The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-08-20
President Goes Into All Details of Negotiations
 and Discusses Points
 Which Have Split Senate
Continued from Page One)

with other nations of similar judgment to maintain right in the world" When Senator Brandegee asked the Presidents opinion on the concrete case of the present trouble between Rumania and Hungary the President said he could not answer because that would involve passing judgment on a foreign political l question in a way he considered mad yisabe
 Senator Brandegee also called attention that many authorities on international law had differed as to the meanings of various provisions of the treaty and that Charles E. Hughes, William Howard Taft and Elihu Root had suggested reserva- tions, but the President insisted that he 1 thought it perfectly safe to leave the present language to the interpretation of 1 future statesmen without fear that the
 United States would suffer by their con- struction.
 When Senator Fall, republican, New ] Mexico, suggested that any amendments l to the league covenant would not require Germanys assent, as she was not mem 1 Der of the league, the President replied he never had thought of that feature.
 He disagreed with Senators Brandegee
 and Knox, republican, Pennsylvania, who
 asserted that the treaty would come into
 force among all the signatories as soon
 as three had ratified it.
 l For more than three hours the com-
 mittee members questioned the President,
 and afterward they stayed for lunch at | the White House. When the recess was | taken there had been no discussion ! whether the meeting was to be resumed during the afternoon, but later it was Te- cided not to do So There was no fntl- l nation tonight whether the committee
 would seek a further conference. To-
 morrow 1t will resume it's open hear
 ngs at the capitol.
 LIST OF QUESTIONS l Senator Fall left with MT. Wilson a list of questions which the latter said
 he would reply to at length later. They 1 concern the powers of the President or | Congress to declare a, state of peace, de- tails of the resumption of trade and diplomatic relations with Germany, what disposition is to be made of the German colonies, and the need for American rep | resentations on various European recon 1 struction commissions.
 l The Presidents declaration of com polling moral obligation under the league
 was emphasized iii a statement issued | jointly tonight by Senator Borah, Idaho,
 and Johnson, California republican mem ! bers of the committee and two of the
 bitterest opponents to the treaty in it's present form. They declared the days | testimony had borne out their claim that 1 the league would lead to interminable
 foreign complications. They also pointed
 out that Senator Johnson had developed
 in the days meeting that good part | of the territorial settlement resulting
 from the war was yet to be determined. The arrangements for publishing a | transcript of the discussion, which grew
 out of a suggestion from the committee that Senators be not required to keep i the proceedings in confidence had Mir Wilson's personal supervision. After the committee had departed he went to the 1 White House basement where the news J paper correspondents were waiting for the I last of the stenographic report, and asked | if everything there was going smoothly "I came down." he said to the corre- i spondents, ''to inquire of you gentlemen 1 if the report of the conference was han
 dled the way you wanted.''
 MUCHS ERIOUS OPPOSITION The President, in his statement at the opening of the conference, said | he believed only the meaning of cer-
 tain parts of the league covenant
 stood in the way of ratification of the l treaty. Later Senator Brandegee told him he had been wrongly informed on that subject. as there was much | serious opposition in the Senate to the
 Shantung provisions and to other fea- tures.
 When the question of moral obliga- ton was raised. Senator Harding sug- gested that the covenant provisions might amount to "surrendering the suggestion of a moral obligation fol this republic to the prejudice and ne-
 cessities of the nations of the old world"
 "I do not understand that we dc
 surrender" replied the President.
 Would you not understand a decree
 by the council to be suggestion ot this moral obligationT
 Certainly I would, but we would have to concur in that before 1t had any force of any kind"
 Then what permanent value is there
 to this compactT
 The greatest permanent value is
 the point that have raised. We are