The sun., 1919-06-07
"what Else Could the President
Have DOne?"

Have DOne?"
This question from a reader of THE
Sun is short, direct and to the point.
1t Is accordingly a question Of the
sort which we like to be asked, and
we reply in the same fashion:
ITO THE EDITOR OF THE SuN-Sir:
To put 1t mildly. you seem to disap-
prove OF almost everything President
WOODROW WILSON has done at the
Peace Conference.
"will you kindly allow me to ask
you one question: with the world
situation what It is and with Amer
lean interests in the peace Of the
future making 1t the paramount duty
of the republics chief to safeguard
those interests. what else could the
President have done7 L. H. B.
WORCESTER, Mass. June So
There are several other things
President WILSON could have done
for example:
/. He could have examined the Ian
guage of the oath which he took on
assuming the office to which the peo-
pie elected him and have ascertalned
that he then sClemnly swore that he
would faithfully execute that Office
and to the best of his ability preserve,
protect and defend the Constitution
Of the United States.
2 He could then have turned to the
Constitution he had sworn to pre-
serve, protect and defend and have
ascertained, by even the most casual
examination Of Its provisions and lin
itations, that 1t contained not a single
word warrantlng him In absenting
himself for six months from his post
OF duty in order to participate in the
settlement Of European political af-
fairs or to promote a self-conceived
scheme of internationalism engaging
this independent republic in functions
md responsibilities with which 1t has
no concern and which Its traditional
policy has emphatically disavowed.
3. Having thus learned what his
constitutional function was and where
II lay President WILSON could have
remained where duty to the Consti-
tuition and to the people held him, to
attend to the multitudinous domestic
affairs crowding upon the Government
of which he is part, In consequence
not only of its normal operations but
also Of the extraordinary situation
created by the war.
4. He could have nominated Peace
Commissioners to negotiate treaties
with the enemy Powers. He could
have sent their names to the Senate
for confirmation, thus constituting a
delegation truly representative of the
treaty making power of the United
States Government, instead of a dele
cation consisting of himself and his
personally commissioned staff of neg
llgibles. He could thus have given
to the proposed treaty the weight of
responsible signatures before 1t goes
to the Senate, instead Of signing the
ratification clause of that treaty, as
he is now reported to have done in
this really amazing style: Honorable
WOODROW WILSON, President of the
United States, Acting In His Own
Name and by His Own Proper Au-
thority."
And IL the George Washington had
in some mysterious way transported
President WILSON across the ocean
against his personal desire and bet
ter judgment and put him on the Job
in spite of himself he could never
theless have done several things he
has not done:
5. He could have remembered his
pledge, ostentatiously put at the very
front of his Fourteen Points or Prin-
ciples, to arrive openly at an open
covenant of peace and to conduct his
diplomacy always frankly and in the
public view.
@. He could have prevented the
scandal which has now resulted from
his unblushing and persistent resort
to secret diplomacy Of the sort he
had denounced. He could have
avoided the political consequences of a
selfish and arrogant determination to
Keep his constitutional partners in
the treaty making business In the
dark concerning the scope and con.
tents OF the compact he hns been no
gotiating In the name Of the people
pf the United States. He could have
spared the country the exhibition
which his Wild eyed and brazen
voiced representative in the Senate