The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-03-01
Knox Bitterly Assails
 League of Nations Plan
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LI1S pI SSSilL ple1It TUT u 10dStk0 Ol -NSlf- tlons were realized, be called upon to
 arbitrate the policy involved in the Monroe Doctrine, our conservation policy; our immigration policy. our right to expel aliens, our right to repel invasion and to maintain nii- tary and naval establishments; our right to make necessary Notifications
 of the Panama canal or on our from l tiers, and our right to discriminate between natives and foreigners in re- spect to right of property and citizen ship
 | Among other suggestions for +'-e constitution, he said it should provide that the countries of the two hemis- Ipheres be called upon to enforce de crees of the international court only i in their respective hemispheres. l "A league framed on these broad lines" he continued, would carry
 with it a minimum loss of our | sovereignty, would relieve us from participation in the broils of Europe;
 would preserve the Monroe Doctrine and would save America from the re- suits of European intrigue and aggres- sion"
 l Tn opening his address, Senator
 Knox said he wished it understood he | had not secured negative conclusions 1 in regard to the constitution of the
 proposed league through unfrend- illness or bias. He said he was against war even to the extent Of
 seeing the United States make the ut
 most sacrifices possible, but that he wanted to feel sure that when the of fering of the United States had been placed upon the altar and burned this country should have measurably and 1 lproportionateIy advanced the cause of i human liberty and happiness. Referring to the proposed consti- 1 tuition of the League of Nations, he first criticised it for 'looseness of ex- pression'' which he said characteriZ- i ed it throughout and then because i it appeared to set up two operating entities for it's enforcement, the high i contracting parties and the League l itself. In this connection he said the importance of this became apparent when 1t was observed that the high l contra cting parties did not comprise every member state in the League and l that, therefore, the burden assum- ed by the high contracting parties, whoever they may be, possibly the big five is crushing In it's weight" The senator complained especially 1 against leaving the Central Powers out of the League, saying the ineyit- able result would be ito drive them more ClOS6Iy lOSGlilei 1OI mutual SSlL- l protection, thus making the fOrma- | ton of a second League of Nations bidding for adherence from neutral states almost a certainty
 Thus. at no distant date,' he con tinued. I've should have two great Leagues of Nations and two great camps each preparing for a new and greater life and death struggle Even the term League Of Nations | Is a deceptive rnisnomer," he declar- | ed, flor under this proposed plan the l nations of the world are divided into 1 three classes:
 First, signatories of the Covenant; 1 these are not named, but it is as stunned they will include and possibly 1 be confined to the five Great Entents Powers-that Is to say. the British empire, France, Italy, Japan and the 1 United States.
 Second. states not signatory but 1 named in the protocol. No informa- l ton is given as to who these states l are, though surely they will include l such Entente Powers, If any, as are i not signatories as well as certain oth- ! CT states neutral in the conflict now 1 closing; and,
 Third, those states which are
 neither signatories nor protocol states 1 and which must, to be admitted to i the League, be prepared to give cer- 1 tain effective guarantees as to their | intention to be bound by their in ternationaI obligations. These latter l are outcast states and presumably 1 include the Central Powers and their Allies in the war.
 Thus a League of Nations in the sense of all the nations is not created | T1f the states
 members of tne league treated as
 equals.
 "The term league is a misnomer in l another. and really vital matter. For l a league connotes a confederation and 1 a confedera ton implies a right in the
 several parties to withdraw at their
 will. But, there is no right of se- cession within the four corners of this | covenant On the other hand, the association here provided for is | union in the full sense of that term
 as applied to our own political in 1 stitutfons, Once in this union we re- 1 main there no matter how oneroua
 it's gigantic burdens may become.
 ''No matter how great the distaste
 and revuIsion our people may have | for it, we must remain members un- | til either we persuade all the sta tes represented in the executive council l and three-fourtIls of these represent
 ed in the body of delegates to bid us depart in peace, or until the league
 crumbles of its own weight or is de- stroyed by it's enemies, or until we i fight our way out against the British
 empire, France. Italy, Japan and all
 the lesser states they are able to per- suade to join the league.''
 Senator Knox took up the six oper-
 ative bodies of the league and criti- | cised them one by one.
 As to the body of delegates his l chief criticism was that the consti-
 tuition contained no provisions for
 their appointment, removal, compen- | sation or tenure.
 He objected to the formation of the executive council because it | would be composed of only nine of 1 half a. hundred states and practically lwould Do given the power to declare