Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-06-26
HOOVER ASKS FOR
 RATIFICATION OF
 LEAGUE: COVENANT
He Would Eliminate Article Ten, However, He
 Says

New York, June 25.-Speedy rati- fication of the treaty of Versailles, af- ter the elimination of Article X of the league of nations covenant, was urg-
 ed by Herbert c. Hoover in state
 ment published today in the New York Evening Post as the platform on
 which the republican party should stand in the coming presidential cleo tion.
 MT. Hoover took the stand that the
 implied threat of employment of mill itary force to guarantee the integrity
 of foreign states was out of place in
 a league which he declared was "the
 product of the liberal idea of the
 world" The leagues power, he de-
 clared, would be more potent if the threat of military force were removed and the league relied wholly on it's "moral and economic power."
 "It appears to me to be time to
 raise the question:" said MT. Hoover, "as to whether this same cause-I refer to the guarantee and to the
 use of military force-that has
 brought about the dissention in the
 United States is not also undermining the league in Europe.
 "I put this to the friends of the league in allied countries. Has not experience and discussion shown that the time has arrived to reconsider this part of the league foundation ?"
 The basic need for which such a military alliance as he sees in the league covenant with Article X intact, Mir. Hoover pointed out, was to control states which persist in armament.
 While he expressed the hope that economic measures eventually would prevail even against such states, he declared the "first and foremost duty of the league" was reduction of all armament, and he suggested that Americas continuance as a league member be conditional on the achievement of reduction within a specified time.
 MT. Hoover declared that sooner or later the United States must ratify the treaty of Versailles in some form, and that talk of negotiating new treaty was "bunk."
 "The treaty of Versailles" he said, "is the charter of independence of Poland, Czecho-Slavika and Finland, and the warrant of increased national territory of several great nations, and they are not going to reopen dis cussion as to their titles. It is the ; guarantee of the disarmament of four great autocracies and no Europe an nation is going to risk their revi- | val. It is mortgage upon the enemy [ states, and they are not going to of fer the opportunity to Germany. Aus | tria, Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria ! to evade their debts by intrigue.
 "The league of nations covenant is an essential part of the treaty It i does possess two functions: First. it gives the title to mandates; it today governs certain neutralized areas: it . ratifies the score of details of settle ment with many states. Its second !, is it's provisions for proven tion of future wars. The first phase cannot no more be reopened than the ' treaty itself. The second function re- lates to the future and is subject to 5 amendment. It can be amended by <, the league organization itself. \
 "In the face of these conditions" he concluded. "cannot the republican party strengthen it's own position by adopting the definite constructive pol