Evening star., 1946-01-06


shall have the power, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, to
make treaties, provided two-thirds of
the Senators present concur"
This means that neither the Presi-
dent nor any of his appointees, such as
the Secretary of State, has the right to
make any international treaties without
submitting them to the Senate. 1t also
means that members of the Senate
must be consulted in the preparation of
international treaties and agreements.
This provision of the Constitution ap-
pears to have suffered some setbacks.
The right of the Senate ito advise and
consent has been bypassed since the
outbreak of the war in several instances
by the signing of agreements between
the Chief Executive or his subordinates
and the heads of the various nations
with which we have been associated
in the fight against the Axis.
The Senate has learned about these
agreements later and sometimes In in
complete form. The excuse given was
that these various agreements signed at
Teheran, Yalta, Potsdam and Moscow
were either wartime emergency meas
ures of a temporary character or make
shift arrangements to pave the way for
better understanding between the
wartime Allies and the preparation of
better world.
In Dark on CaSablanca.
The members Of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee were unable to
learn what happened at the Casablanca
conference. The witnesses they sum-
moned to explain in executive session
what commitments this Government
had undertaken refused to divulge any,
thing of importance because they af-
fected the security of military OPERA
tlons. This was correct No major DO
lltlcal agreements had been signed be-
tween President Roosevelt and Prime
Minister Churchill, although none of
the military experts called before the
Senate admitted that America would
provide rs per cent of the forces invad-
ing Europe.
AT Teheran the question of Russia's
expansion in the Balkans and in East
ern Europe was agreed on While manv
matters OF military importance were dis
cuSsed and approved by the Big Three,
the fact that Russia was given a green
nght to lay hands on a portion of the
then independent Polish republic and to
nave complete dominance over German
satellites in the Balkans was a matter
| which the President had no right to
olspoSe OF without the advice and con.
| sent OF the Senate. But because the
| Teheran agreements, which have moi
| yet been officially revealed in full. were
not treaties but agreements made nee.
! esSary because of the war emergency
| the Senate was neither consulted nor
even fully informed of the deals
At Yalta these agreements were fur.
ther expanded to permit Russia to take
large and wealthy provinces in Eastern
Germany for herself and her newly.
created satellite, Poland. This also was
| only an agreement" Yet it detached
from an enemy which the United States
was fighting large territory without
the Senate being consulted.
Annexations Accomplished.
BY literal Interpretation of the
Constitution, there seems to be no reason
why the Senate should have been in
formed of what was being done behind
the closed doors of the conference rooms
where the Big Three we're meeting. They
were signing only temporary agreements
1t happens, however, that by the
policies adopted by members of the
coalition which defeated the Axis these
| temporary agreements have an un-
| questionable permanency.
| 1t will be some time before we car
expect government in the real sense
of the word in the Reich. Until thi.
occurs, sometime in the dim future, the
annexation of Silesia and East Prussia
to the U. S. S. R. and Poland art
accomplished facts.
The United States, which bore a heav,
share in the victory against the Ger.
mans, should have had something te
say about the division of the spoils anc
was prepared to do so had treaty beer
signed and presented to the Senate
But, the Senate was by-passed and
while there are no chances of an early
formal peace with the Germans, the
agreements signed by the American
Chief Executive have the force of s
formal treaty.
A similar situation developed at Pots
dam where the President of the Unitee
States agreed to the annexation of th'
| Japanese owned Kurile Islands by Rus
sia. There was no question of '1ibera
ton" except in the sarcastic meaning