Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-03-12

nation to respect the rights OF his
is an obligation that re
lates to his own conduct and does
not bind him to aggressive action
because the other party to the con-
tract, whose rights he has agreed
to respect, becomes involved in diff
ficulties.
Plan Reservation.
But the question is not left
here. The foreign relations COM
mittee have moved a reservation to
the treaty, which beyond a doubt
will be accepted by the senate,
which reads as follows;
1.-The United States understands
that under the statement in the
preamble, or under the terms of
this treaty, there is no commit
ment to armed force, no alliance,
no obligation to joint in any de-
Tense
when the treaty is ratified with
this understanding on the part of
our government, what ground is
left to those who contend the
treaty is an offensive and defen-
sive alliance to stand upon? None
that l can see.
ION the other hand, 1t is as
serted that. as the treaty does not
bind the high contracting parties
to use force in carrying out its
terms, and because they cannot in
the future be bound to any action
until their consent is first OBJ
tanned, that it means nothing. that
it is worse than useless to sign it,
and therefore it should be defeat
ed. To my mind this argument is
the last stand of the men of the
old school, the school of thought
that has been dominant in the
government of this world for the
last four thousand years; the
philosophy that believes the world
can and must be governed only by
force, and that agreements, to be
binding, must have the power of
force behind them.
Wonld Destroy Faith.
ut this were true, it would de-
stroy all the faith of the Christian
nations of tho world in their eff
forts to obtain peace by mutual
understanding.
"You may call the Versailles
Z
because l believed 1t was q sincere
effort to secure the peace of the
world by mutual understanding.
The present treaty Is not an alli-
ance, but If it were an alliance in
tended to keep the peace through
arbitration rather than force, /
should support it. Tho dangers OF
past alliances have not been due
to the fact that they were binding
agreements between the powers
that signed them, but because they
| contemplated the use of force for
the benefit of the signatory pow
ers. An alliance based on right
and justice between nations, in
tended to aid in securing the peace
of the world, would not be often
siye to me. The first step in any
effort to keep the peace among ma
lions must be based upon mu-
tual agreement to respect the
rights of others. The four-power
pact does that.
IF the senate OF the United
States ratifies this pending treaty
| am fully satisfied that there will
disappear not only any real cause
for war but there will no longer
exist the opportunity for war that
| has, threatened us in the past two
decades; and peace will be estab-
| lished between the four great
powers that now control the des-
TIMES of the Pacific ocean.
"As long as conditions are all
! lowed to remain in the Far East
as they have existed for the past
two decades, danger turks behind
every dispute, and the war clouds
| gathered when every national is
sue was raised. These conditions
threatened our national security,
for as long as our flag floats over
/ the distant islands of the Pacific,
national honor requires that we
shall defend the peoples OF these
Islands from attacks by other ma
/ tions.
This is the real issue involved
/ in the four-power treaty, the issue
Of peace in the orient, the issue of
safety to our country, tho issue of
| the lives of our young men, who
4 should be saved from this danger
for the upbuilding of a greater
America.
"A number of treaties were ne
/ gotiated at the conference in
Washington on the limitation Of
ornaments, but this four-power
treaty is the real treaty of peace.
The naval treaty is remarkable. in
that for the first time in the his
tory Of the world, nations have
really agreed to limit their arma-
ments, but nevertheless their rela-
tive strength remains the same.
The Chinese treaties establish
a magma charta to protect the
sovereignty and territorial integ-
rity of China in the future. This
one treaty stands for peace by mu-
tual understanding and all that
| peace means"