The Penn's Grove record., 1920-03-12
President Wilson said in part:
Moral Victory Greater

\ WOflu swung 10 our support anu tir
: support of the nations associated will
-, us in the great struggle. 1t did so be
, cause of our common profession an(
! promise that we meant to ESTABLISH
IAN organization of peace which
should make it certain that the com
bined power of free nations would
!, check every invasion of right anc
serve to make peace and justice the
most secure by affording a definite
tribunal of opinion to which must sub,
nit and by which every international
reimbursement that cannot be amicably
agreed upon by the peoples directly
concerned shall be sanctioned" This
promise and assurance were written
into the p~reliminaries of the peace
itself and constitute one of the most
sacred obligations ever assumed by
any nation or body of nations. 1t is
unthinkable that America should set
the example of ignoring such a solemn
moral engagement.
Pledges to Soldiers
"For myself, l feel that l could not
look the soldiers of u gallant armies
in the face again if | did not do ev-
erything in my power to remove every
obstacle that lies in the way OF the
adoption of this particular article OF
the covenant, because we made these
pledges to them as we'll as to the rest
of the world and it was to this cause
they deemed themselves devoted in a
spirit of crusaders. | should be for
ever unfaithful to them if | did not do
nv utmost to- fulfill the high purpose
for which they fought.
Destroys Heart
"Any reservation which seeks to de-
prive the league of nations of the
force of Article X cuts at the very
heart and life of the covenant itself.
ANY league of nations which does not
guarantee as a matter of in~conteStable
right the political independence and
integrity of each of its members might
be hardly more than a futile scrap OF
paper, as ineffective in operation as
the agreement between Belgium and
Germany which the Germans violated
in 1914. Article X as written into the
treaty of Versailles represents the re-
nunciation by Great Britain and Japan
which before the val had begun to lind
so many interests in common in the
Pacific; by France; by Italy-by all
the great fighting powers of the world
of the old pretensions of political con-
quests and territorial aggrandlze-
ment. 1t is a new doctrine in the
worlds affairs and must be recognized
or there is no secure basis for the
peace which the whole world so long
ingly desires and so desperately needs.
If Article X is not, adopted and acted
upon, the governments which reject it
will, l think, be guilty of bad faith to
their people whom they induced to
make the infinite sacrifices of the war
by the pledge that they would be fight
ing to redeem the world from the old
order of force and aggression.
Left Without Vision
"They will be acting also in bad
faith to the opinion Of the world at
large to which they appealed for sup
port in a concerted stand against the
aggressions and pretensions of Ger
many. If we were to reject Article \
or SO to weaken it as to takc its full
force out of it, it would mark US as
desiring to return to the old world of
Jealous rivalry and misunderstanding
from which our gallant soldiers have
rescued US, and would leave US without
any vision or new conception OF justice
and peace. We would have learned no
lesson from the val but gained only
the regret that it had Involved us In
its maeltsrom of suffering. If Amer
lea has awakened, as the rest Of the
world. to the vision of a new day in
which the mistakes of the past are to
be corrected, it will welcome the OPP
p~oltunity to share the responsibilities
of Article X.
at must not be forgotten, Senator,
that this article constitutes a renuncla-
ion of wrong ambition on the part OF
powerful nations with whom we were
associated in the war. 1t is by NO
means certain that without this artl-
Gle anv such remuneration will take
place. Militaristic ambitions and i'm
perialistic policies are by no means
dead ever in the counsels OF the ma
tons whom we most trust and WIN
whom we most desire to be ASSOCIATED
in the tasks of peace.
II believe that when the full signi-
fcance of this great question has beer
generally apprehended, obstacles viii
seem insignificant before the oppor-
tunity, a great and glorious opportun-
ity to contribute u overwhelming
moral and material force to the es'
tablishment of an international regi'
me in which our own ideals of justice
and right may be made to prevail ano
the nations of the world be allowed 6
peaceful development under conditions
of order and safety hitherto lmpossl'
BILE.
81 need not say, Senator, that | have
given a great deal of thought to The
whole matter of reservations proposed
in connection with the ratification o
he treaty, and particularly that por