Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1919-11-21
And Now What ?

And Now What?
In the action of the senate the peace treaty
IN Wednesday there was accomplished by the demo-
ratio members. though not in quite the way they IN
ended very thing they had threatened to do but
probably would not have done they had been left
% their own devices to the end-they killed the
lreaty
What they had threatened to do after the frst Oh
he radical reservations was adopted by the senate,
and it was evident that the mild reservationists had
,een brought with the radicals, this:
hat when the reservations had been adopted the
democrats would muster more than one-third vote
Of the and defeat resolution of ratification
At that time The Republican suggested that if
hey took that they would be likely to receive
abundant help from unexpected source, the ire
-oncilables including Senator Borah Senator john
son, Senator Moses and other republicans. We men
Toned those three names because in the beginning,
I'll three of these senators opposed to the ratf
alton of the treaty any terms and openly made
= Known their opposition. Mr.. Borah had declared
hat amendment the treaty. no reservation,
could make it acceptable to him. and once in the
heat of oratory he threatened leave his party
It accepted the treaty with mild reser-
gations.
Sometime later Mr.. Johnson offered the six-to-
amendment which do not think he ever ex-
pected would be adopted and which we believed
after hearing extended speech by him in support
Of that amendment, but attacking the whole treaty
and its negotiators he did really want adopted il
the treaty itself could be finally defeated
Though Senator Knox had definitely urged
the defeat of the treaty rather than its amendment
little doubt that from the he intended
to fulfill prediction made Paris by Secretary
Lansing William c. Bullitt that he (A1r. Knoxl,
would detect what concealed in the treaty and
would seek to destroy IT.
1t is difficult agine what would have hap
pened in any other circumstances than those which
preceded the death of the treaty. We do not know,
but we suspect that there understanding be-
tween the republican leaders who urged the adoption
Of treaty with the reservations, and the irrecon
clabies who voted with the democrats against it. We
believe that if the republicans could have depended
upon the ability of Senator Hitchcock carry his
threat defeat the treaty with it's reservations they
would not have overturned the ruling of the vice
president; that they would have adopted the
lion Of ratification with reservations, and have left
the democrats with a of more than one-third
Of the senate to administer the coup de grace
But they could not know what might happen.
such expressions as had come from the people in
.hree recent elections in which League Nations
vas the chief. if the only ISSUE had weakened
he administration following in the senate, that the
republicans may well have feared that the final
vote the democrats would be unable muster the
necessary one-third vote
The republicans were unwilling to take the
chances Of securing a solid democratic vote against
final ratification so they decided to assist many
democrats as enrolled against the resolution
which failed. They felt that more democratic
votes could be brought together against that than
against any other subsequent proposition. Thus the
the record is show that the peace treaty
brought to its death by the votes of 80 democrats
and 13 republicans.
These figures however, do not accurately gauge
the responsibility of the two parties for the defeat
Of the treaty The character of the responsibility will
depend upon the way the majority of the people view
;t upon whether majority wanted the treaty in its
original form; whether they wanted it with amend
ents or reservations whether they wanted it at all
not; whether the great of the people in
different the merits of the treaty and inter-
ested If at at all, only partisans
There have been few contests in the senate OF
the United States as complicated and shifting as
this has been. There never another in which the
contestants were so much in the dark to the senti
rnent of the people. The uncertainty of the sena-
tors in this respect was reflected in the Protear
h.nres that took place. In the beginning there wa.
, asSrnntjon on the part of the administration tina
the people were very much and favorably interested
in the treaty The opposition not sure; it prob
ably feared that the president really had the sup
port he claimed. The opposing senators were fight
ing for time; they felt that with time they woult
gain or awaken sentiment against the treaty. Blu
as late as last August they only hoped to proven
the ratification of it by minority vote of repub
licans Until late in September they were on the de
fensive but encouraged by the devlopmnts of tn
presidents tour they assumed the aggressive and 70
he last six weeks they have had charge of the sua
ion were able to manuever at their pleasure and t
arrange the very details of the treatys death.
And now what? That is all in the future. Thoug
the treaty as it has been considered is technically
e~s@s