The Delta independent., 1920-06-11

misunderstood. No man who thinks
of America first need fear the an
swer.
Mr.. Wilson said in recent letter
to Senator Hitchcock: For my part
l am not willing to trust to- the coun-
sci of diplomats the working out of
any salvation of the world from the
things which it has suffered" Aud
he said this in behalf of an alliance
whose Representatives will all be dip
lomats and politicians. They Will all
act in behalf of the interests of their
respective countries and they will
have nothing judicial about them.
Strip the league of every clause
which involves the action of political
representatives in the assembly and
the council and you leave but one
article in which the diplomats of the
league as such will have no power
That is the famous Article x. Most
of the league covenant was prepared
by General SHUTS, of South Africa,
but Article X was the work of the
president of the United States. 1t
| is true this article is free from diplo-
mats. but it rests entirely upon naked
force. In that way peace is to be pre-
served and the nations freed from war
by multiplying the opportunities for
the use of force. Each individual ma
ton is bound by Article to go to
war for the protection of the territo-
rial integrity and the political inde-
pendence of every other nation in the
world at the time of signature; that is,
for the protection of states some OF
which are not yet determined or eS-
tablished, for the protection of boun-
daries which no man can define. We
were to give such guarantee and
any of the countries in the league in
the event of exterior aggression could
have demanded our armed assistance.
and our soldiers and sailors must then
have gone forth at the command of
foreign countries unless We shattered
all hope of world peace by breaking a
solemn moral obligation. The Republi-
cans of the senate. no mater what
their future fate might be. were de-
terrnined that the covenant containing
that article unmodified should never
be ratified 1t became every day
clearer to them that the alliance
called league of nations, instead of
being a guarantee for the worlds
peace. was breeder of war aod al
enemy of peace. As we studied r
and a majority of senators desired
to have some league IL possible which
should be a genuine league Of peace
we found that it dragged us not only
into every dispute and every war In
Europe and in the rest Of the world
but that our soldiers and sailors
might be forced to give their lives in
quarre1s not their own at the bidding
of foreign governments.
It also appeared that our domestic
questions. like immigration, could be
interferred with, that the interpreta-
tion OF the Monroe doctrine was to be
left to the decision of the league.
that we were to be made participants
in the outrageous disposition Of Shan
tung. which robbed a friendly nation
and gave the proceeds of the robbery
to her worst enemy, and that finally
we were to have in the assembly OF
the ohiy oht Wv, ~
Brftain's six. These provisions were
adopted which relieved us from every
obligation under Article x, which took
all our domestic questions completely
out of the Jurisdiction Of the league.
which once and for all placed the
Monroe doctrine beyond any interfer-
ence by Europe or any foreign power.
and which refused our assent to the
cruel wrong Of Shantung. We also
made It impossible to subject the
United States to the proposed inedual-
ity in voting power. for we profoundly
believed that the United States must
never take any part in any council OF
the nations where her vote was not
equal to that of any other power rep
resented. Some OF us were deeply
convinced that there ought to be no
league at all and that absolute safety
could be obtained in no other way:
others Of us. more numerous. believed
that the reservations I have described
would protect the United States
against the perils OF the covenant II
we Joined the league. We were all
firmly united in our determination
that the league as submitted by Mr.
Wilson must never pass. We were
also agreed that Mr.. Wilson's league
with what he called ''interpretative
reservations" or with anything those
obedient to him approved, was just as
bad. just as menacing as the original.
Twice we offered the president and
his most faithful supporters an oppor-
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