Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-08
Reservation by Committee Report

The proposal that the Kellogg treaty
be permitted" to get to a vote in the
Senate with the understanding that the
| irreconcilables Reed OF Missouri and
Moses Of New Hampshire shall have
their views set forth in a report from
the foreign relations committee, to &C.
company the treaty, may be expedient,
but, if SO, it has nothing more than
| expediency to commend it.
The Kellogg treaty renouncing war
speaks for itself. It commits the United
States and the other signatory powers
to just one thing-the settlement of
international disputes by peaceful
means. There is no agreement not to
go to war in self-defense, no under
standing that the Monroe Doctrine
shall be forgotten, no plan under which
the United States must sanction any
! action which may be taken by the
League of Nations against any other
nation.
But the hair-splitters have been at
work. Senator Reed of Missouri looks
darkly upon the treaty. He suspects
that something sinister lies behind it.
Senator Moses, another critic of the
treaty, has much the same kind of
suspicion. The President of the United
States, the Secretary of State and Sen
ator Borah, chairman of the foreign
relations committee, have all taken the
position that the treaty commits this
country to no understanding other than
that in the plain language of the treaty
itself. Secretary Kellogg has been at
pains to say this many times, and it is
understood abroad. But IL now appears
that Senator Reed and Senator Moses
must have their say or the treaty is to
be delayed perhaps indefinitely. With
the Senate overwhelmingly in favor of
the treaty, without reservation or ex-
planatory resolution, 1t does appear that
the irreconcilables are Saving their
faces" at the expense of the judgment
of the President, the Secretary of State
and the chairman of the foreign rela-
tons committee.
There is not the slightest doubt
that the treaty will be brought to a
vote and that it will be ratified Just as
it stands and with no explanatory reso-
luton to accompany it. The agreement
now proposed for report of the foreign
Iofi iVa Of
the understanding of the United States,
as interpreted by Senators Reed and
Moses, is so far merely tentative. 1t
scarcely seems possible that Senator
Borah and the proponents Of the treaty
| will permit themselves to be forced into
the position desired by Senators Reed
and Moses. It is true there is short
session of Congress, with much to be
done, and that the cruiser bill is await
| ing its turn in the Senate, with fill
buster threatened against it. But 1t is
also true that Senator Moses and Sem
| ator Reed are supporters of the cruiser
bill and naturally anxious on that ac-
count to get the treaty finally disposed
of in the Senate.
The United States took the lead In
the negotiation of the Kellogg treaty re-
nouncing war. The position of the ad-
ministration is that the United States
should not now be put in the position
of offering the treaty with one hand
and seeking at the same time to rouse
the opinion in other minds that the
treaty is not what it seems-a simple
declaration renouncing war and prom.
ising to use peaceful methods in set
ting international disputes.