The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-03-09
Wilson Restates Opposition to Any Treaty Reservations
 Weakening to Article Ten
1continnea from Page onel

guim and Germany, which the Germans violated in 1914. Article 10 as written into the treaty of Versailles represents the renunciation by Great Britain and Japan, which before the war had begun to find 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 quest and territorial sggrandizement. GUILTY OF BAD FAITH
 Tt is a, new doctrine in the world s affairs and must be recognized, or there is no secure basis for the peace which the whole word so longingly desires and so desperately needs If Article ten is not adopted and acted upon, the governments which reject it will, 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 They will be acting also in bad faith to the opinion of the world at large to which they appealed for support in a con certed stand against the aggressions and pretensions of Germany.
 "if we were to reject Article 10
 VT s" to WeAken IT As 10 take It's
 full force out of it, it would mark
 us as desiring to return fs the old
 world of jealous rivalry snd mis-
 understandings from which our
 gallant soldiers have rescued us,
 nnd would leave us without any
 vision or conception of justice and
 peace.
 We would have learned no lesson from the war. but gained only the re- gret that it had involved us in it's maelstrom of suffering If America has awakened as the rest of the world has to the vision of new dayin which the mistakes of the past are to be cor rected, it will welcome the opportunity to share the responsibilities of Article TO-
 "Ft must not be forgotten that
 this article constitutes n renuncia-
 ton of wrong ambition on the part
 of powerful nations with whom we
 were associated in the war. It is
 by means certain that without this
 article any such renunciation will
 take place. Militaristfc ambitions
 and imperialistic policies are by no
 means dead even in the councils of
 the nations whom we trust and
 with whom we most decide to be
 associated in the tasks of peace.
 Throughout the sessions of the con- ference in Paris it was evident that a militaristic party, under the most inf1u- ential leadership was seeking to gain ascendancy in the councils of France They were defeated then, but are in control now. The chief arguments ad- vanced in Paris in support of the Ital- ian claims on the Adriatic were strat- egic arguments, that is to say, mili- tary arguments, which had at their back the thought of naval supremacy in that sea. For my own part, am as in- tolerant of imperialistic designs on the part of other nations as was of such designs on the part of Germany.
 CHOICE BETWEEN IDEALS
 "The choice is between the ideals:
 on the one hand, the ideal of dem-
 ocracy, which represents the rights
 of free peoples everywhere to xov-
 ern themselves, and on the other
 hand. the ideal. of imperialism
 which seeks to dominate by force
 and unjust power, an ideal which is
 by means dend and which is
 earnestly held in many quarters
 still.
 Every imperialistie influence in Flu ; rope was hostiietto the embodiment of Article 10 in the covenant of the League of Nations. and its defeat now would mark the complete consumm ation of their efforts to nullify the treaty. I hold the doctrine of Article 10 to be the essence of Americanism. We cam not repudiate it or weaken it without