New-York tribune., 1920-10-18
Art. X Leaves
War to Proxy,
Says Lodge
CONTINUED from pass enc,

tations. One is that armies and navics
cannot be authorized or supplied with
out action by Congress, and that If,
through the moral obligation of
Article X, we are bound to send troops
ard ships to engage in foreign war
Congress can refuse to meet the mora,
obligation.
cation in order to meet a distinction
which has been attempted by those
who want to fnd some method of cs-
cape between legal and moral obliga-
tions. Treaties of this character rcEt
entirely on moral obligations; in fact.
practically all treaties rest on moral
obligations.
Moral Obligation Binding
IF a moral obligation is not abso-
lutely binding on nations which sign n
treaty, then the treaty is merely 2
scrap of paper. Undoubtedly Congress
can refuse to met a treaty obligation
whether moral or legal. That is the
pathway Of dishonor and it is always
open. Upon that pathway | trust the
United States will never enter.
THE other method Of demonstrating
that we cannot be compelled to send
cur troops to take part in foreign wars
except when we ourselves desire to do
so is to point to the necessity of
unanimous vote in the council of the
league, and declare that without our
vote no troops could be ordered ont
rms, OF course, does not meet the pro-
vision of Article X, which imposes an
immediate obligation with which the
Council has nothing to do.
But there are other considerations
which show that the veto power Of
the single vote is but slender reed
on which to lean. This can be demon
strated by considering the views and
the author Of Article X, and he sus-
tains without change all provisions of
the League of Nations On January
%, 1917, the President presented in an
address to the Senate a plan for a
world peace. He proposed that we
should adhere to a league for pe zee, and
then he said:
1T will be absolutely necessary
that force be created as guarantor
OF the perlnanency of the settlement go
much greater than the force of any
nation now engaged or any alliance
hitherto formed or projected that no
nation, no probable combination of
rations, could face or Withstand it, If
the peace presently to be made is to
endure. it must be peace made secure
by the organized major force of man
kind.
An international Force
"That shows the Presidents concep-
ton Of a league for peace-that it
must be backed by the organized
major force of mankind and that
means an international force under the
control Of the league and with all the
members of the league obliged to fur
nlsh quotas for the international force
That this continued in his mind to be
for peace is shown by what he said
on February IA, 1919, when he pre-
sented the finished draft of the CON
stituton Of the League of Nations, as
it was then called, to the conference.
Mr.. Wilson described this now inter-
national combination as the union of
Wills in a common purpose, a union
OF Wills which cannot be resisted, and
which l dare say no nation will run
the risk of attempting to resist And
then he added: Armed force is in the
background of this program, but it is
IN the background, and if the moral
force of the world will not suffice the
force Of the world SHALL
when the President met the Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations at the
White House on August 10, 1919 SEN
ator Knox asked this question: Sup
pose that it is perfectly obvious and
accepted that there is an external
aggression against some power, and
suppose it is perfectly obvious and ac-
cepted that it cannot be repelled ex-
cept by force of arms, would we be
under any legal obligation to partici-
pate?' The President replied: No,
sir, but we would be under an abso-
lutely compelling moral Obligation A
compelling moral obligation, which is
the highest obligation possible in
treaty, to do what? To use the force
of arms in the case Of external aggres-
sion under Article x.
quite recently Mr. Lloyd George
the league, said that nothing could bS
done by the league to prevent, for eX-
ample, an attack by Russia upon Po-
land unless we had an international
force-that is, force under command
of the league-and this league force,
which would be composed of soldiers
of all nations, could be ordered into
war. 1t is very clear, therefore, that
the international force was the concep-
ton common to Mr.. Wilson cld Mr.
Lloyd George.
The value of Article X to Mr. Will
son is that it puts the obligation to use
force upon every member of the league
without any opportunity of escape,
with no means of avoiding it except by
9 breach of obligation, which would be
not only dishonorable but would leave