Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-03-09
WILL SON HOLDS ARTICLE TE:NIS
 LIFE OF PACT
President. In Answer to Hitch cock, Outlines
 Views
CAN'T CONVEYANCE
 NULLIFYING CLAUSE
Declares Forces of Imperialism in All European Nations Would be Gratified to See Article
 Killed

! Washington, March President i Wilson rcstated for democratic sena- tors today his opposition to any peace treaty reservations which would weaken the full force of article { 10, or otherwise materially impair Without saying specifically what qualification he would or would not accept, he wrote in letter to Scna. tor Hitchcock. the administration leader, that almost all of the re- scrvations he had heard suggested were Gin effect virtual notifications" of the treaty articles to which ap- piled.
 "l hear of rcservatonists and mild rescrvationsts," the letter added, but l cannot understand the 1 difference between a nullfier and q mild nullifier."
 ! Discussing article 10 particularly, the president wrote that there was no escaping the moral obligations which are expressed in positive terms in this article, though there could be no. objection to explaining in an interpretation the constitutional methods by which such an obliga- tion would have to be fulfilled. The Every heart" of the covenant, he reiterated, would be imperialled by weakening article 10.
 The presidents letter, written in response to request that he con- fer with Senator Simmons of North Carolina. in charge of the demo cratic side of the senate. in current negotiations for compromise. fol- lows in full:
 ] My dear Senator Hitchcock:
 "I understand that one or two of your colleagues do me the honor of desiring to know what my views are with reference to article 10, of the league of nations, and the effect ups on the league of the adoption Of cer, tain proposed reservations to that article. l welcome the opportunity to throw any light l can upon subject which has become 80 singu- Iarly beclouded by misapprehension and msinterpretation of every kind.
 Moral Obligation.
 "There is no escaping the moral obligations which arc expressed in positive terms in this article of the covenant. We won moral victory over Germany far greater even than the military victory won on the field of battle, because the opinion of the whole world swung to our support and the support of the na- tions associated with us in the great struggle It did so because of our common profession and promise that we meant to establish Gan orr ganization 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 the justice the more secure, by affording q definite l tribunal of opinion 10 which all must submit and bv which every interna- topal readinstment that cannot be l amicably agreed upon bv the peoples directly concerned shall be sanction- ! ed. This promise and assurance was written into the preliminaries Of \ the armistice and into the prelimi- naries of the peace itself and con- I atitutes one of the most sacred ob- I lipations ever assumed by any na- ton or body of nations. It is un- thinkable that America should set the example of ignoring such a solemn moral encapement.
 "For myself. feel that could not look the soldiers of our gallant arm
 ies in the face aeain if I did not do everything in my power to remove every obstacle that lies in the way of the adoption of this particular article of the covenant. because. we made these pledges to them. as well as to the rest of the world. and it was to this cause they deemed them selves devoted in a spirit of crnsad- CTS. should be forever unfaithful to them if I did not do my utmost to fulfill the high purpose for which thev fought.
 ! q think, my dear senator. we can dismiss from our minds the idea that lit is necessary to stimulate in con nection with article ID the consti- tutional methods we should use in fulfilling our obligations under it. We gain nothing by such stipulations and secure nothing which is not all
 ready secured. It was understood, as g matter of course. at the cons \ ference in Paris that whatever obli- cations any government assumed or whatever duties it undertook. the treaty would of course have to bs fulfilled by it's usnal and established lconstitutional methods of action. N Reservations Nullifv.
 "Once or twice Tn meetings or the \ conference. when the treaty was uii- q der consideration. sreservations' were made to that effect by the reprcsen- tativs of individual powers. and theae sreservations' were invariably receiv- ed in the way in which men who have met for business and not for talk \ always receive acts of scrupulous
 supererogation-- listened to with indifferent silence, was such men listen to what is matter of courAe. and was not necessary to say. l "There can be no objection 10 ex- plaining again what our constitution- al method is. and that our congress alone can declare war. or determine \ the causes or occasion for war. and ! that it alone can authorize tho usa of the armed forces ot the United States on land or on the seas. But ~~>~>~~~~~->>~~. 4 fContinued on Pare 2l s &