The Washington herald., 1920-03-09
Text of Wilson's
Note Explaining
Article X Stand
My dear Senator Hitchcock:

MY dear senator hlIcnCOCk.
understand that one or two
of your colleagues do me the
honor of desiring to know what
my views are with reference to
Article Y of the league of nations
and the effect upon the league of
the adoption of certain proposed
reservations to that article.
welcome the opportunity to throw
any light 1 can upon a subject
which has become so singularly
beclouded by misapprehensions
and misinterpretations of every
kind.
There is no escaping the moral
obligations which are expressed
in positive terms in this article
of the covenant. We won = moral
victory over Germany fAr greater
even than the military victory
VOL on the field OF battle, be-
cause the opinion OF the whole
world swung to our support and
the support of the nations asso-
ciated with US in the great strug-
gle. 1t did so because of our
common profession and promise
that We meant to establish IAN
organizati of peace which
should make it certain that the
combined power of free nations
would check every invasion of
right and serve to make peace
and justice the more secure by
affording a definite tribunal of
opinion to which all must submit
and by which every international
readjustment that cannot be ami
cably agreed upon by the peoples
directly concerned shall be sane
toned" This promise and assur-
ance were written into the pre-
liminaries Of the armistice and
into the preliminaries of the
peace itself and constitute one
of the most sacred obligations
ever assumed by any nation
or body of nations. 1t is un-
thinkable that America should
set the example of ignoring such
a soIen- moral engagement.
Mu.t Keep Faith With Soldiers.
For myself, 1 feel that I could
not look the soldiers of our gal
liant armies in the face again If
I did not do everything in my
power to remove every obstacle
that lies in the way of the adop-
ton of this particular article of
the covenant, because we made
these pledges to them as well as
to the rest Of the world, and 1t
was to this cause they deemed
themselves devoted in a spirit of
crusaders. I should be forever
unfaithful 10 them IL 1 did not
do my utmost to fulfill the high
purpose for which they fought.
I think, my dear Senator, we
can dismiss from our minds the
idea that il Is necessary to stlpu-
late in connection with Article y
the constitutional methods we
should use in fulfilling our obll-
cations under it. We gain moth
ing by such stipulations and Sc
cure nothing which is not already
secured. 1t was understood as
matter of course at the confer
ence in Paris that whatever OBJ
legations any government as
sumed or whatever duties il un-
dertook under the treaty would
of course have to be fulfilled by
is usual and established constitu-
tional methods Of action. Once
or twice in meetings of the con-
ference, when the treaty was un-
der consideration, reservations
were made to that effect by the
representatives OF individual pow
ers. and those reservations" were
Invariably received in the way in
which men who have met for busi-
ness and not for talk always re-
ceive acts of scrupulous superero-
gation-listened to with indiffer-
ent silence, as such men listen to
what is a matter of course and
was not necessary to say.
Congress Alone Can Declare War.
There can be no objection to
explaining again what our con-
stitutional method is and that our
Congress alone can declare war
or determine the causes or occa-
sions for war. and that IL alone
can authorize the use of the
armed forces Of the United States
on land or on the sea. But to
make such a declaration would
certainly be- work Of superero-
cation.
am sorry to say that the res
ervations that have come under
my notice are almost. without ex-