The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-22
FRIDAY. OCTOBER %. 1920.
The Attempt to Jettison Article X


In desperate attempt to evade the
curse of Article Y. we have now from
the supporters of Cox and ROOSEVELT.
as well as from the candidates them
selves, such sophistry as appears In
this plea by the New York Times
yesterday that the obligation of Ar
ticle y. is not what it really is, and
not what President WILSON intended
1t to be when he put it through the
Peace Conference and tried to force
1t on the United States Senate:
''Mr. Roof holds that there is 30
way to escape from the obligation to
60 to war under Article " save by
the pathway Of dishonor; Congress
would break the treaty if 1t refused
TO go to war. Here Mr.. Roof takes
issue with the President. Mr.. Will
son declared the other day that
there is nothing in the Covenant
which in the least interferes with or
impairs the right of Congress to de-
clare war or not to declare war ac-
cording to it's own Independent judg-
ment as our Constitution provides.
And furthermore:
High as is the authority of Mr..
RooT we feel that upon this point the
President speaks with that incompar-
ably higher authority which comes
from personal knowledge of what
Article X. was intended to mean and
does mean"
So Mr.. RooT takes issue with the
President n superior authority on
the significance of Article ", when
MIR. Roor holds that there is no way
to escape from the obligation to 90 to
war under Article y. save by the
pathway Of dishonor?
SO the President Is on record as
saying that there Is nothing in the
Covenant which in the least inter
feres with the untrammelled exercise
of the constitutional power of Con-
gress to declare war or to refrain
from declaring war?
1t seems TO us that the Times is
prodigiously mistaken. 1t seems to
us that. instead of taking issue with
the President as to the binding force
of the obligation to go to war under
Article Y. Mr.. RooT is repeating ex-
actly what the President himself has
said about the pathway of dishonor.
Two weeks or more ago THE New
YORK HERALD recalled to the attention
of all concerned the unqualified ad-
mission of President WILSON, thirteen
months ago, when he was demanding
that the Senate should accept Article
y. exactly as he wrote il. The Presi-
dents remarks on this subject will
bear reprinting. Senator KNOX was
interrogatlng him at the celebrat ted
White House conference:
"Mr. President, allow me to ask
this question: Suppose that II Is per-
fectly obvious and accepted that
there Is an external aggression
against some Power. and suppose II is
perfectly obvious and accepted that
II cannot be repealed except by force
Of arms, would we be under any legal
obligation to participated"
To this question President WILSON
returned perfectly square and
straightforward answer:
"No. sir but we would be under
az. absolutely compelling moral obh-
cation"
That is conclusive as TO "the path
way Of dlshonor." If Article y. Is the
heart of the Covenant. that frank ad
mission Of its compelling moral obliga-
ton, by the highest authority on the
meaning Of the Covenant goes to the
heart Of Article Y.
1t IS no use Article Y. will not 20
overheard ut the invitation Of Cover.
nor Cox, at the entreaty of Mr.
FRANKLIN u. ROOSEVELT. or even at
the urgent request OF serious news
paper like our ne.ghbor the Times
And, being serious newspaper, by
what process Of reasoning does the
times conclude that IL can misrepre
sent so serious n matter as this?