The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1920-07-01
PRESIDENT IS SCORED
FOR armenia PROPOSAL
Brandagee Declares President Has No
Right TO Take Possession OF
PARKWAY Land.

washington, JuuS oV' OSh"'N'
Brandagee, of Connecticut, has given
an explanation Of why the Republican
majority turned down the Presidents
proposal for mandate by the United
States over Armenia. He says:
IF we have declared war against
any foreign power, we have the right
to raise an army and navy and to
send them over there to wage the war,
but we have not declared war against
Turkey and we have not declared war
against Armenia. BY what authority
the Congress is to appropriate money
to organize expeditions to be sent to
Armenia to take possession of its ter
ritory and to govern its people, ] do
not know.
"The President talks about our
kindly advice and assistance What
are we going to do when we get there?
Read these reports, to which l have
called your attention the Harb0rd
reports and the Moseley reports. What
they say has TO be done is to establish
a military government there, and that
every civil officer there must be under
the control of military chief, and
they talk about a governor general of
military rank, and say that our mill
tary force is the best constituted one
in the world to govern them in that
way. The report says these people
have always been used to being gov
erned, that they never have governed
themselves, and that what they need is
present, visible, military authority.
That is not kindlyassistance to march
in there like a satrap, backed by our
army and navy, and take possession of
millions of people and their terrntory,
and proceed to govern them, and yet
say it is for their benefit and for up
lifting them.
Suppose after six months of enjoy
ing the blessings of on motions of
what Is good for them they suddenly
differ with us about the efficiency of
our benevolence over there. then what
are we to do? Supposing they break
out in rebellion, are we to fight them,
insisting upon protecting our mandate
over them whether they want 1t or not?
Some say that it might require
very small army there. 1t might at
first take no more than there reports
indicate, $4,000 or 10000 men; but
suppose the Kurds and the Turks come
upon them and attack our army, we
can not abandon them, take it, but we
have to put force enough up there to
meet and suppress whatever force we
encounter or else haul down the Amer
lean flag and get out.
1--WE might as well look ahead. This
sounds very harmless, as though it
was a kind of Red Cross expedition to
alleviate distress; but with the num-
Der of race and contentious that are
concentrating upon that psychological
center Of trouble, we absolutely could
not get out of there within a genera
ton, according to these reports, and
we would have to fight the world at
every point Of the circle If they came
upon US.
"But under whose authority are we
presuming to equip these expeditions
and sent them over to Asia-just think
of it, to Asia-to take possession of
entire people? Under the authority Of
the covenant of the League of Nations,
to which we have not subscribed? The
Senate must understand that the Pres
lden is presuming to operate under the
covenant of the League of Nations
now!
Let nobody fool himself with the
idea that we are going over there with
our armies and navies ad experts and
advisers and helpers and uplifters to
do what we think ought to be done.
We are going there in behalf of the
league, Great Britain and France oc-
cupying the adjoining mandatory
countries. Great Britain has Persia
and Mesopotamia on the east and
south of that country that We are 60
ing to govern and France has Syria on
the east and south. | can imagine our
acting as mandatory there, putting our
principles into operation and doing as
we think ought to be done by those
people.