Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-03-21
WOODROW WILSON,
OPPOSED To PACT,
WILL KEEP SILENCE
BY DAVID LAWRENCE
Leased Wire Service to The Journal)

NSopyIiShIi AO-S'(
ssr WASHINGTON, March 18.-The
four power pact will be ratified by
a margin CT from three to five votes.
The expected eleventh-hour pro-
nouncement from Woodrow Wilson
AGAINST the Pacific treaty will not
materialize, though it is known he
absolutely is opposed to the prin-
ciple of the treaty.
This information obtained from
Democratic sources today amounts
to q concession that the treaty will
be ratified, though. Of course, in
such a close situation a change OF
!. a vote or two may alter the whole
. aspect Of things.
y ssThe attempt to draw Woodrow
Wilson into the controversy is one
slef the interesting phases OF the
treaty fight which has not yet fully
sheen disclosed. Division of opinion
has prevailed among Democratic
senators as to whether the former
I president should exercise himself on
gEthe subject and assist in defeating
Ratification. Some Democrats have
felt that Mr.. Wilson ought to speak
peeut. Others have counselled silence,
ION the ground that the former presi-
Is dent cannot change the situation in
Ssthe senate and that his public
aEanyhow.
Wilson Hands Off
One or two senators have had an
opportunity lately of learning Mr..
SO Wilson's views, but they have failed
7 to tell associates what to do, and
the consensus Of opinion on the
Democratic side of the senate is that
the former president has decided to
keep hands off his party colleagues
and let them decide the question for
themselves.
4. Mr.. Wilson's silence has had the
s. effect of dividing his friends. Some
s. of them, like Senator John Sharp
I. Williams, of Mississippi, are going
to vote for the four-power treaty be-
. cause in their opinion, it is an ALI
! ance. Others will vote against it
because it appears to be an alliance
!: with a few powers as against other
: nations. They favored an alliance
I. or league Of all nations but not a
: special combination in which others
could not even join if their interests
]. were affected. Senator Robinson, of
! Arkansas, Democrat, sought by
!. amendment to provide that other
powers could join but the proposal
: was voted down.
rs Outside the senate, too, Mr. Will
sons friends are divided on the sub
ject. Raymond B. Fosdick, who was
to have been American representa-
/. tive on the Secretariat of the League
OF Nations il the United States had
become member under the Wilson
administration, says the four-poWer
pact is in harmony with the league.
Norman II. Davis, who was to have
been Mr.. Wilson's appointee to the
separations commission, feels that
the four-power pact is the old type
or alliance and is directly opposed
to the idea of the League of Ma
tions.
The best information available in
q Washington from reliable sources as
to- Mr.. Wilson's attitude is that he
stseIs today exactly as he did in De-
Ss9&taber, 1918, when in Manchester,
Eng, he leveled a broadside at the
Efsnropean idea of regional alliances.
49, Position Unchanged
He said on that occasion:
"You know that the United States
has always felt from the very begin
rulllS Ol IlSF ulSlOFy tndt bne must
keep herself separate from any kind
Lpf. connection with European poll
Ltics, and I want to say very frank
Ely<to you that she is not now inter-
Eested in European politics. But she
siss interested in the partnership of
fright between America and Europe.
IF the future had nothing for us
Ebut a new attempt to keep the world
Eat a right poise by a balance Of
xpower, the United States would take
sno, interest because she will join no
esonabination of power which is not
decentralization of all of us. She is
mot interested merely in the peace
-ofsEurope. but in the peace of the
~ orld.'
i Mr.. Wilson's views on the four
rpower pact now pending are not
-lnsympathetic with the object
sought to be attained, namely, the
preservation Of the peace Of the Pa
'scific. To that extent the four-power
fpaet is in harmony with the League
Aaf~Nations, but he has feared that
the method Of grouping a few pow
ers in any combination designed to
protect them against the aggression
of another power or group Of pow
Aers would lead only to the establish
ment Of rival ententes and alliances
such as have decided the world and
brought on wars in the past.