Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1919-08-29
NO PEACE OF DISHMoR,

Four of the twenty questions rela-
tive to the treaty Of peace which
Senator Fall submitted to President
Wilson, after the conference with
the Senate Committee at the White
House on Aug. 10Th, are SO remark
able that they deserve reproduce
ton as an index to the mental OPP
erations of an opposition Senator:
l. In your judgment have you not
the power and authority by proc
aamation to declare in appropriate
words that peace exists and thus re-
store the status of peace between
the governments and the peoples OF
this country and those with whom
we declared war?
2. Could not in any event the
power which declared war-that is,
Congress, joined by the President,
as you affixed your approval of the
declaration of war-by a resolution
or act of Congress, declare peace, as
Germany did not declare war upon
us?
3. Is not the pending treaty, aside
from the League covenant, merely
a set of agreed rules and regulations
to be observed after peace is estab-
lished, and is not the state of war
terminated merely by the filing of the
nrSt prOceS-VerOal!
4. The state of war being thus
terminated by the filing OF the pro-
Ces-verbal, although we may not yet
have. ratified the treaty. Germany not
having declared war upon US, could
you not appoint or reappoint consul
lar officers and agents in Germany,
and by proclamation Of the status
OF peace authorize our citizens and
without further delay resume gov
ernmental relations with Germany?
And would we not then be off a war
basis as to business?
AS it appears, therefore, TO Scna-
tor Fall, the war with Germany was
not war at all, but merely tenn
porary misunderstanding. There
having been no war, the President
can issue proclamation declaring
that peace exists, or if the PreSi-
dent cannot issue such a proclama-
ton Congress can adopt resolu-
ton, or if the President cannot is
sue a proclamation and Congress
cannot adopt resolution, other
governments by ratifying the treaty
of peace can ratify it for the United
States too, and thus business can
resume as usual without any action
on the part of the United States
Senate.
President Wilson's answer to this
amazing proposal TO make peace by
running away is scalding:
! feel constrained to say in reply
TO your first question not only that
In my Judgment l have not the pow
or by proclamation to declare that
peace exists but that l could in no
Hpir CT % cnv,f t0ly
a course prior to the ratification of
treaty OF peace. I feel it due to
perfect frankness to say that it would
put, a stain upon our national honor
which we never could efface if. fater
sending our men to the battlefield
tonight the common cause, we should
abandon our associates in the settle
ment Of the terms of peace and dis
sociate ourselves from all RESPONSE
bility with regard to those terms.
] respectfully suggest that having
said this / have in effect answered
also your second, third, and fourth
questions SO far as l myself am con-
cerned.
Senator Falls theory That, the
war having been won, the United
States should now crawl under the
bed and hide lest it assume any re-
Sponsibility for what has happened
in The world is not confined to the
gentlemen from New Mexico. Other
Senator'S have shown an equal dis
regard for the honor and dignity
of the United States and willing
ness 10 make the United States the
most cowardly and contemplate
of all the nations rather than see il
discarge the moral obligations that
1T incurred when ii entered the
war.
There is a way TO make peace.
II is an honorable way and it is a
constitutional way. and il involves
nothing more than the perform
ance on the part of the United
States Senate of the duty that con-
fronts it. Failure TO perform that
duty is the only obstacle to peace.
Continued failure must inevitably
leave the United States a moral
bankrupt in the society of nations.
-NcW York WOrid.
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