Evening star., 1919-11-08
Peace Treaty Decisions.

Peace Treaty Decisions.
The United States will not ratify
the peace treaty without effective
resetvations ON certain points. The
United States will so word these resef.
yations as not to amend the treaty
textually and automatically send 1t
back for reconsideration by all the
sisnatory nations. The reservations
are, however, conditions Of ratification.
and to make the treaty binding upon
the United States must be accepted
in an exchange of notes by three out
Of four of the great allied nations
of the entente.
In most Of the reservations. which
record dissents of the United States.
the necessary verbal remolding Of pro
posed amendments is easily accom-
plished. In a few cases where the
treaty provisions as framed are alb
horrent, IL taken literally, or under
any reasonable construction which
may be attributed to them, the task
is more difficult. For instance. the
Shantung provision of the treaty on
its face treats Japan's promise in re-
spect to Shantung as non existent. 1t
transfers the German rights In Shan.
tuns to Japan Internationally, and
makes no reference to Japan's promise
to return Shantuns to China, and that
promise is not Of public record any.
where. If any territorial rights were
among the German Shantang rights
they are on the face of the treaty to
be transferred in fee simple, as it
were, to Japan, and Japan will absorb
them and make them an integral part
of the nation, to be protected perhaps
by the league of nations against ex-
ternal aggression under article X Of
the league covenant. The United
States il Of the opinion that Shan
tung should 20 at once to China and
withholds approval From any other
treaty disposition Of this Chinese ter.
Titory.
Since Japan admits her sincere prom.
ise to restore Shantuns to China, and
since this vital promise u not made .
part of the treaty, the reservation Of
the United States on this point
amounts. in essence, only to . refusal
to construe ths treaty IN accepdanse
with its literal terms without the modi.
fcation effected by Jspan's binding
promise Of restoration; or. changing
the angle Of view, the reservation
means, in essence, that the United
States construes the treaty provision
concerning Shantung as If Japans
promise were written into it.
Japan could not reasonably dissent
from q reservation which assumes good
faith on her part in respect to the
shantung promise and refuses assent
to any treaty provision, or any con.
struction of treaty provision. which
ON its face ignores this promise - II
It were non existent or iAsineefe, or
negligible or worthless.
The difficulty in framing 6hantung
reservation which would offend nobody
would be largely removed II Japan
would make Of formal record with the
same binding force that attaches to
4 the treaty Of her promise to return the
Shantung German rights to China.
stating precisely what she promises to
do and when she promises to do 1t.
No distrust Of Japan's intention to
keep her promise is necessarily in
volved in the universal desire to know
e1astiy what Japan promises. and
japan can therefore with honor put
on record voluntarily the precise
terms Of the promise which the world
Is ready to believe she intends to full
fill.
WuCu Will tnc W ShAhd pC
madei Is her promise to be carried
out at once, or at an early fixed date.
or at some indefinite future date. to
be decided solely by Japan'
Will the return be made freely, with
the exaction of absolutely no new con-
sideration in concessions from Chinai
It Is assumed that the promise is not
merely to resell the Shantung rights
to China at a price to be fixed by
japan.
In any event it should be possible
TO frame Shantung reservation
which would be effective in its dissent
from the treaty provision, and which
Japan could not reasonably resent,
since Uncle Sans reservation would
value at 100 per cent the sincerity Of
Japan's promise to return Shantung
and would insist that the treaty shall
not be so worded or construed a. to
treat Japan's promise as non existent
or worthless.