The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-08-13

differ from those who have tried to l establish a monopoly of idealism. Our first ideal is our country We would have our country strong to resist a peril from the west. as she has flung i back the German menace from the east. We would not have our politics distracted and embittered by the dis sensions of other lands
 ISOLATION IMPOSSIBLE
 "so far as the question of isolation goes, it is impossible to isolate the United States. We may set aside all this empty talk about isolation. No l body expects to isolate the United States or to make it a hermit nation, which Is sheer absurdity. But there | is wide difference between taking 1 a suitable part and bearing a due re- l sponsibility In world affairs and plunging the United States into every controversy and conflict on the face | of the globe"
 Likening the league to the ll-famed 1 holy alliance. MT. Lodge quoted the covenant provision, giving the assem- | bly, authority to Ideal at its meetings with any matter affecting the peace of the world" and continued: There is no such sweeping or far reaching provision as that in the
 treaty of Paris. and yet able men de- l veloped from that treaty the holy al- | liance. which for s5 years was an un- mitigated curse to the world. Eng l land broke from the holy alliance be- cause English statesmen saw that it was intended to turn the alliance-ani l this league is an alliance-into means of repressing internal revolu. tiors or instructions.
 No revolutionary movement. no i'm ternal conflict of any magnitude can fall to affect the peace of the world ( Axat~ 4fn,- @t,, l world is a very broad statement which could be made to justify almost any interference on the part of the league with the internal affairs of other countries.
 "In article 10 the United States is bound on the appeal of any member of the league not only to respect, but to preserve its independence and its boundaries, and that pledge if we give it, must be fulfilled. There is to me no distinction whatever in a treaty between what some persons are pleased to call legal and moral obligations. A treaty rests and must rest, except where it is imposed under duress and securities and hostages are taken for it's fulfillment upon moral obligations The pathway of dishonor is always open. But whatever the United States agrees to, by that agreement she must abide.
 "If the United States or any other great country should refuse, no mat | ter how spacious the reasons, to full l fill both in letter and spirit every ob- l ligation in this covenant, the United i States would be dishonored and the | league would crumble into dust leav 1 ing behind 1t legacy of wars" ] Quoting a press report that Bedouins were attacking the Kingdom of Hedjaz, AioH was a member of the league whose in | tegrity the United States would guar antee to preserve from external aggres- I sion under the covenant
 Under article H." he said, If Cling 1 Hussein appeal to us for aid and pro 1 tection against external aggression af l fecting his independence and the boun- daries of his kingdom, we should be l bound to give that aid and protection and to send American soldiers to Arabia. I am unwilling to give that right to King Hussein, and this illus i trates the point which is to me the most objectionable in the league as 1t | tsands; the right of other powers to | call out American troops and Ameri can ships to go to any part of the world, an obligation we are bound to l fulfill under the terms of this treaty. | I know the answer weli-that of course l they could not be sent without action 1 by Congress. Congress would have no
 choice if acting in good faith.
 l Let me now briefly point out the
 insuperable difficulty which I find in
 article 15. It begins: If there should
 arise between members of the league any dispute likely to lead to rupture. 1 Any dispute covers every possible dis pute. It therefore covers a dispute over tariff duties and other immigra- 1 tion.
 1 "An immigration dispute or a dispute
 over tariff duties, met by the procedure set forth in article 15, comes before the assembly of delegates for deci- sion by what is practically majority vote of the entire assembly. That is something to which I do not find my
 self able to give my assent So far as | immigration is concerned, and also so 1 far as tariff duties, although less inn
 portant are concerned, I deny the ju-
 risdiction. There should be no possi- bility of other nations deciding who
 shall come into the United States, or
 under what conditions they shall en- l ter. The right to say who shall come
 into country Is one of the very high | est attributes of sovereignty. If na- | tion cannot say without appeal who l shall come within it's gates and become 1 part of it's citizenship it has ceased I to be sovereign nation. It has become a tributary and n subject nation, and l it makes no difference whether it is subject to league or to conqueror." l The senator said the British delegates | to the peace conference. in a statement regarding the Monroe doctrine. had as
 serted that should dispute arise as to /, the meaning of the doctrine. 'the league | is there to settle it."
 Tt has seemed to me-" he continued that the British delegation tfaveed a | little out of the precincts of the- peace
 conference when they undertook to ex-
 plain the Monroe doctrine and tell the United States what it was and what 1t
 was not proposed to do with it under
 the new article.
 1 "The Monroe doctrine va sthe coral lar yof Washington's neutrality policy
 and of his injunction against permanent alliances. It reiterates and reaffirms the i principle. We do not seek to meddle
 in the affairs of Europe and keep Europe
 out of Americas. It is as important
 to keep the United States out of European
 afafirs as to keep Europe out of the American continents.
 l PURELY AMERICAN POLICY i 'It was purely an American doctrine