The Penn's Grove record., 1920-06-04
PEACE RESOLUTION VETOED
A Surrender To Germany of U. S.
Rights and Obligations

The failure of the U. S. Senate to
ratify the Peace Treaty led Congress
to pass a resolution to declare peace
with Germany and utterly ignore the
other Allied nations who have approx
ed the treaty and agreed to see that
Germany fulflls the PREPARATIONS and
ceases to be a military nation by dis
arming and maintaining a republic.
Such legislation has to be approved by
the President to become a law. On
May 9th President Wilson sent a veto
to the Peace resolution as follows:
Text of Message
To the House of Representatives:
l return herewith, without my sig
nature, House joint resolution 327,
intended to repeal the joint resolution
of April 9th 1917, declaring a'state of
war to exist between Germany and the
Joint resolution of December 7th, 1917,
declaring a state of war to exist be-
tween the United States, and the Aus
tro-Hungarian Government, and to de-
clare a state of peace.
| have not felt at liberty to sign
this Joint resolution because l cannot
bring myself to become a party to an
action which would place an inefface-
able stain upon the gallantry and hon
or of the United States.
The resolution seeks to establish
peace with the German empire without
exacting from the German Govern
ment any action by way of setting
right the infinite wrongs which it did
to the peoples whom it attacked and
whom we p~rofessed it u purpose to
assist when we entered the war.
Sacrifice of American Lives
Have we sacrificed the lives of more
than 100, 900 Americans and ruined the
lives of thousands of others and
brought upon thousands of American
families an unhappiness that can never
end for purposes which We do not care
to state or take further steps to at
tain? The attainment of these pur-
poses is provided for in the Treaty of
Versailles by terms deemed adequate
by the leading statesmen and experts
of all the great peoples who were as
ISOLATED in the war against Germany.
Do we now not car to join in the eff
fort to secure them
We entered the war most reluctant
ly. Our people were profoundly dis
inclined to take part in a European
war, and at last did so only because
they became convinced that it could
not in truth be regarded as only a
European war, but must be regarded
as a war in which civilization itself
was involved and human rights of
every kind as against a b%elligerent
government.
Moreover, when we entered the war
we set forth very definitely the pur-
pose for which we entered, partly be-
cause we did not wish to be considered
as merely taking part in a European
contest.
Resolution Called Surrender
This Joint resolution which l return
does not seek to accomplish any of
these objects, but in effect makes a
complete surrender of the rights of
the United States so far as the Ger
man Government is concerned.
A treaty Of peace was signed at
Versailles on the 28th of June last,
which did seek to accomplish the OBJ
iects which we had declared to be in
our minds, because all the great gov
ernments and peoples which united
against Germany had adopted
our declarations of purpose as their
w and had in solemn form embodied
them in communications to the Ger
man Government preliminary to the
armistice of November 18th, 1918.
But the treaty as signed at Yer
sailles has been rejected by the Senate
of the United States, though 1t has
been ratified by Germany. By that re-
lection and by its methods we a IN
effect declared that we wish to draw
apart and pursue objects and interests
of our own, unhampered by any con-
nections of interests or of purpose with
other governments and peoples.
Deficiencies Are Spoken Of
Notwithstanding the fact that upon
entrance into the war we ~professed
to be seeking to assist in the main
tenance of common interests, nothing
is said in this resolution about the
freedom of navigation upon the seas,
or the reduction of ornaments, OF the
vindication of the rights of Belgium,
OF the ratification of wrongs done to
France, or the release of the Chris
tan population of the Ottoman en-
pire from the intolerable subjugation
which they have had for so many gen
erations to endure, or the establish
ment of an independent Polish state,
or the continued maintenance of any
kind of understanding among the great
of the world which would be
calculated to prevent in the future
such outrage as Germany attempted,
and in part consummated.
Responsibilities Disclaimed
We have now in effect declared that
we do not care to take any further
risks or to assume any further re-
sponsibilities with regard to the free
dom of nations or the ~sacredness of
International obligations or the safety
of independent peoples.
Such a peace with Germany, a peace
in which none of the essential interests