Evening star., 1920-02-09
PRESIDENT STATES
CHANGES T0PACT
HE WILL ACCEPT
Safeguard Monroe Doctrine;
Let All Nations Decide as
to Use of Force.
Bl DAVID LAWRENCE.

Bl DAVID LAWRENCE.
As the Senate takes up once more
! :he job of trying TO reach an agree
! ment on the form in which the peace
! treaty shall he ratified, the most sig
nificant piece of news is that Presi
dent Wilson has said explicitly just
what reservations he would accept.
. Though his advisers have been urging
him for months to do so. Mr.. Wilson,
for reasons of his own, SteadfaStly has
refused to erase from the public mind
the impression that he wanted the
treaty ratified by the Senate without
so much as the crossing of It, or
, the dotting of an Il.
Though the Presidents concession is
belated. it is nevertheless vital and
clears the atmosphere to this extent:
Both the President and his opponents
favor reservations and the debate now
centerS on how many shall there be
and what they shall contain. The SEN
ate again and again refused by its
votes to amend the treaty and Mr..
Wilson is determined that under the
guiSe of reservations. amendments
shall not be made that impair the
validity of the whole document. The
republicans, however, have been
strengthened by the utterance Of Nis-
count Grey to the effect that Europe
would accept reservations.
Dependent Upon Form.
Everything now depends upon the
form in which they are presented. Sem
ator Lodge admits that some of his
reservations were drawn rather
hastily. and put into the debate at a
moment when careful revision was not
possible. Once in the debate they could
not be redrafted. though the bipartisan
conference recently made good prog
ress toward revising the Lodge
reservations. 1t was on article ten
that the break came.
The fact that President Wilson wrote
a letter at that time-January 26-
outlining his views on reservations.
was not made known until last Satur-
day to the democrats or republicans.
Here was a tactical error OF regret
table proportions. The responsibility Is
plainly on the shoulders Of the Presi-
dent. for Senator Hitchcock himself
wanted to make that letter public. 1t
was written before Viscount Grey
wrote his letter to the London Times.
1t would have revealed that the Presi-
da1t, Naa sp4t.etY bbornly trying to get
t4e etfSA&&athro4gh without any quail
fcAtfon whatsoever. and might have
prevented the bipartisan parleys from
breaking up. And there ia no telling
how far advanced the treaty situation
would have been months ago If the
President had permitted Senator
Hitchcock to say last November what
he W authorizes him to state to the
Senate, namely. that the President ap-
proves of reservations to the treaty.
Changes He Agrees To.
Here are the reservations which
President Wilson refers to in his let
ter to Senator Hitchcock as those on
which he stands:
That any member nation proposing
to withdraw from the league on two
years notice is the sole judge as to
whether it's obligations referred to
in article one of the league OF ma
tions have been performed as re-
Quired in said article.
THAT no member nation is re-
quired to submit to tbs league. it's
council or its assembly, for decision.
report or recomme ndation, any mat
ter which it considers to be in inter-
national law domestic question
such as immigration, labor, tariff or
other matter relating to its internal
or coastwise affairs.
That the national policy of the
United States known as the Monroe
preted by the United states. is not
in any way impaired or affected by
the covenant of the league of nations
and is not subject to any decision, re-
port Or inquiry by the council or as
sembly.
ticle ten of the covenant of the league
which the council may give to the
member nations as to the employment
of their naval or military forces is
merely advice which each member ma
tion is free to accept or reject. accord
! ing to the conscience or judgment OF
its then existing government. and III
| the United States this advice can only
| be accepted by action of the Congress
| at the time in being. Congress alone
under the Constitution of the United
States having the power to declare
| war.
| THAT i'll the case of a dispute be-
tween members of the league, if one
| of them have self-governing colonies
| dominions or parts which have rep
Presentation in the assembly. each and
! all are to be considered parties to the
dispute and the same shall be the
rule if one of the parties to the dis
| pute is u governing colony. do
minion. or part, in which case all
| other elf-governins colonies. do
! minionS or parts. as well as the ma
! ton as a whole. shall be considered
parties to the dispute and each and
all shall he disqualified from having
/ their votes counted in case of any in
quiry on said dispute made by the as
/ sembly.
! Leaves Others same COur:e.
| 1t will be noted that the foregoing
! reservations are so drawn that any
| nation may avail itself of the same
! Interpretation of the covenant which
| the United States reserves to itself
| Under the Lodge reservations 1t Is
! not clear whether the United State es
alone would have the power to de.
| eide what is the meaning OF advice
given by the council or whether ev'
cry nation is free to accept or r.jec1
! the advice of the council when thai
a -. &
| and is asked to contribute toWarC
preserving peace.
In other words. the President seems
to he anxious not to convey tn inn
preston that America is selfishlJ
asking for reservations and is no
! willing TO let other countries apply
the same Interpretation of the peace
treaty in their own countries. Thi:
lis forcibIy brought out in the diff
! ference between the wording Of The
, Hitchcock reservation given above
| and the phraseology OF the Lodge
reservation. which starts out witt
the declaration The United State.
assumes no obligation under article
! ten. etc. unless the Congress shal
! uthoriZe.
What the President seems to feal
, is that If the reservation in question
! is specific il will convey the idea tina
the United States is pulling out o
the league before ii even gets started
! and that other nations Will begin Il
! say they assume no Obligations
| either. until the whole structure %
moral force which has been built III