Evening star., 1935-06-29

TINE towering figure of William
Edgar Borah. shaggy lion of
Idaho. is unbent today on the
10th birthday anniversary of
the famous lone wolf legislator.
The first citizen of the Potato State
came out of the West in 1907 to battle
( from the Senate floor for the political
philosophy of Honest Abe Lincoln
He today will pass no comment on
reaching three score and ten. He will
hold no celebration.
But during the years since 1907
Borah's prominence and influence has
been mighty in his wars for perpetu-
alton of the policies of the countrv's
fathers, wars waged in thorough dis
regard of his own personal interest
and party expediency.
His Biggest Thrill.
The death-bow to American par
tlcipation in the League of Nations
dealt by the Senate in defiance of the
dictum of President Wilson gave
Borah the biggest thrill of his 28 years
in the worlds greatest deiberative
body"
This thumbs down vote on inter-
nationalism was part and parcel of
the dramatic rejection Of the Yer
Sailles treaty. with its mandatory
League membership, the night of No
vember 10. 1919. after months of
stormy wrangling between the OBJ
durate President and the dissension-
rent Senate
League climaxed the tensest day I've
ever spent in the Senate" he says
today.
1T eliminated months of fighting.
1t determined the question of whether
We should quit the foreign policy we
had followed for $50 years. The
White House had been putting all its
pressure on the Senate for favorable
vote. Europe prayed for our ap-
proval. The President had appealed
TO the country. But in vain. The
League, Mr.. Wilson's own brain child,
was doomed"
Still under the influence of war
hysteria. the country had been in a
fever for months over the momentous
treaty question when November 10
came. The standstill feud between the
White House and the Senate was the
most stirring drama on the national
stage. Within the Senate ragged
another fight, led by the square
jawed Borah and his little group of
'irreconcilables, who were unalter-
ably opposed both to Wilson's wishes
and to the reservation treaty advo-
Gated by Henry Cabot Lodge. chair
man of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
Master StrategiSt Borah. who cap
ped his unremitting opposition the
night the treaty and the League were
defeated with one of the most forceful
speeches in his long career. held the
balance of power. and his sturdy band
set off the dynamite that blew to bits
the hopes of Lodge as we'll as Wilson.
The controversial Versailles treaty
was laid before the Senate July 10,
1919. Already it had been accepted |
by the leading European nations as
the proclamation of victory over the
Central powers. To the President the
document was a portent of a new era
of international love. He felt the |
worlds future depended upon Ameri- |
cas- signing it. The agile drained |
Lodge. however, plastered the pact
with reservations and aroused the
Presidents bitter indignation.
Wilson demanded the unconditional |
overthrow of Lodges compromise. The |
issue split the country. Jim Reed Of |
Missouri, leading Senate Democrat,
was a member of Borah's Battalion |
of Death" militant opponents of Will
sons foreign policy. Borah demanded |
the Republican party come out |
against the League. but high and |
mighty G. O. P. leaders such as
ev-President Taft. Hughes. Elihu
Root and President Lowell OF Harvard,
urged moderation. Republican papers
supported Wilson; Democratic editors
applauded Borah
At last came the day of decision.
THE galleries were jammed with |
spectators tingling with expectation"
Borah recalled. Every Senator was
on the floor. The rear of the chamber |
was packed with members of the |
House. Such an air of excitement !
I've never known.
The issue for me was clear-cut. I |
thoroughly opposed any proposition |
that would entangle us in European |
affairs. 1 was against the League,
against the treaty, against the reser-
vations."
Allies in Fight.
Allied with the broad -shouldered !
Borah were Hiram johnson Of Cali
fornia, Brandegee of Connecticut.
Medill Mccormick of Illinois. Jim
Wadsworth of New York and Reed.
The flame Of resentment at Wilson's
positioned was famed high
when Gilbert ". Hitchcock of Ne
braska. the Presidents spokesman,
warned the Senate of a sure veto If
the Lodge treaty carried:
President Wilson vii pocket Ne !