The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1920-06-09


Der OF Americans who would bewill-
Ing TO accept the covenant of the
league of nations just as the
president brought 1t back from
Europe is negligible. The Amer
lean people Will never accept
that alliance with foreign ma
tons proposed by the president The
president meantime has remained
inflexible. lie is determined to have
that treaty as he brought II back or
nothing, and to that imperious de-
mand the people will reply In tones
which cannot be misunderstood. No
man who thinks of America first
need fear the answer.
The Famous article 10
Mr.. Wilson said in a recent letter
to Senator Hitchcock FOR my own
part | am willing to trust to the
counsel of diplomats the working out
OF any salvation OF the world from
the things which II has suffered" i"
And he said this in behalf OF an al
lance whose Representatives will all
be diplomats and politicians. They
will all act In behalf OF the interests
OF their respective countries and they
will have nothing judicial about
them. strip the league of every
clause which involves the action Of
political representatives in the as
scmbly and tho council and you
leave but one article in which the
diplomats of the league as such will
hY~e no power.
That is the famous article 10. Most
OF the league covenant was prepared
by General Smuts OF South Africa,
but article 10 was the work OF the
As ITpIt C,ta -
true this article is free from diplo-
mats, but 1t rests entirely upon
naked force. In that way peace Is
to be preserved and the nations
freed from war by multiplying the
opportunities for the use OF force.
Each individual nation is bound by
article 10 TO go TO war for the protec-
tion OF territorial integrity and the
political independence Of every other
nation in the world at the time of
signature; that is for the protection
of states some OF which are not yet
determined or established, for the
protection OF boundaries which no
man can define. We were TO give
such guarantee and any Of the
countries in the league in the event
of exterior aggression could have de-
manded eur armed assistance, and
our soldiers and sailors must then
have gone forth at the command of
foreign countries unless We shattered
all hope of world peace by breaking
a solemn moral obligation. The re-
publicans of The senate, no matter
what their future fate might be, were
determined that the covenant con
tanning that article unmodified
should never be ratified. 1t became
every day clearer to them that the
alliance called a league of nations,
instead OF being a guarantee for the
worlds peace. was breeder of war
and an enemy OF peace. AS we stud
led it-and a majority of senators
desired TO have some league IL pos
sible which should be genuine
league of peace-we found that 1t
dragged us not only into every dis
pute and every war In Europe and
in the rest of the world but that our
soldiers and sailors might be forced
to give their lives in quarrels not
their own at the bidding of foreign
governmenta
1t also appeared that our domestic
questions, like immigration, could
be interfered with; that the interpre-
tation of the Monroe doctrine was to
be left to the decision of the league,
AHdl We Ntit W be Hldut
pants In the outrageous disposition
of Shantung. which robbed a friend
ly nation and gave the proceeds OF
the robbery to her worst enemy, and
that finally We were to have in the
assembly of'the league only one vote
to Great Britain's six. These provis-
ions were all intolerable. Reserva-
tions were adopted which relieved
us from every obligation under ar
ticle 10, which took all our domestic
questions completely out of the ju-
risdiction of the league. which once
and for all placed the Monroe doc
trine beyond any interference by Eu-
rope or any foreign power. and
which refused our assent to the cruel
wrong Of Shantung. We also made
1t impossible to subject the United
States to the Proposed inequality in
voting power. for We profoundly be-
lieved the United States must never
take part in any council OF the ma
tions where her vote was not equal
Ia that of any other power repre-
sented. Some OF US were deeply con-
vinced that there ought to be no
league at all and that absolute safe
ty could be obtained in no other way;
others of us. more numerous, be-
leved that the reservations l have
described would protect the United
States against the perils OF the COW
enant IL we Joined the league. We
were all firmly united In our deter
minatiop that the league as submit
ted by Mr.. Wilson must never pass.
We were also agreed that Mr.. Will
sons league with what he called "in-
terpretative reservations" or with
anything those obedient to him ap-
proved. was just as bad. just as men
acing as the original Twice We Of
fered the president and his most
faithful supporters an opportunity
to ratify the treaty with reservations.
Twice his followers, obedient to his
orders. rejected the treaty with the
reservations l have outlined.
A Veto without Reason
The republicans of the senate then
made another effort to put an end
to the state of technical war with
Germany and at the same time rid
the country OF those measures which
were adopted under the war powers
of the constitution and which are
clearly unconstitutional in time of
peace. They would thus have re-
lieved the business and the daily oc-
cupations OF the people from the
burden Of war legislation and at the
same time have preserved to the
United States under the terms OF the
resolution all benefits accruing to
the United States under the terms
nf tho resolution aII az..,,