Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-04-29
WILSON
NEW COVENANT
TOCONFERENCE
Belgium, Brazil, Greece and
Spain Are to Go on
Council

| son, in his speech explaining the
revised covenant of the League of
Nations, said that Sir Eric Drum
mond, of Great Britain, had been
named as the first secretary general
of the league.
Regarding the composition of the
! executive council, the President said
that Belgium, Brazil, Greece and
/ Spain would be represented on the
council in addition to the five great
powers, until u permanent choice
| had been made.
Presentation of the amended
|. League of Nations covenant by
President Wilson marked the open
ing of the session. The President
then explained the various altera-
tions.
To Plan Organization
The President moved that the
| powers name representatives to form
a committee of nine to prepare
plans to organize the league and
establish the seat of the league.
Paul HymanS, chairman of the
| Belgian delegation, expressed regret
that Brussels had not been selected
as the seat of the league. However,
he did not offer an amendment
changing the seat of the league from
Geneva to the Belgian capital.
The President said it was not nee
essary TO emphasize the significance
of the great covenant and the hopes
entertained that n conference of the
free nations of the world would
maintain justice in their internation-
al relations and peace between the
nations.
Text of Speech
Following is the text of President
Wilson's speech before the plenary
session of the peace conference
Ito day:
"Mr. Presidents: When the text
of the covenant of the League of
Nations was last laid before you.
had the honor of reading the cove
nant in eXtenso. | will not detain you
to-day TO read the covenant as it has
now been altered, but will merely
take the liberty Of explaining to you
some of the alterations. that have
been made.
Tho report of the commission has
been circulated. You yourselves
have in hand the text of the cove
nant, and will no doubt have noticed
that most of the changes that have
been made are mere changes of
phraseology, not changes of sub
stance, and that, besides that, most
of the changes are intended to clar-
! ify the document, or, rather. to
make explicit what we all have
assumed was implicit in the docu-
ment as it was originally presented
to you. But I shall take the liberty
of calling your attention to the new
features such as they are. Some of
them are considerable, the rest
trivial.
Explains New Paragraphs
The first paragraph of Article |
] is new In view of the insertion OF
the covenant in the peace treaty
specific provision as to the sigma
tories of the treaty. who would be-
come members of the league. and
also as to neutral states to be in
vited to accede to the covenant,
were obviously necessary. The
paragraph also provides for the
method by which a neutral state
may accede to the covenant
"The third paragraph of Article /
is new. providing for the Withdrawal
of any member of the league on a
notice given of two years.
"The second paragraph of Article
is new, providing for n possible
increase in the council. should other
powers be added to the League OF
Nations whose present accession Is
not anticipated.
"The two last paragraphs of Ar.
ticle 4 are new, providing specifically
for one vote for each member ot
the league in the council. which wa,
understood before. and providing
also for one representative of eact
member of the league.
The first paragraph of Article
is new, expressly Incorporating the
! provision as to the unanimity OF
voting, which was at first taken fol-
granted.
Addition to Article
THE second paragraph of Article
6 has had added to it that a majori.
ty of the assembly must approve the
appointment of the secretarygeneral
The first paragraph of Article
names Geneva as the seat of the
league and is followed by a second
paragraph which gives the council
power to establish the seat of the
| league elsewhere, should it subse.
quently deem it necessary.
THE third paragraph of Article Z
is new, establishing equality of EN-.
ployment of men and women, thai
is to say, by the league.
THE second paragraph of Article
13 is new, inasmuCh as it under.
takes to give instances of disputes
which are generally suitable for sub.
mission to arbitration, instances ot
what have latterly been called
'justiciable' questions.
Another New Paragraph
"The eighth paragraph of Article
is is new. This is the amendm ent
regarding domestic jurisdiction, thai
where the council finds that a ques
ton arising out of an international
dispute affects matters which are
clearly under the domestic jurisdic.
ton of one or other of the parties
it is to report to that effect anG
make no recommendation.
1.-The last paragraph of Article
16 is now, providing for an eXpul-
sion from the league in certain eX-
traordinary circumstances.
Article 21 is new.
"The second paragraph of Article
% inserts the words with regard tc
mandatories, and who are willing tc
accept it, thus explicitly introduc-
ing the principle that a mandate
cannot beforced upon nation un-
willing to accept it.
article 2 is n combination OF
several former articles and also
contains the following: A clause pro-
viding for the just treatment of
aborigines; a clause looking toward
| a prevention of the white slave traf-
clause looking toward progress in
1 I