The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-09-29

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Wilson Treaty at Nersailles-Claimed
Germany Gives No Promise to Refrain
From Using Submarines.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial Dispatch to Tie R%eformer. }
Copyright 1927.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29.-Efforts to.
solidify the Democratic party in the sen
ate so that the new treaty with Germany
may at least be clarified before it is
adopted are proceeding in such fashion
as to Indicate much more discussion over
the past thar was at first anticipated.
The Democrats have been working out
a program in a number of private confer
ences and thus far the only conclusion
reached is that several reservations ought
to be voted upon by the senate before rati-
~fcation takes place. If the Republicans
agree to those reservations the treaty will
be ratified by an overwhelming vote.
Otherwise, the Democrats may make a
final effort to defeat the whole thing.
These tactics are ~curiously like those
followed by the Republicans when Wood
row Wilson submitted the treaty of Yer
~sailIes. 1t was denied by the Republicans
that they would block ratification or delay
peace. 1t was insisted that with the adop-
ton of reservations. the treaty would go
through. 1t was onlys after Mr.. wilson
set himself against the Lodge reservations
that the opponents of the whole Versailles
pact gained sufficient strength to defeat.
the treaty. .
The Democrats have 81 votes. If all
yotetl alike. the German treaty could be
defeated. The detection from the Repub-
.lican ranks is slight but might overcome
the few Democratic votes that might be
cast for the treaty. The situation is a
serious one, indeed much more alarming
than was at first believed. while Senator
Underwood. for instance, has said he
might vote for the treaty, it cannot be
said what his position will be il reserva-
tons are defeated.
The program of reservations has not
been completed. They may include some
rOf the original points made by Senator
Lodge and on which most of the Republi-
cans voted favorably at one time. But on
the other hand. the fight is in its infancy
and the Democrats have already pointed
out that under the new pact Germany
made no promise to refrain from subma-
trine warfare in the future nor lid She
obligate herself as explicitly as might be
desirable.
Incidentally the dispatch printed in the
| New York Dispatch from Berlin stating
that the German government had submit
ted a memorandum on the new treaty to
the Reichstag has stirred up a hornets
nest in the Democratic camp. That mem
orandum is said to voice the opinion that
the new treaty is full of holes and that
Germany has succeeded in narrowing
! American rights to Il point which makes
| them less valuable than those held by the
allies.
Democratic senators said they would
call for the text of that memorandum for
if the German government in advance OF
ratification is Interpreting the treaty less
favOrably than is Secretary Hughes, the
american senate wants to know about II.
The German memorandum is said to hold
that since America will not deal with the
league Of nations, the inStrumentality de
signed to enforce rights in. that treaty, a
question arises as to what Americas
rights are. The memorandum is quoted
as saying that if America declines to
serve under the reparation commission OR
other bodies created by the Versailles
| treaty there is nothing in the German
American treaty to tell what would hap
pen then
This is precisely the viewpoint which
critics of the Hughes-KnoX treaty have
aimed for several weeks. The Democrat
are going to try to make these points
clear before a vote on ratification takes
place. If the Harding administration in
sists on the treaty going through without
the dotting of an 4" or the crossing of a
IT. the pact will face indefinite delay. II
reservations are accepted. as seems likely
the treaty will be ratified at an early date