Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-03-11

Washington, March s.--President vii.
son re-stated for democratic senator's to-
day his opposition to any peace treaty
reservations which would weaken the full
force of article ten or otherwise nateri-
ally impair the provisions OF the league
covenant.
without saying specifically what quail
ficaton he would or would not accept
he wrote in n letter to Senator Hitchcock,
the administration leader. that almost ali
the reservations he had heard suggested
were Tin effect virtual notifications of
the treaty articles to which they applied
"I hear of reservationists and mild re-
servationists, the letter added. but 7
cannot understand the difference between
a nullifIer and a mild nullifer.
Discussing article ten particularly. the
President wrote that there was mo es-
Gaping the moral obligations which are
expressed in positive terms in this ar
ticle'' though there could be no objection
to explaining in an Interpretation the con-
|stitutional methods by which such an
obligation would have to be fulfilled. The
very heart Of the covenant, he re-
iterated. would be imperilled by weaken
ing article ten.
THE PRESIDENT LETTER
The Presidents letter. written in re-
Spouse to q request that ne confer with
Senator Simmons of North Carolina, in
charge for the democratic side OF the
Senate in current negotiations for a com
promise follows in full:
My Dear Senator Hitchcock;
] understand that one or two OF your
colleagues do ME the honor Of desiring
to know what my views are with refer
ence to article ten Of the League OF
Nations and the effect upon the league
| Of the adoption of certain proposed reser
| vations TO that article. 7 welcome the
| opportunity to throw any light can upor
| a subject which has become SO singularly
beclouded by Interpretations and mis-
| interpretations of every kind.
There is no escaping the moral obliga
| tions which are expressed in positive
| terms in this article Of the covenant. We
won a moral victory over Germany far
greater even than the military victor,
won on the field of battle, because the
| opinion of the whole world swung to our
| support and the support of the nations
| associated with us in the great struggle
/ 1t did so because Of our common profess
sion and promise that we meant to estab
fish an organization of peace which
should make it certain that the com
bined powers Of free nations would check
every invasion of right and serve to make
peace and justice the more secure by
| affording a definite tribunal of opinion
to which all must submit and by which
| every international reimbursement tha
| cannot be amicahly agreed upon by the
| peoples directly concerned shall be sane
| toned" This promise and assurance
were written into the prelminaries Of thu
! armistice and into the prcliminaries o.
the peace itself and constitute one of thu
most sacred obligations ever assumed b,
! any nation or body of nations It /!
unthinkable that America should set tn,
| example Of ignoring such solemn mora
engagement.
| For myself | feel that | could not lool
| the soldiers of our gallant armies in tn,
| face again II did not do everything il
| my power to remove every obstacle tina
lies IN the way Of the adoption of thi!
| particular article of the covenant be
cause we made these pledges to them az
we'll as to the rest of the world and i
was to this cause they deemed themselve!
devoted in a spirit of crusaders
| should be forever unfaithful to them /
did not do my utmost to fulfil the hisl
purpose for which they fought.
| STTPULATIONS UNNECESSARY
! | think. my dear senator. we can dis
miss from our minds the idea that it il
| necessary to stipulate in connection will
article ten the constitutional method:
we should use in fulfilling our obligation
under it. We gain nothing by such stipu
lations and secure nothing which is no
| already secured. 1t was understood as
| matter of course at the conference il
Paris that whatever obligations any gov
| eminent assumed or whatever duties i
undertook under the treaty would o
course have to be fulfilled by its usua
and established constitutional methods o
| action.
Once or twice in meetings Of the confer
ence, when the treaty was under consid
Grafton, reservations were made t.
that effect by the representatives of in
dlvidual powers. and those reservations
were invariably received in the way II
which men who have met for business an,
not for talk always receive acts o
scrupulous supererogation. listened to will
Indifferent silence. as such men lister
to what is matter of course and va
not necessary to say.
;, EXPLANATIONS PERMISSIBLE.
There can be no objection to OK
planning again what our constitutional
| lntNUOu - anu tudt our Congress
can declare war or determine tn
causes or occasions for war and tina
il alone can authorize the use of tn
armed forces of the United States oil
land or on the sea But to mako sucl
a declaration would certainly be
work of supererogation.
am sorry to say that the reserva.
tions that have come under my notice
are almost without exception, not in
terpretations of the articles to whicl
It Is proposed to attach them but il
effect virtual notifications of thos
articles.
Il DEFENDS ARTICLE TEN
Any reservations which seeks to de
prive the League of Nations of tn
article ten cuts at the very heart an
life of the covenant itself. Any Leagu
OF Nations which does not gua-ante
as a matter of incontestable right tn
political Importance and integrity o
each of its members might be hardl
more than a futile scrap of paper a
ineffective in operation as the agree
ment between Belgium and German
which the Germans violated in 1919
Article ten as written into the treat
OF Versailles represents the renuncia
ton by Great Britain and Japan whic
before the war had begun to find 8
many interests in common in the Paci
fic; by France; by Italy--by all tn