Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-06-21
Safe and Sane Middle Course.

to fly too high, nor too low; not too
near the sun, and not too near the sea.
We are warned with Ulysses not to
sail to the extreme right, striking
Scylla, nor to the extreme left, to be
sucked into Charybdis. The sages,
modern as we'll as ancient, advise the
safe and sane middle course. In the
spirit of this admonition. applying it
to the relations Of the United States
with other nations, Charles Evans
Hughes has said: There is middle
ground between aloofness and in
furious commitments"
Obviously. the President and his Sec
rotary of State are steering the ship
Of state along this middle course.
What are the extremes which this
course avoids?
On the one hand: Unnecessary and
un-!American surrenders of sovereignty
and hurtful commitment OF. nation to
participate at the will of others in fl-
ture wars, including wars to prevent
war.
On the other hand: Desertion of our
associates in war.making in the final
stage of shaping and enforcing the
terms of the just and enduring peace
which ends the war.
Every inch of the path into Euro
pean and Asiatic responsibilities. bur-
dens and dangers which Uncle Sam is
invited to tread is being microscopical-
ly examined as to its necessity, as to
its benefit and as to its peril. Every
step to be taken by Uncle Sam away
from full protection in accordance with
traditional policies of vital American
interests is being infinitely and jealous
ly inspected.
How far along this path must Uncle
Sam proceed to avoid being gutter?
AT what point must he come to a halt
in order to avoid being imposed upon
as sucker?
One distinct line of demarcation
noted is that which divides our obi
cations springing out of this war and
those alleged to have been incurred in
respect to future wars.
THE fine impulse which carried the
United States into the war with Ger
many will not be spent until the pur-
poses for which the war was fought,
and for which supreme sacrifices have
tallized. even though imperfectly. in a
final treaty Of peace, have been at
tanned. Congress declared war against
Germany, and under this original i'm
pulse we shall not falter in carrying
to it's logical end the present war. Our
reservations and protests will not re-
pudiate any oblige tons arising in
evitably from the war now ending.
We shall, however, reserve our free
will as to the making of future wars,
even if these future wars are decreed
by a world" league and are designed
to enforce peace. Our conceded obli-
cations pertain to the present war and
its aftermath and do not, without dis
tinct and voluntary renewal by the
nation, carry over into the next war,
whatever its character and whenever
1t may occur.
In meeting this wars obligations We
reserve. moreover, the right to define
the scope Of these obligations and to
determine the methods by which they
shall be met.
For example, the nation has de-
liberately, formally. in accordance with
the constitutional requirements, re-
pudiated the league of nations under
the Versailles covenant.
Our executive representative at
Paris, in performing his part of the
treaty-making and war-ending func-
ton, made for the nation certain
promises conditioned on approval by
the coordinate authority in treaty
making Of two-thirds of the Senate.
The league of nations, as proposed in
the Versailles treaty, and that treaty
itself, so far as the league Of nations
Is inseparably interviewer in it as an
integral and vital part. have been dis
approved by the Senate and in a ma
tional referendum by the vote of the
people of the United States. In orderly
constitutional fashion the nation has
withheld it's approval from these par.
ticular tentative conditional promises
and they fall to the ground.
The nation will not sacrifice or en-
danger vital American principles and
policies in order to participate in a
division Of victors' "spoils," in which
we neither ask nor get any Of the
"spoils," in which we are invited
to guarantee title and possession of
"spoils" to the other powers and in
which we are to be compensated for
our sacrifices by mourning the uni
versal ill.will which attaches to the
just umpire.
On the other hand, we shall not,
except under absolutely unavoidable
compulsion, make a distinctively sepa.
rate peace treaty with Germany re-
pudiating utterly the treaty which,
with our associates, we have helped
to make in ending the war which we
have helped to win.
The world league OF nations Is now
separated, so far as America is con.
cerned, from the Versailles agreement,
but the obligation remains to share
with our allies or associates in the
treaty ending this war and in enforc.
ing its terms.