Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1920-01-15
LEADERS IN FORTY STATES RE.
CARELESS OF PARTY, SIGN
RINGING APPEAL.
TREATY WITHOUT AMENDMENT
Say Every Day Of Delay Puts World
in Imminent Peril of New
War-Point to the Ma
tional Unrest.

and fifty leading Americans, Repub-
licans and Democrats, representing 40
different states and every prominent
activity, have Joined in a non-partisan
effort to bring about the ratification
of the Peace Treaty, without amend
ment and without delay" Their names
are attached to an address to the
United States senate, which was made
public through the League to Enforce
Peace, after it had been sent to ev-
cry member of the senate.
The signers, almost without excep-
ton, are men and women of national
reputation. They include such promi,
nent citizens as ex-President Taft,
George w. Wickersham, Attorney Gen.
eral in the last Republican administra.
ton; A. Lawrence Lowell, president of
Harvard; Charles c. Moore of San
Francisco, president of the Panama
Exposition; Judge George Gray of Will
mington, Del; President Samuel Com
pers of the American Federation of
Labor; Harry A. Wheeler of Chicago,
retiring president of the Chamber Of
Commerce of the United States; Mrs.
Carrie Chapman Gait, president of the
National American Woman Suffrage
Association; Cyrus H. K. Curtis, the
Philadelphia publisher; President He
bert ]. Grant of the Mormon Church,
and Spargo, leader of the Socialists
who supported the war.
The signers declare that everyday
of delay in ratifying the treaty puts
the world in Imminent peril of new
war"
Their statement follows:
In the senate at Washington, now
that the committee on foreign rela-
lions has reported the treaty, the lines
are sharply drawn between the imme.
date ratification of the treaty of peace
with Germany. and its amendment with
a reassembling Of the conference and
a reopening of negotiations that would
bring great delay and prolonged I'M
certainty in settling the great issues of
the peace. No partisan plea can be
made. Party lines are already broken.
Standing at a distance from the
conflict in the senate chamber, we
plead for immediate ratification with
out delay. Our land requires it. A
state of nervous strain, tension and
unrest exists, manifesting itself in
disturbances, which, in some cases,
have no self-evident connection with
the war, but which are, in fact, its
aftermath. The world is put in i'm
minent peril of new wars by the lapse
of each day. D~issension between US
and our former allies are being sown.
We firmly believe and solemnly de-
clare that the states and cities in
which we dwell desire immediate
peace.
The waging of war steadied and
united the American people. Peace
will bring prosperity, and prosperity
content, Delay in the senate postpon-
ing ratification in this uncertain period
of neither peace nor wal has resulted
in indecision and doubt, bred strife
and quickened the cupidity of those
who sell the daily necessities Of life
and the fears of those whose daily
wage no longer fills the daily market
basket. y
We beseech the senate to give the
land peace and certainty by a ratifca-
ton which will not keep US longer in
the shadows of possible wars, but give
the whole world the light of peace.
Reservations in the nature of clarif.
cations in the meaning of the treaty,
not inconsistent with it's terms, will
not require the r%e-opening of the ne
gotiations with Germany and with out
associates in the war, which we all
and each united to win.
But there is no possibility of doubt
that amendment of the treaty, as is
o proposed in the senate committee
On foreign relations, would REQUIRE
negotiation and a re-opening of all the
questions decided at Paris. Months
OF delay would follow. The perils of
the present would become the deadly
dangers of the near future. All the
800 NAS
doubt engendered would aid the plots
for violent revolution in this and other
lands The issues here and elsewhere
between capital and labor, the con.
spiracy of Spectator and profteer,
would all grow and become more per.
ilous.
This cannot be. The American peo.
pie cannot, after a victorious war, per.
NIT its government to petition Ger
many, which has accepted the treaty,
Tor its consent to changes in the trea-
fy. Yet if the United States should
amend the treaty for it's own purpose
and policy, Germany would have full
right to ask for concessions. Germany
has agreed to make no claim in re-
gard to alien property seized in this
country to an amount of seven hundred
million dollars. Our recent foe could
ask for a re-opening of this issue and
OF the Lusitania claims. 1t could raise
every question open before hostilities
In regard to- submarine warfare and
the treatment of nationals in this
country. All the provisions for our
trade in Germany raised by the eco
nonlc clauses of the treaty, many of
them vital to our industries and our
EARNS, as In dye patents, dye suHslies
~ I