Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-04-21
Returning the Treaty

HE reports persist that President Wilson
! at some appropriate time In the nea,
future Will send the treaty of Versailles bacl
10 the senate and again ask for its ~ratiica
ton. Many OF the dispatches indicate that
he will do this in connection with his yetc
OF the peace resolution which both houses
o, congress are expected to pass, but which
has little or no chance OF being forced
through over the. objections the executive
will make.
1t is very clear to most observers that il
the President vetoes the peace resolution.
which lie will be justified in doing, he must
make some countermove toward Il consum-
nation OF peace. If he makes it impossible
for Congress to end the state OF war, il is
manifestly incumbent upon him to take
some step of his own which will end it. The
present state Of affairs is intolerabIe. This
country cannot go OH indefinitely in all at
titude OF war toward mi with the rest
OF thc world at peace with her.
1t may safely be assumed that The Presi-
dent does not mean 10 stand idly by for an
other year or moro waiting for 4 mandate
fiom the American people regarding the
treaty of peace. He has undoubtedly drafted
some plan or has fixed upon some course
OF action which he will offer rs IL substitute
for peace by congressional resolution. The
veto which he is expected to register against
that resolution might properly be made the
occasion for revealing the next move by the
executive.
Should President Wilson decide to re-
submit the treaty Of Versailles 10 the Senate,
he will do it with full knowledge of such
compromises as he must make in order to
secure its ratification. He will know in adj
vance that certain reservations must be ac-
cepted. BY two decisive votes the Senate
has recorded Itself upon this subject, and
there is not the slightest Indication that
Senators who have stood irreconcilably
against the treaty as originally submitted
would react in favor OF the Presidents pro-
gram. Nor is there any sign OF popular pres
sure demanding the ratification of the treaty
without definite and qualifying reservations.
This would mean that in returning the
peace treaty to the Senate the President had
one of two things i'll mind. Either he would
be prepared 10 accept a compromise with
his opponents III the hope OF salvaging as
much as he might for the wreck of the
league of nations covenant, or he would take
that means OF forcing the treaty more prom
ircntly into the coming political campaign.
If compromise is in his mind, ii will be a
comparatively simple matter to have the
treaty hurried through the Foreign Rela-
lions Committee and brought TO a vote on
the floor. Final action might be hoped for
within a few weeks at the outside. 1t might
even he a matter of days instead Of weeks,
rs every Senator knows already where he
stands and would know where the President
stands.
If there is no compromise, then prolonged
delay in bringing the treaty TO n vote would
he encountered. The Foreign Relations
might he expected to take a
month or more for its consideration OF the
measure and another more or perhaps two
or three of debate would ensuc in the Senate
itself. This would bring Congress to the
point of the summe recess for the national
conventions, after which very little business
will be done at the Capitol until the Novem-
Der election is out OF the way.