The committee was )
ompelled to get such imperfect infor-
latlon as they secured from press re- I
orts by summoning before them some =
the accessible experts who had help
d to frame the complicated financial I
lauses and certain outside witnesses. :
IS an illustration in small way of the
ifficulties in securing information, it
lay be stated that no provision had
cen made to supply the senate with
he maps accompanying the treaty, and
was necessary to send to Paris for
lem. The only documents of the many g
sked for by the committee which were /
by the executive were the c
draft of the league of ma 4
ions, submitted to the commission on t
he league covenant and the composite '
raft made by experts of that commits
on. - Y