Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1919-04-04

OUO pOuUuB VI '"hSH ~
at my domicile each Sunday, appears
to agree with that expressed in this
column regarding the Lodge-Lowell
"debateu at Boston. The general
alarm that has been sounded by sew
eral critics OF the President regarding
the obligations that will be imposed
upon the people of the United States
to intervene in petty wars of Europe,
Africa or Asia, has received its quietus
from Sir Robert Borden, the Canadian
Premier, and from Premier Hughes, of
the Australian Commonwealth, both
of whom have distinctly declined to
agree to any obligation compelling"
them Ito decide differences between
European nations wherein the British
Empire is not directly involved" This
statement is made by the Morning
Post, on the direct authority OF the
two Colonial Premiers, and may be
accepted as conforming absolutely to
the Wilsonian policy followed in the
.forty-odd months preceding the en-
ran of the United States into the
war. Not until the utmost patience of
every loyal American citizen had been
strained to the utmost was an appeal
made to Congress for a declaration OF
war.
This announcement by Borden and
Hughes, answering as it does a special
class of American fault-inders, is sure
to be cited by another brood of oppo-
nents as an evidence of weakness in
the proposed Constitution. The much
dissected Article XVI will take on new
interpretations under the Kanuk-An-
FAC reputation. All the oratory that
Senators Borah, Knox and Lodge have
expended upon that Article might
have been saved. The attitude of
Premier Borden is fully sustained by
Article XII.
To the non-SeDatorial understanding
the purpose Of President Wilson's
efforts, as we'll as Of all other sincere
members OF that Worlds Tribunal, is
to render future wars as nearly impos-
sible as human ingenuity a do so.
1t is folly to assume there will not be
any wars hereafter. Our President so
admitted, when quizzed at the White
House dinner that Borah was afraid to
attend for fear of compromising
himself.
In Article XII three absolute and
unqualified obligations are assumed,
namely: "Not to resort to war without
previously submitting disputes to ar
bitration or to the Executive Council.
Not to resort to wal until three months
after a decision from this Council
(which might be delayed ten years..
Not to resort to war at all against a
member of the League which complies
with such award or recommendation"
Punishment is prescribed in Article
XVI for any party to an international
controversy who balks or refuses to
observe conditions to which it has
pledged its honor.
The question of responsibility APP
pears to weigh very heavily upon the
conscience of the Senatorial assailants
of the present incomplete form of the
Leagues "Constituiion;" but respon-
sibilIty must rest somewhere. An
obligation is an obligation, whether
entered into by an individual or a
nation. A contract made between two
men at once comes under the guardian
ship of our civil courts. A mortgage
is a most highly respected document;
and yet, it is nothing more than a con-
tract between two parties, for a consid-
GRAFTON without which no contract is
binding), defeasible by a condition
precedent. That t'condition" is the
payment of interest and the right OF
foreclosure, in default of interest or
final satisfaction of the Indebtedness.
If we enter any International covenant,
there must be Reconsideration" named.
The proposition that the United
States become a party to a contract for
the common defense against war-mad
monarchs, or crazed Bolsheviki, neces-
sarily involves responsibility; but the
American people are not the only ones
to assume such burdens.
An unknown percentage OF risk
always attends the making Of the
simplest contract. We know that
Russia slaid down" upon her agree
ment with France and Great Britain.
Nations are liable to "welsh," as are
individuals! Italy actually failed to
keep her promise to the Triple Alli-
ance. She wasn't sure, for quite a
-L:Io n - . ~ tho nioo O1raa for hor FL