The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-26
That Absolutely Compelling Moral
Obligation Again.


In discussing THE NEW YORK FER
AIDS remarks on the proposed reser-
walton submitted by Senator HITCH
COCK to Mr.. WILSON in January last
and turned down by the self-deterTin-
ing President as calculated to "chil!
our relationship with the natioLs
with which we expect to be associ-
ated In the great enterprise of main-
tanning the worlds peace" our neigh
Dor the Times, we fear, fails TO make
clear to It's own readers the distlnc-
ton between the proposed reservation
thus summary rejected and an
other. The reservation. or rather
Interpretive declaration is hat
which the unfortunate spokesman for
Executive autocracy had submitted
to the Senate about two months ear
Tier. 1t was the earlier project OF
truism and evasion which Mr.. VIII
son told Senator HITCHCOCK in Janu-
airy he could accept as II stood.
On the eve of the vote in the Sen
ate which killed the Wilson Covenant
and recorded the continued existence
Of the United States Constitution
Senator HITCHCOCK offered in for
lorn hope n set of five resolutions
Of merely 'interpretntive" character
That which concerned Article X. was
this:
That the advice mentioned in Ar
ticle X. of the Covenant OF the League
which the Council may give to the
member nations as TO the employment
Of their naval or military forces is
merely an advice which each memrer
IN free to accept or reject in accord
ance with the conscience and judg
ment of its then existing Govern
ment. and in the United States this
advice can only be accepted by The
action of Congress at the time in
being. Congress alone under the c W
stitution of the United States having
the authority to declare war.
Apart from It's cruGe perversion of
the meaning, in international law and
In the French of the treaty. of the
word "advice" as employed in Arti-
Gle X, the foregoing declaration is
utterly without practical force or real
bearing upon our national obligations
II the treaty had been ratified. Mr.
WILSON, from the point Of view OF
his personal pride of authorship. could
well have accepted u las it stood
without departing from his obstinate
insistence on the article In questior
as the heart of the Covenant. 1t sug
gested not the slightest modification
Of the absolutely compelling mora
obligation" under the general treaty
engagement upon Congress TO sent
troops to fight for foreign boundaries
In certain contingencies not neces
sarily of interest to Americans.
AS most people now understand
the academic recognition Of Con
gress's exclusive authority TO declare
or TO refuse TO declare war merely
in Mr.. WILSON'S view and in the view
OF his partisan supporters. shifts tn;
direct impact of the absolutely com
polling moral obligation, superior Il
any legal obligation, from direct Elk
ecutlve action TO the Congress itself
The obligation becomes not the les
compelling. The general treaty en-
gagement becomes not the less i'm
peratIve.
But the reservation which Mr.
ETrcHCocK enclosed IN letter TO Mr.
WILSON In January last. and which
Mr.. WILSON declined to accept becnus,
Il would chill relations with for, igr
Powers, was the product OF later ef
forts In the Senate to arrive by wa!
of bipartisan conference COMMITTEES
nj some compromise which might sui
all parties and permit peace to he con
cluded. This. and not the earle
Hitchcock proposal. was referred 4
by us in speaking of the subject OF
Saturday when we said
Last January. when Mr. HIrcH-
COCK was doing his level best to
prevent the slightest wound to ne
Presidents unappeasablc vanity Of
authorship. that unfortunate Senator
submitted TO the White House form
OF compromise resolution on Article
Y. declaring that the United states
assumed no obligation TO employ mill
tary or economic force to presei We
the territorial or political indepcn-
dence OF any other country, unless in
any particular case tie Congress. in
the exercise OF It's exclusive consti-
\. tutlonai power to declare war, shorld
nv act or Joint resolution so declare
n was Of this proposed compromise
ra.iin nnnifph In It's MnY. but by u