New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-07-03
The End of a Long Trail

San Francisco treaty plank labor to
create the impression that the Pres
ident's course is Endorsed. But this
is camoufage. The screen of the
wordy structure is toppled down by
the last sentence.
eve do not oppose reservations,
says this last sentence, (which would
makes clearer or more specific our OBJ
legations to the associated nations"
Here is reputation Of the doctrine
that the covenant should be ratified
as written. In his Hitchcock letter
the President said he had no COM
promise to offer and called for
great and solemn referendum. Now
his own party quits him. 1t is for
compromise. The referendum propo-
sal explodes into nothingness.
The implications are obvious. To
cease opposition to the reservation
idea and to consent in advance to
Qualification are a double confession.
1t acknowledges that the President
was wrong and that Qualification is
needed. Those standing with Sena-
tor Lodge, allowed practically to
write the platform Of their former
opponents, have gained an astound-
ing triumph.
Other implications are plain.
Homer Cummings, fresh from the
White House, on Monday condemned
the reservationists with the vehe-
mence of an indignant Hebrew
prophet and as psalmist exalted
his chief as messenger from Sinai.
The reservationists were accused of
the great crime Of preventing the
entry of this country into the League
of Nations. Thus, walled Mr.. Cum
mings, they had t!warted the reali-
cation of a noble ideal and brought
to nothing a sublime effort to give
peace to a distracted world. The
Great Man was pictured as broken
Of heart because Of the gross be-
trayal. The hands of the reserva-
tionists were red with the blood Of
attempted murder, for, said the ora
tor, they had as certainly brought
the President to the doors Of death
as if they had plunged a knife into
his flesh.
While the echoes of this oratorical
masterpiece still fingered those who
on Monday had rapturously ap-
plauded were enrolled on Friday
among the reservationists. So
doing, they placed responsibility
for absence from the league on the
President and acquitted his oppo-
nents. For it is known of all men
that except for the refusal Of the
President to suggest or to entertain
reservations the covenant long ago
would have been ratified and months
ago this country would have been of
the league. Mr.. Cummings thought
to shoot at Henry Cabot Lodge; in
fact, he hit Woodrow Wilson.
Not only is there capitulation at
San Francisco, but white flag
waves from the Presidential man
sion. A semi-official Tumulty mes
sage indicates that the President
will accept the plank. The explana-
ton is offered that all along he has
favored some sort of reservations.
But the American public, which re-
members that it was advertised that
the peace treaty proper and cove
nant would be so intertwined and in
termingled that they could not be dis
sected and that contemplate, pygmy-
minded Senators would thus be COM
PEELED to swallow whole the COM
bined dose, will scarcely be deceived
by a bclated leap for the band
wagon.
The great and solemn referendum
vanishes, as suggested above, into
thinnest air. The differences between