Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-11-18
ACCORD OR DISGRACE, OPTIONS
IN FINAL TREATY CRISIS
Only Narrow Partisan Pride Can Refuse
TO Accept Basis Of Compromise'in
the Present Reservations

WY NuIlS" t-i'ON va" 'S'sSS
to Accept Basis Of Compromise'In
the Present Reservations
TNHE threats of both sides in the acute
and final stage of the treaty contro-
versy reflect very imperfectly the gen.
eral sentiment Of the nation.
According TO Gilbert NJ Hitchcock, the
President is in u mood TO pocket the docu-
ment and let the civilization he sought
to save go rceling toward chaos unless
the taint of reservations is etfaced.
There is suggestion more of pique
than of zeal for humanity in this atti
tude. Furthermore, Mr.. Wilson has made
no official statement under his own sig
nature. 1t is conceivable that skillfuf
politician as he is, he is playing u spec
tacular card in order to oxtolt conces-
sions from his opponents.
In the game of partisanship, moves Of
this sort are common. 1t is traditional
strategy to demand more than will posi-
bly, be granted IN order to gain Il few
points hitherto unyielded.
Mr.. Lodge, too, bristles with threats
and sensationally makes ready TO pro-
claim immunity from responsibility
should the Democrats win sufficient sup
port to defeat the treaty if weighted with
its annex of reservations. But should the
pact be rejected in that way the senator
from Massachusetts will be no more COM
Portable than the President, with his
pockcLing process.
II is pcrvasivc fact that the public
as a whole favors the passage of the
treaty and will be i'll disposed to any
statesman Oh whom the onus of having
nullified it may be found to rest
Prejudiced partisan Democracy, preju
diced partisan Rcpublicansm have ag-
gravated u crisis which is excessively
irritating. The country is weary of the
technical bluffng and the academic "vic-
tories" and defeats" which have marked
the agonizingly long era Of treaty
wrangling.
There is, Of course, way out, and
eventually it will have TO be employed.
The pestiferous Reed and the Cyclonic
Borah loom large when it comes to SEN
sationalism, but the realities arc per
sistently too much for them. They and
their small group of out-and-o out treaty
smashers cannot alone ellectualfy block
the road to compromise.
In fact, the very hysteria of their
efforts has cleared the air by making
plain what reservations were really cor
rosive and what are merely trite state
ments of facts dressed up i'll language
soothing TO partisanship.
The Reed proviso defeated in the SEN
ate yesterday by vote of Sc to 36 was
a deliberate repudiation of the principle
of arbitration, which is the essence of
the league of nations. In this reserva-
ton the United States reserved to itself
Exclusively the right to decide what
questions affect its honor or its vital in
terests and declares that such questions
are not under this treaty to be submitted
either to arbitration or TO the considera-
tion of the council or of the assembly OF
the league of nations, or any agency
thereof, or to the decision or recon-
mendation of any other power"
Mr.. Taft was quite correct in fatty.
condemnlng so pernicious qualification
to entry into an arbitration compact, and
the League to Enforce Peace was equally
justified in urging rejection of the treaty
if presented i'll such contaminated FORM
But Reed, though he may call bogies
from the Vastly deep, cannot persuade
them to remain. The Senate's sensible
scrapplng of the most damaging of all
the reservations occurred shortly after
the defeat of the foolish qualification
which debarred US from participating in
the disposal of the German colonies.
Tbarn -Irc 1orI tbirtaa,,
sutllily worded, but on analysis far from
subversivc Of the purposes Of the league.
Nearly all Of them are sops to senatorial
sensitiveness; and, despite their flourish
ing preambles, they say little more than
that Congress will perform its constitu-
tional functions, no matter what the conf
plexion of the new civilization may be.
A sense of humor is helpful in inter
preting reservation No. 8, which safe
guards the Monroe Doctrine to the .ex-
tent of asserting that il is wholly un-
affected by any provision contained in
the said treaty of peace with Germany"
AS Article II of the covenant excerpts
the doctrine from the jurisdiction of the
league, the reservation assumes the atti-
tude of disdaining in one breath the very
concession that is actually granted.
Unquestionably this is all wretched
manners. 1t is bad start to begin
course in international amity with a
scowl. But our sister nations can dis
pense with an exhibit of some of the
social graces providing the essence of
agreement can be discerned. In twelve
of the thirteen reservations this accord,
sullen though it be, exists.
The language concerning the acquisi-
tion of Shantung by Japan plainly re-
fleets the displeasure Of the United
States at the most unsavory act of the
Paris conference. But if there is not
concord in the seventh reservation there
is little that presages defiance. The
United States simply withholds its assent
to the cession and reserves "liberty of
action" regarding any controversy over
+ba suhiect betWeen China and Janau