Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1920-09-24
political Adertising.)
REPUBLICAN COLUMN
CONTINUED From Page One. }
Mr.. Wilson's Defense

- sums 1A0Ii ~ WOuAO AOL UAuu Tic
United States legally, but only moral
". This Is Mr.. Wilson's favorite de-
tense.
1T Is an attitude of comradeship
and protection among the members Of
the league" he said to Senate Com
mittee, (which in It's very nature is
moral and not legal"
"A moral obligation" he explained
later, sis of course superior to leg
al obligation land if may say 80, has
a greater binding force; only there
always remains in the moral obliga-
ton the right to exercise ones 1udg-
ment as to whether 1t is indeed in
cumbent upon one in those circum-
stances to do that thing"
Senator Knox cited specific viola
ton Of Article 10 and asked the Presi-
dent:
Would we be under any legal obli-
cation to participated"
mo, sir" was the Presidents re-
oil fields Of Mesopotamia against Boil
shevist invasion.
ply, "but we would be under an abso-
lutely compelling moral obligation"
But no legal obligation" added
Senator Knox.
Not as / contemplate It," answer
ed the President.
Yet, after signing q defensive
treaty Of alliance with France, Mr..
Wilson cabled to his Secretary at the
White House that he was thus mere
" Fastening the action to which we
should be bound by the Covenant OF
the League of Nations"
MIR. Lodges Plain Words
This whole web Of silly sophistry
was torn aside by Senator Lodge in a
few honest words:
There is to me no distinction what
ever In treaty between what some
persons are pleased to call legal and
moral obligations. No douht
great power, impossible of coercion,
can cast aside moral obligation il it
sees fit and escape from the perfor-
nance of the duty which it promises.
The pathway of dishonor is always
open.
The broad fact remains that If any
member OF the League, suffering from
external aggression, should appeal
directly to the United States for sup.
port, the United States would be
bound to give that support in Its own
capacity and without reference to the
action Of other powers because the
Tynifnd GfnAac {taa1a a. 49, = 80
hope the day will never come when
the United States will not carry out
its promises. II that day should come
and the United States or any other
great country should refuse. no mat
ter how specious the reasons, to full
I'LL both In letter and spirit every OBJ.
obligation Of this Covenant, the Uni
ted States would be dishonored and
the League would crumble into dust,
leaving behind It legacy Of wars.
There is no question that the
preservation of state against ex-
ternal aggression can contemplate
nothing but war.
The Advocates Of Article 10 again
endeavor to prove that under the Gov.
enant there viii be no war and there.
fore no call to send American men to
bleed and die In distant lands. when
this treaty Is accepted" said Mr..
Wilson in Columbus, "men In khaki !
will not have to cross the seas again"
Yet. when asked by Senator Brande-
gee, at a White House conference, II I
the League Of Nations would prevent
war, Mr.. Wilson answered:
Nothing VIII Prevent War
It will not. Nothing win prevent
war but it will bring about the dis
cussion before the beginning OF war.
What else than war, under Article
10, did Mr.. Wilson refer to when by
treaty he agreed, In the name Of the
United States, ito come Immediately
to the assistance Of France in case of
unproyoked attack by Germany"
What else than war under Article TO-,
had he In mind when he telegraphed
to America that he was thus merely
Fastening the action to which we
should be bound by the League Of
Nations. To them the President said:
eff the world should be troubled
again, If the conditions which we all
regard as fundamental are challeng-
ed, the guarantee which will be given
to you lin League of Nations Coven-
anti will pledge that the United
States viii send It's army and feet
across the ocean"
Nothing could be clearer than this.
President Wilson himself says
our boys and our wealth are at the
disposal Of European governments
to insure their perpetuation.
Not only does the Covenant fail to
guarantee peace, but Article 10 Of
the Covenant absolutely assures war.
To assert that the Covenant means
peace, is to assert fatty what is moi
true; to argue that 1t means peace,
Is merely to use the pettifogging soph'
istries already refuted.
s1~arnVs4gaE u