The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-10-21

council. | go to the covenant an0sl
/ find that when / am disputing my
vote is barred.
i l also find in article fifteen that
! there are apparently three different
ways to get by without an unanimous
decision. The first is a clause reserv-
ing the right to do what they think
necessary in case the council fails to
reach a Unanimous decision. 1t also
says in article fifteen, in any case
under this article the dispute may be
taken to the assembly.
! Any case here might even mean
that We could take unanimous de-
cision to the assembly, and if the as
sembly does not concur with major.
ity vote, the decision would be knock
ed out. For if a unanimous decision
did not bind before 1t was taken into
| the assembly, how could it be binding
when it comes out?
/ This is place where England's
five extra votes would be of untold
value in case she was a disputant and
the decision was unanimously against
! her. BY her five sure votes she could
control the assembly or stand an aw-
fully good chance, much better at
: least than if she only had one vote.
/ The last paragraph of article fifteen
| is so worded that it may mean con-
current majority report of both bodies
/ is as binding as unanimous vote OF
the council
/ Right here, let me advise: Do not
take my word, nor any ones word:
go to the covenant and study article
fifteen.
Another thing / have read is this:
Mr.. Wilson assured England and our
foreign relations committee that the
Irish question was domestic and would
have to be left to England and Ire
land. But l read now that Mr.. Cox
promised the Irish that he will take
up the Irish question with the league.
under article eleven. Mr.. Wilson as
sures Mr.. Cox this can be done.
| You who have read Mr.. Wilson's
speeches will remember that article
eleven is the one he told the people
of Kansas City was his favorfte arti-
Gle, because it permitted us to mind
other peoples business.
! But would not this provision work
both ways and permit other countries
to drag our domestic affairs before
the league? The Japanese question,
for instance?
In Mr.. Cox's Springfield speech he
spoke favorably of the Hitchcock res
eryation equalizing our voting power
with that of England. / do not know
how this reservation reads, but two
questions suggest themselves to me.
They are: Would our extra five votes
be eligible to election on the the coun-
Gil? And how would our votes be
barred in case we were disputant-
one or al, six?
/ cannot get any comfort out of the
promise that under the league our
expense for armament viii be reduced
and that our boys will never have to
20 to fight, when the first thing Mr..
Wilson and his advisers recommended
to congress IN order to perform our
obligations to the league was an army
: of half million men, universal draft
! placing every boy in training as he De
came eighteen years OF age, the right
to call all men between the ages Of
, eighteen and forty-fiye, and feet sec
, iond to none.
Another thing / cannot under
. stand is this: The difference between
a moral and legal obligation that /
|. have seen mentioned in connection
) with article ten.
To me, an honest man or an honest
: natlOQ must lOOh UPON LuOi oil ehA
a legal obligation as one and the same
thing, and the only thing can see
J about article ten is that in case of a
: decision recommending war, arrived
E at by one of the ways provided in the
/ covenant, it forces our congress To
declare war or take refuge in the COW.
: ardly excuse that it is only a moran
! obligation.
To come back to Franklin Roose-
. elt's declaration that the assembly is
/ only on the order Of huge debating
q society, no real debater would insist
on the other fellow having six and
himself but one.
q Now. my study of the league has
t been largely confined to the covenant,
e Mr. Wilson's speeches, a great deal
: of newspaper reading and few other
d sources. / have eeen studying it
: every day since the Jackson day din
i ner and feel that have not learned
: the half But regret that l have
Y not been able to hear discussion,
e more so, since I've seen through your
columns that there are men in your
t town who are posted on the league
e from every angle.