New-York tribune., 1920-02-20

t!eIuen ia tHo oeH6to upon bOme OF
those questions, but, whether Their
should have despised them II they hat
yielded their honest opinions to Elk
ecutivc threats, and / honor them fol-
the courage and fortitude with which
they have maintained the authority oi
the Constitution they were sworn ia
support, and discharged the duty OF
independent Judgment imposed upor
them by the people who elected them
to office.
"Nor have the long and painstakinp
discussions Of the Senate been without
most useful results. The treaty which
it was their duty to consider was IA
tally defective in several respects, not
only from the standpoint Of the vital
sidercd as an instrument designed to
secure the future peace of the world.
"ln private life we are at liberty to
discuss the treaty without reading 1t,
and to form and express conclusions
based upon what some one else has
told us. Not SO with the Senators.
Duty Of Senators
To Weigh Treaty
"They were bound to test the true
meaning Of every paragraph, to con-
slider the conditions which the pro-
visions were to meet, to estimate the
human forces of self-interest and pref
udcc and passion under the influence
of which the treaty was to be applied
the results which would be produced
for America and for civilization.
mo man ever lived who could be
trusted to negotiate complicated and
important treaty without having his
work tested by the Independent judg-
ment of men who were not direct
parties to the negotiation Because in
this particular case the President him
self was the negotiator of the treaty,
the Senate alone had the authority and
the duty to perform this necessary
function of independent review.
"The reservations adopted by the
Senate remedy, so far as the United
States is concerned, the chief objec-
tions to the treaty. They prevent our
entrance into the league Of nations
from being an abandonment Of the
Monroe Doctrine, with irreparable in
fit to the rest of the world Especially
important is it that they prevent the
incredible mistake of Article x.
"That article contains an express
agreement ITO preserve as against ex-
ternal aggression the territorial integ-
rity and existing political independence
of all members of the league If
that stipulation means anything and is
not mere sham and false pretense, it
will, if ratified, bind the United States
when occasion arises to defend every
member of the league by armed force
against external aggression.
ut will bind the United States to do
that, no matter what our people at the
time think about the right and wrong
of the controversy, or about the wisdom
or folly of entering upon it.
1t will require the United States to
fight on occasion for all the disposi-
tons of territory made by the Supreme
! Council in Paris under the influence
Of secret treaties and bitter amin oeites
and political eXpedicncies-dis disposition
of territory, many Of which are doubt
full and some Of which are clearly
wrong. Two things seem plain. First
the sense of justice and the independ-
ent and uncontrolled power of the
United States to throw it's weight
wherever occasion arises in favor OF
what it deems to be right in the af-
fairs OF the world is the greatest single
influence toward that justice among
nations which is the essential requisite
of peace, and such an agreement as this
if observed, would rob the world Of that
Influence, because the United States
would be bound by this formula to act
irrespective of its judgment al the
time; second, there is practicaf Ger.
tainty that if the United States en-.
tered into such an agreement it would
not observe it. No human power car
| bring the people of the United States
into a war unless at the time when thcy
are called upon to fight they believe
the cause to be just and worthy of sac.
rifice.
Article x Pledged
America to Make War
"If the occasion for acting unde,
Article when it came did not appeaI
to the judgment and sympathies Of the
people of the United States, it would
be impossible to comply with the agree
ment, and the worst possible thing fo,
the peace of the world would happen
that the United States should have
made a solemn treaty and should
break it,
1T seems clear to me that in the
interests of the worlds peace. which
all America desires to promote. this
treaty ought to be ratified with the
reservations of the Senate, and that
without those reservations in their
fair and honest substance it ought not
to be ratified.
~ hope the treaty will be ratified
with the reservations long before the
Presidential election. That will be
done if the President permits it. II
that is not done, then that is what
think the Republican party ought to
stand for.
Immediately after the 4th of March
1921, a Republican President should
urge upon the Society of Nations the
reform of the league covenant, SO az
to make it establish the rule of public
right, rather than the rule of mere
oXpediency, SO as to make the neaca Of