Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-12
NINE TREATY CHANGES
Continued from page Q

reservation which is submitted TO Presi-
dent Wilson and to tho substance OF which
the President wrote that he adhered,
though he thought the form unfortunate.
The difference between that reservation
and the one now proposed is that in the
new ono the words cor by any other
means" have been added, and the position
of words "to preserve is now the same.
The reservation which Senator Hitchcock
| found acceptable, and upon which Senator
Lodge and the other bipartisan conferees
were about to agree when their conferences
were interrupted. read, in part:
''The United States assumes no obll-
| CATION 30 employ its military or naval
forces or the economic boycott to preserve,
! &c"
| The Lodge reservation states:
| MIR. Hitchcock's position is that the
| statement that the United States will not
be obligated to preserve the territory of
another nation is quite different from a
statement that the United States will not
assume obligation to use its military, naval
or economic forces to preserve the terri
tory of a nation.
MANY CALL 1T WAR OF WORDS.
In the view of many Senators, the con-
troversy over Article X is becoming war
hoping for ratification feel encouraged,
they say, in the belief that the great ma
lority of Senators will soon become con-
WINGED that nothing is to be gained by hag-
Cling over the construction OF a sentence,
and that the thing to do is to unite on one
reservation OF another.
These Senators pointed to President Will
sons letter as proof that the whole ques-
tion had become one of wording. They
quoted the Presidents S statement that il
was the firm and not the substance of the
reservation submitted To him by Senator
Hitchcock to which he objected. 1t should
not be impossible to satisfy the President
these Senators thought.
Among leading Republicans the posi-
ton is taken that the President has weak
ened on article y, and has made the fight
a fight about words. Among Democratic
leaders, however. contrary view is
held
Senator Hitchcock said last night that
he did not agree with those who thought
the President had weakened on the qtics-
tion of principle While he thought il
dangerous to try to interpret the Prcsl- |
dents letter to him, Mr.. Hitchcock said |
il seemed clear that the President had |
not accepted or indicated his willingness |
TO accept any reservation on article y, /
except the purely interpretative one
included in the Hitchcock reservations,
all of which Mr. Wilson accepted.
Mr.. Hitchcock said that in his opinion
many proposals for compromise upon
article Y would be submitted and thresh-
ed out before enough votes were obtained
10 accept any He will offer some of
the Hitchcock reservations perhaps all
Of them. when the treaty comes before
the Senate next week.
According TO Mr. Lodges statement,
which followed the breaking of the BIZ
partisan negotiations, the conferrces bad
agreed TO the changes proposed IN refer
ence to the preamble. domestic questions,
Shantung the appointment of United
states representatives to the league and
while no agreement WAS
cached on withdrawal, league expenses,
reatment of nationals and voting power.
Accepting Mr.. Lodges statement, which
IS disputed by Senator Hitchcock, five
If the amendments proposed today should
eceive Democratic support, while on .
our of them neither Republican nor
Democratic support has been pledged.
L WAS made plain also during the b.
,artisan conferences th"t any reservations
'volved there would be merely suggcs-
ions 10 the Senate and would bind no.
ntation of the amendments today by Mr.. |
.odge as an acceptance on his part, and |
through him by his supporters, of the
mendments AS the Republican program. I
These proposed changes were made
ublic at the end OF the bipartisan I
differences. The modification Of the +
reamble consisted in the elimination
I the requirement for an exchange of {
otes between the United States and the
rincipal allied powers, the latter TO v
ccept the reservations affirmatively be-
IRE the ratification became binding. Z
The change on withdrawal, which is
ne point on which the Democratic and I
epublican versions of the proposals {
ffer. was. according to Mr. Lodge.
le substitution of Presidential action |
joint congressional action on withdrawal
II the original provision regarding a |,
,ncurrent resolution. The resolution a
resented Yesterday would meet the point s
Used by President Wilson in his letter
Senator Hitchcock regarding the veto n
over, By providing for Joint action. q
Ius giving the President an opportunity f,
veto and Congress IA chance to record
: will on withdrawal Ey a two-thirds 5,