New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-07-03
A Forgery
Exposure Of a Gross Misrepre-
sentation of Senator Lodge


10 the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: The Democratic platform as sub
united to the San Francisco convention
by the Committee on Resolutions con-
talns the following passage:
On May Is last the Knox substitute
Tor the Versailles treaty was passed by
the Republican Senate and this conven-
'ioh can contribute no more fitting char
acterizati ton of its obloquy than that made
in the Forum magazine of December.
1918, by Henry Cabot Lodge, when he
said
If we send our armies and young
men abroad to be killed and wounded in
northern France and Flanders with no
result but this, Gun entrance into war
with such intention was a crime which
nothing can justify. The intent of Con-
gress and the intent of the President was
that there could be no peace until we
could create situation where no such
war as this could occur. We could not
make peace except in company with our
allies. 1t would brand us with everast-
ing dshonor and bring ruin to us also If
we undertook to make a separate peace d"
This charge against Senator Lodge has
been abundantly exploited for some time
past. AS Il rule, however, no date is
assigned to the article from which the
quotation is made. Now, as a matter
of fact, incredible as it may seem that
such an error should occur in a great
and elaborate party document, no ar
ticlc by Senator Lodge appeared in 1.-THE
Forum" for December, 1918. The article
was published in "The Forum" for June.
1918. 1t was written, therefore, in the
very height of the greatest crisis of the
war. The words quoted had not the re-
hottest reference, express or implied, to
any league of nations. They had no
reference to the character of the treaty.
into which we might enter The "ever-
lasting dishonor" which Senator Lodge
was talking about was the dishonor of
getting out Of the war while our allies
were still in it. The crime that he was
talking about was the crime Of bringing
the war to an end without complete VIC
tory over Germany. The whole thing was
directed against any agitation for peace
and especially for an inconclusive peace.
while the battle had not been won, Thus.
the use of the quotation for the purpose
to which it has been applied in Demo-
cratic newspapers, in Mr.. Cummings
keynote speech, and now in the Demo-
cratic platform itself, is without the
faintest trace or shadow of Justification
The whole passage from which the
quotation is taken is as follows:
The government Congress and Presi-
dent mean to carry the war THROUGH Yet
we see the newspapers filled with talk
about peace, which all comes directly or
indirectly from the enemy it either en1a-
mates from Germany or is accidentally
very like what the Germans are suggest
ing. We have had n note from the Pope
VIC have had resolutions in Congress and
we nave had great deal of general ire
sponsible talk about peace. This talk all
proceeds with slight variations on the
basis Of the status quo ante belum. To
my mind-and I know this is the view Of
the Administration-every man, the Presi-
dent who delivered the war message and
Congress who voted for war, would be
guilty Of the blacklist crime il they were
QUO ante bellum and recreate tho situa-
ton which existed before the war II we
send our armies and our young men
abroad to be killed and wounded in
northern France and in Flanders with no
result but this our entrance into war
with such an intention was n crime which
nothing can justify The intent of Con-
Ercss and the intent of the President was
that there could be peace until We
could create situation where no such
war as this could occur To make peace
on the basis of the status quo ante bellum
simply means that Germany will have a
breathing space and the whole horror will
come over again, with the chance that we
shall not be all united as we are now
We must have peace with victory, COM
plete victory; no other will stand or be
worth having.
The President in his letter to the Pope
stated what is the absolute truth-that we
have no one now we can negotiate with
We cannot negotiate with the governme mt
which has declared that treaties are
scraps of paper. to be torn up when it
feels like it. We cannot make peace in
the ordinary way. We cannot, In the
first place. make peace except in COM
pany with our allies. There may be
no written convention or treaties, but it
would brand US with everlas ting dishonor
and bring ruin to us also if we undertook
to make separate peace. Therefore
there is only one alternative and that is
TO bring Germany to her knees and force
upon her a peace which shall dictate
and which will make the world safe not
merely safe for democracy, but safe for all
the Allied free countries to pursue their
own way in security and work out their
own salvation.
am not an admirer of Senator Lodge
think his conduct of the treaty affair
in the Senate was bad, both from the
standpoint of craftsmanship and from
that of party management. But simple
justice and respect for the truth i'm
peratively call for the correction of
charge utterly baseless and undeserved
FABIAN FRANKLIN.
New York, July 2, 1920.