Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-13
Sunday Here to Kick Devil
Out of Tri-Cities,' He Says
WILSON FEARS
THE REACTION
OTHER PLACES
Success of Treaty En-
emies Here May Have
Effect Elsewhere.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.


/ Enroute With President Wilson
10 Tacoma, Wash, Sept. 13.-Pres-
ident Wilson has come TO the eli
max of his speech-making tour. He
has stated with a tone bordering on
/ fnality that he shall deem it his
duty to reopen the peace confer
ence if the senate insists on quail
/ flying the terms of the peace treaty
with conditions or reservations.
He told his Idaho audience that
/ reservations put into the ratifying
resolution itself altered the treaty
to such an extent that the consent
of all the powers who signed the
pact at Paris. including Germany.
I would have to be secured before
I the conditions put into the dOcu-
ment by the United States senate
could be considered as a part of
the treaty itself.
/ Offers New Course.
The president put himself on
record as not Objecting to any res
! ervatiOns or interpretations which
! we're embodied in a separate resO-
! luton by congress and which he
said constituted a notice to all
/ powers of the way Americas vote
[ in the council of the League Of Ma
tions would be exercised hereafter.
( In view of the fact that without
| the vote of the United States no
{ Z Of los eA-es
council can be effective as a unani-
nous vote is required unless Amer
/ ica is party to the dispute, the pres
I ident believes a separate resolu-
/ ton could be adopted by congress
amounting to a permanent instruc-
/ tiOu TO America s delegate at the
/ peace conference This is a new
way of looking at the effectiveness
! of reservations that are not made a
part of the Tatifying resolution it
self. The president argues against
! reservations that alter the body OF
/ the treaty on the ground that the
/ substance of ali the suggested res
| ervatiOns except those that mean
( to reject the whole treaty are COW
/ cred in language of the pact.
SuAIUldi ICES htItSDHes
! Perhaps the speech at Helena,
! Mont, was the best summary Mr.
| Wilson has yet given of his rea-
sons for opposing reservations. In
effect, he says this:
First, it is unnecessary to say
that the United States shall be the
sole Judge of whether or not she
/ has fulfilled her international obli-
cations before Withdrawing from
I the league on two years notice be-
cause the covenant of the league
doesn't give the council of the
/ league or any other nation the
right to say when any nation has
! fulfilled it's obligations. 1t leaves
that to the conscience of each ma
ton and the opinion of the world.
Second, the congress of the Unit
ed States is just as free under ar
ticle 10 TO refuse to declare war as
it always has been. In any emer-
gency, he says, the most the Coun-
Gil can co is to advise what steps
shall be taken to make other ma
tiOns behave and no steps can be
taken without a unanimous agree
ment and Americas representative,
under strict instructions from the
American people, could not vote to
advise war unless the congress of
the United States had so resolved
In other words. Americas repre-
sentative could be prevented by
law of congress from voting to ad-
wise war until the will of congress
had been manifested by Joint reso-
luton or otherwise. If the United
States is A party TO the dispute
says Mr.. Wilson, it is no better off
than under the old system for. be-
ing excluded from voting in the
council, it can, after a nine months
period of discussion, decide to de
clare war or not to secure respect
for invaded rights. Already the
United States is bound by the Bry-
an treaties to wait II months in
disputes it may have with any of
80 principal nations of the globe.
Specifically Exempted Now.
Third. as for the Monroe doc
trine, the president says the whole
world now recognizes the doctrine
and that the covenant specifically
says nothing in the treaty or league
shall be considered as invalidating
such regional understanding like
the Monroe doctrine" Inasmuch
as America alone knows what the
Monroe doctrine is. he thinks the
United States alone can interpret
it He thinks it is sufficiently Gov
cred in the treaty already.
Fourth, with respect to mention