The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-04-17
VIOLATION OF
1889 STATUTE
STIRS CAPITOL
Senator France Cen
ter of Latest
Argument.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Can United States senator COM
municate with a foreign govern.
! ment direct and without resort to
the usual channels of diplomacy
through the president and secre-
tary of state?
Formal charges have been filed
against Senator Joseph France oi
| Maryland for doing so on the
ground that he has violated a
statute as ancient as 1889. The
case has many interesting angles
to it and turns largely upon the
meaning of the words United
States government" That's a his
toric controversy. Does the "gov-
ernment" neal only the president
and his cabinet or does it include
the United States senate? The act
Of 1889 declares no citizen shall
communicate with a foreign gov
ernment without permission of the
| United States government.
Secretary Hughes contends that
the words, United States govern
ment' mean what the constitution
i says they mean In other words
| wherever the words are applied to
something which the constitution
says the executive shall do, il
means the executive When it ap-
plies to the making of treaties it
means the executive plus the SEN
ate and so on.
= Not a New Thing.
Men like Senator Brandegee
argue and have argued that the
co oh
more to say about foreign policy
since the constitution gives con-
gress alone the right to make war
on foreign country. Again and
again in recent years and partic-
ularly since the armistice of 1918
members of the United States SEN
ate have been in communication
with the representatives of foreign
governments but no one has ven
tured to say that the act of 1888
was being violated-at least no
one in the government itself
though there has been much out
side discussion on the point. Here
are seVeraf-ef~the-i instances which
have marked precedent for com
municating with foreign govern
ments. The American senate
adopted a round robin resolution
notifying all foreign governments
that if the covenant of the League
of Nations were made part of the
treaty of Versailles which was not
yet completed at the time, the
treaty would not be ratified. This
action was received by friends of
the executive as an unwarranted
Sva% " in inn hcaIr lcy
conducted by the executive but SEN
ators contended they were merely
saving European governments
much time by telling them some
thing in advance of the treaty's
submission to the senate. The
Genoa conference like the YER
sailles conference, will negotiate
treaties. or agreements. Senator
France individually has notified
foreign governments of his inten-
ton to press for the passage of 4
resolution urging the American ex-
ecutive to participate. He did not
misrepresent the case. He didn't
say the executive would participate.
He acknowledged that the right
was constitutionally in the hands
of the president and that resolu-
ton from the Genoa conference
would be helpful to the cause he
was advocating.
Other Senators @Guflty.o
Many American senators have in
the past communicated to foreign
governments suggestions which in
their judgment would be helpful in
making for better understanding
between government. The differ
ence between Senator Frances
communication and some of the
others which have been made
orally over the dinner table or in
drawing rooms is that Senator
France frankly gave his message
to the public. There were no
clandestine attempts to interfere
with the course of the American
government but a public effort to
secure modification.
On many occasions the ambassa-
dors of France an Great Britain
have been in conference with sena-
tors. Everybody in Washington
knows that Sir Edward Grey speIt
most of his time in the fall of 1919
talking with American senators
about the treaty situation. 1t
would have been proper for Presi-
dent Wilson to object to foreign in
tervention in American domestic
affairs but since all the commHni
cation was oral instead of written
no basis for such an action by the
executive was available. It was
admitted at the time. however that
no law could prevent United
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