New-York tribune., 1920-01-20
League Defeat
Predicted at
Polls by Reed
Den,lnciation Of Covenant
Joined III by SenatorJolln.
SON and Job Hedges at
Business Mems Dinner

United States Senators Hiram w.
Reed, Of Missouri, with Job +. Hedges,
last night at the dinner of the Amer-
can Business Men at the Hotel AstOr
assailed the league of nations treaty
predicting the failure of it's ratifica-
tion once the people of this country
make their voice heard
Senator Johnson denounced it as Gin
famous"
Senator Reed said its supporters
were being converted, and cited the
changed attitude Of William Howard
Taft. President Lowell Of Harvard and
Colonel William j. Bryan.
"A few more weeks of discussion and
we may expect these gentlemen to
move up to the line where they de-
mand that this un-American and
treacherous document shall be utterly
and incontinently rejected" said Sena-
tor Reed.
Labor Article Attacked
Senator johnson, attacking the labor
articles Of the treaty, said that "Ancr-
lcah labor the most conservative in
the world, has four votes out of 1888"
"Ihc labor conference under the
treaty will not Americanzc European
labor. The fear is that they might
Bolshevize American labor" said he.
l.. r. Loree, president of the Delaware
Hudson Railway Company, intro
duced James =. Williams, editor of "The
boston Transcript" who presided as
toastmastcr in the absence Of Colonel
&. Is. NJ. Harvey. who was unable. on
account of severe cold, to be prcsent
senator Borah was prevented from
speaking at the dinner on account Of
the investigation of Ludwig A. c. X.
Martens. the so-called Russian Soviet
ambassador, by the Senate Committee
In Washington yesterday.
me following telegram from Senator
Lodge to Colonel George b. NJ. Harvey
was read at the dinner:
Nery sorry that it has been impos-
slble tor me to accept your invitation
TO the dinner tonight, but my duties
IN the Senate make it impossible for me
to leave Washington at this time.
have worked all through the summer
with many other Senators to agree on
reservations which would protect the
peace, the severe ignty and the jnde-
pendence of the United States. but
which would cover only our relations
to the league of nations. After IA great
deal of labor and discussion the rcser-
vatlons were agreed upon, and let me
say in passing that they were drafted
by friends of the treaty; that is. by
those who desire to have the treaty rat
med. They constitute a compromise
between the extreme views and were
adopted by the Senate by decisive ma
jOrities
President Never Changed
In every case many OF the Senators
who voted for the reservations made
large concessions by doing so, think
ing that they ought to be more strong
~ worded in certain respects. The COM
promise between the extreme views
which is represented by the reservations
stands as the action Of the majority
of the Senate. The. President mean
while has never altered his position.
In his letter to the Democrats at the
Jackson dinner on January he de-
clared that while there could be no
objections to interpretations, which
would really be valueless for the pro-
lection of our independence and our
rights, the treaty must be ratified
without change which would in any
way alter it's meaning. In other
words, the President is unwilling to
make concessions. We are now con-
sidcring suggestions made by repre-
scntatives of the minority who favor
ratifyng the treaty without change
There are certain great principles on
which no compromise is possible, and
it remains to be seen whether we can
come to any agreement which will
command two-thirds vote of the
Senate"
Senator johnson lkened the hand
ling of the treaty by President Wilson
to the invasion Of Belgium and France
by the Germans. Men Of opinions such
as were at the dinner last night, he
said. were "plloried by subservicnt
press and intellectually mobbed by the
mass hystcria of shcll-shockcd
people,"
People Stunned by Drive
"The first attacks upon our liberty
and our crcignty, like the first
swift attacks of the Germans, stunned
our people," said he. "Made in the
holy name of peace. clothed in idealis
tic phrases presented in all the beauty
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