Arizona republican., 1919-03-31
ROOT DECLARES FUR CHANCE IN
 LEAGUE PLANS

lOVluC lO1 v O, GO 1ACCH
 Monroe Doctrine - We
 Must Join, He Says, If
 Changes Are Made
 NEW YORK, March 3e.-Elihu Root tonight declared himself an advocate of the league of nations covenant made public by the peace conference, pro
 Vided it is amended, primarily by writing enforcement clauses into the articles calling for arbitration and lim- itation or ornaments, by restricting to five years the unanimous guaranty of
 the present political and territorial status of members and by protecting
 from non-A American interference the affairs Of the American continents. He made his approval contingent also upon amendments assuring peri odic revision of international law and a general re-drafting of the covenant
 in an atmosphere removed by several years from the issues attendant upon the settlement of a world war. ITO dispel doubt as to the right of i Withdrawal from the league he fav-
 ored specific reservation of this privi- i lege to any signatory, coincident with l or after the proposed redrafting con- 1 ference.
 l If these changes could be made, the i former secretary of state declared, it
 would be the duty of the United
 States to enter into the league agree i ment. in keeping with what he termed | the apparent general desire of the American republic that the countdy l do it's full share toward the estab- lishment of an effective international | organization to preserve the peace of l the world
 Points Out Need Changes
 Mir Root reviewed the league pro- 1 ject and proposed his amendments. l six in number, in a letter to William ! H. Hays, chairman of the republican 1 national committee which the latter gave out for publication. The, letter was in response to party leaders, who
 advised the former cabinet member and senator that citizens in the re- publican ranks. determined to do all that can possibly be done toward the
 maintenance of peace without sac
 rificing our own supreme nationaiism'
 and sacrificing the best judgment to
 aid them in reaching a conclusion, will
 appreciate a. study of the covenant by
 MT. Root.
 MT. Root proposed that the Monroe
 doctrine-the United States traditional T attitude toward purely American Ques- [ ions-be withdrawn from decisions or recommendations of other powers
 in a paragraph inserted in league con-
 stitution immediately before the sig nature of the American delegates Without such ar amendment. he continued, surrender of the Monroe Doctrine is inevitable under the terms
 Of the covenant.
 , The leagues provision for compul- [ sorry international conferences on pol itical questions in times of danger was 5 classed by the former secretary as "a , great step forward but the scheme was not carried far enough, he said. It should not merely suggest, but
 compel, arbitration, excluding only 2 those questions Of policy or politics. He added that the drafters of the 3 league plan, in leaving to disputants ? the privilege of submitting to arbitra- tion questions which they recognize ? as suitable for submission had set 3 the entire subject or arbitration back 9 where it was 25 years ago. : Make Disarmament Compulsory Along with compulsory arbitration, : Mir. Root urged adoption of the sug- !, gestlon of Leon Bourgeoise of the , French peace delegation that the league be given powers of inspection : and verification to make effective the proposed general agreement for re-
 duction of armaments to the lowest
 point consistent with the national
 safety of each member. Without
 weapon such as this, he claimed, the
 dis armament commission would be
 helpless against '.some nations whose
 public officers would regard it as duty to conceal and mislead,- and the
 whole effort to secure future peace
 would go for nothing"
 The former senator advocated defi-
 mite arrangements in the covenant for
 keeping international law up to date and for revision of the instrument it. self, by provision for conference oe , the signatory powers onthe former , subject within two to five years, and f on the latter question five to ten years hence One of the leagues weak I nesses, in its present draft, he de- 3 clared, was its failure to assure per-
 petuation of the progress of present l and past generations in the develop = ment and application of international Q law"
 Q In view of uncertainty as ito
 when or upon what terms the central t or eastern powers are to be admitted 0 to the league" he contended that the e initial obligations of the members = must not be regarded as irrevocable. h and favored its revision when the J world is less subject to exciting and
 disturbing causes and at the same
 time of revision, or thereafter upon
 a years notice, he said, any mem
 Der should have the right to withdraw e United States Can't Back Out Now s With Great Britain France, Italy and - Belgium. whose populations are less n than 130, 100000 "confronted with the q vigorous and warlike peoples of Ger V many, German Austria, Hungary, Bull Il garia, Russia and Turkey numbering
 2S0,000,000 and fast returning to bar Il barism and the 1awless violence of bar d barous races" Mir. Root asserted the d United States cannot quit. It must go n on with the performance of it's duty.' For this reason he advocated the re- . tention of article ten, guaranteeing the Il independence of all the league mem-
 bers, with the reservation that after
 five years any signatory may with
 draw from the obligation
 The former secretary regretted that the senate was not convened, immedi- ately after March 4, 'to perform it's ee duty of discussing the project pointing ie out that with the president and Secre- 10 tary Lansing members of the American I'd delegation there would be no execu-