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Thursday, August 21t, 1919
THE ALLIANCE (NEBRASKA) IIERAlO
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j SEHTEJUEMES
Sees No Reasonable Objection
to Reserva ions Concerning
? , League of Nations
EONFERENCEATWHITE HOUSE
Prldnt Awrti Unltd Statet Sur
. render No Powers and May
Withdraw At Will.
Washington, D. O, Aug 21. Presi
dent Wilson and the members of the
Foreign Relations committee of , the
senate met at the White House Tues
day to discuss the peace treaty.
The president opened the discussion
.toy Impressing on the senators the
urgency of prompt ratification of the
treaty without amendments and with
out reservations that would require re
submission of the treaty to the other
signatories, especially Germany.
The president said that the Interest
of every class of people, the farmers,
industrial workers and employers de
manded prompt ratification to the end
that stable conditions of Industry, agri
culture and employment be reestab
lished. The president's address, which
was In effect an address to the coun
try, follows : . .
"I hope that this conference will
serve to expedite your consideration of
the treaty of peace. ' I beg that you
will pardon and indulge me if I again
urge that practically the whole task of
fmnglng the country back to normal
conditions of life and Industry waits
pon the decision of the senate with
regard to the terms of the peace. . '
I venture thus again to urge my
advice that the action of the senate
with regard to the treaty be taken at
. ihe : earliest practicable moment be
cause the problems with which we are
face to face In the readjustment of our
national life are of the most pressing
and critical character, will require for
their proper solution the most Intimate
and disinterested cooperation of all
parties and all interests, and cannot be
postponed without manifest peril to
our people and to all the national ad
vantages we hold most dear. . -
"The copper mines of Montana, Ari
zona, and Alaska,, for example, are be?
Ing kept open and In operation only
st a great cost and loss. In part upon
borrowed money; the zinc mines of
Missouri, Tennessee and Wisconsin are
betng operated ajt about one half their
capacity; the lead of Idaho, II
' llnols and Missouri reaches only a por
tion of it's former market. There Is
an Immediate need for cotton belting
and also for lubricating oil, which can-
. not be met, all because the channels
of trade are barred by war when there
Is" no war." The" same Is true ,ot raw
i cottonr of which, the central .empires
alone formerly purchased nearly four
';, million bales, and these are only exam
ples. There is hardly a. single raw
material, a single important foodstuff
or a single class of manufactured
goods which Is not in the same case.
Our full normal profitable production
: waits on peace.
"Our military plans, of course, wait
upon It, We cannot intelligently or
wisely decide how large a naval or
military force we shall maintain or
what our policy with regard to military
training is to be, until we have peace,
. not only; but also until we know bow
peace la to be sustained, whether by
the arms of single nation? or by the
concert of all the great people, and
. there It more than that difficulty In
volved., The vast surplus properties
of the army include, not' food and
clothing merely, whose sale will affect '
normal production, but great ..manu
facturing establishments also, which
should be restored to their former
uses, great stores of machine tools and
all sorts of merchandise which must ,
He idle until peace and military policy
are definitely determined. . ,
"The nations, that ratify the treaty, i
such as Great Britain, Belgium and
France, will be In a position to lay
their plans for controlling the markets
of Central Europe, without competi
tion from us, if we do not presently
act We have no consular agents, no
trade representatives there to look af
ter our interests. . ,
"There are large areas of Europe,
whose future will He uncertain and
questionable until their people know
the final settlements of peace and the
forces which are to administer and
sustain it Without determinate mar
kets, our production cannot proceed
with Intelligence or confidence, there
can be no easy or normal Industrial
credits because there can be no con
fidence or permanent revival of busi
ness. There can be no stabilisation of
wages because there can be no settled
condition of employment
"Every element of normal life
amongst us depends upon and awaits
the ratification of the treaty of peace,
and we cannot afford to lose a single
summer's day by not doing all that we
can to mitigate the winter's suffering,
which, unless we find means to pre
vent It, may prove disastrous to a large
portion of the world, and may, at Its
worst, bring upon Europe conditions
even more terrible than those brought
by the war Itself.
"Nothing, I am led to believe, stands
In the way of the ratification of the
treaty except doubts with reeard to
the meaning and Implication of certain
articles of the covenant of the League
of Nations; and I must frankly nav
that I am unable to understand why
such donbts should be entertained.
You will recall that when I had the
pleasure of a conference with your
committee and wtth the committee of
the house of representatives on foreign
affairs at the Whits Bouse In March
1 .
last the questions now frequently
asked about the league of nations wera
all canvassed with a view to their im
mediate clarification. The covenant of
the league was then In Its first draft
and subject to revision. It was pointed
out that do express recognition was
given to the Monroe doctrine, that It
was not expressly provided that the
league should have no authority to
act or to express a Judgment on mat
tert of domestic policy, that the right
to withdraw from the league was not
expressly recognized, and that the
constitutional rights of the congress to
determine all questions of peace and
war was not sufficiently safeguarded.
On my return to Paris all these mat
ters were taken up again by the com
mission on tne league of nations and
every suggestion of the United States
was accepted
"The view of the United States with
regards to the questions I have men
tioned had. In . fact already been ac
cepted by the commission and there
was supposed to be nothing Inconslst
ent with them In the draft of the cov
enant first adopted, the draft which
was the subject of our discussion In
March, but no objection was made to
anything explicitly In the text that all
had supposed to he Implicit In It. '
"The Monroe doctrine Is expressly
mentioned as an understanding which
Is In no way to be Impaired or Inter
fered with by anything contained la
the covenant and the expression 're
glonal understanding like the Monroe
doctrine' was used, not because any
one of the conference thought there
was any comparable agreement any
where efse In existence or in contem
plation, but only because It was
thought best to avoid the appearance
of dealing In such a document with
policy of a single nation.
"With regard to domestic questions.
Article XVI of the covenant expressly
provides that If In case of any dispute
arising between members of the league
the matter involved Is claimed by one
of the parties and .s found by the
council to arise out of a matter which
by International Inw Is solely within
the domestic Jurisdiction of that party,
the council shall so report and shall
make no recommendation as to Us set
tlement The United States was by no
means the only government Interested
In the explicit adoption of this provi
sion and there Is no doubt In the mind
of any authoritative student of inter
national law that such matters as Im
migration, tariffs and . naturalization
are Incontestlbly . domestic questions
with which no ' International body
could deal.
"The right of any state to withdraw
had been taken for granted, but no
objection was made to making It ex
plicit. Indeed, so soon as the views
expressed at the White House confer
ence were laid before the commission,
it was at once conceded that It was
best not to leave the answer to so Im
portant a question to Inference. No
proposal was made to set up any trl
bunal to pass Judgment with the
question whether a withdrawing na
tion has In fact fulfilled 'all Ifs Inter
national obligations and nil It's obli
gations under the covenant' It wos
recognized that question must be left
to be resolved by the conscience of the
nation proposing to withdraw; and I
must say that it did not seem to me
worth while to propose that the arti
cle be made more explicit because I
know thnt the United States would
never Itself propose to withdraw from
the league If it's conscience was not
entirely clear as to The fulfillment of
all It's International obligations. It
has never failed to fulfill them and
never will.
"Article X 1 In no respect of doubt
ful meaning when read In the light of
the covenant as a whole. The! coun
cil of the league can only 'advise
upon' the means by which the obliga
tions of that great article are to be
given effect to. Unless the United
States is a party to the policy or ac-
tute
b
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HARRY TTHEXJ9
DRAKE & DRAKE
OPTOJIETRISTS
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NOW
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Yours
KEEP-U-NEAT
Cleaners, Pressers, Tailors
tion In question, nor own amrmnme
vote In the council Is necessary before
any advice can be given for a unan
imous vote of the council Is required.
If she Is a party, the trouble Is here
anyhow, and the unanimous vote of
the council Is only advice In any cas.
Kach government Is free to reject It
if It pleases. Nothing could have
been made more clear to the confer
ence than the right of our congress
under our constitution to exercise It's
.Independent Judgment In all matters
of , peace and war. No attempt was
made to question or limit that right
The United States will, indeed, under
take under Article X to 'resjvect and
preserve as against external aggres
sion the territorial Integrity and ex
isting political independence of all
members of the league.' and that en
gagement constitutes a very grave
and solemn obligation. But It Is mor
al, not a legal obligation, and leaves
our congress absolutely free to put
it's own Interpretation upon It In all
cases that call for action. , . '.
"Article X seems to me to consti
the very huckbone of the -whole
covenant, without It the Irngue would
hardly more than an Influential de
bating society.
, "It has several times been suggest
ed. In public debate and In private
conference, that interpretations of the
sense In which the United States ac
cepts the engagements of the cove
nant should be embodied in the Instru
ment of ratification. There can be no
reasonable objection to show Interpre
tations accompanying the act of rat
ification provided they do not form a
part of the formal ratification Itself.
Rut If such Interpretations should con
stitute a part of the formal resolu
tion of ratification, long delays would
be the Inevitable consequence Inas
much as all the many governments
concerned would have to accept in
effect, the language of the senate as
the language of the treaty before rat
ification would be complete. The as
sent of the German assembly at Wei
mar would have to be obtained,
among the rest, and I must frankly
ay that I could only with the great
est reluctance, approach that assem
bly for permission to ratify the treaty
as we understand It and as those who
framed It quite certainly understand
It. If the United States were to qual
ify the document In any way, more
over, I am confident from what I know
of the many conferences nnd debates
which accompanied the formulation
of the treaty, that our example would
immediately be . followed In many
quarters, in some instances with .very
serious reservations, and that the
meaning ,and : operative force of the
treaty would ; presently be clouded
from one end of It's clauses to the
ether."
His Poor Start. ,
Fond Aunt'Tell me, William, did
you start In well at Harvard V Wil
liam "No, Auntie. I was suffering
from a slight coM." Harvard Lam
poon. ...
.The Original Stub Penn. ' V
"From a magazine article: "William
Penn was a short, stubby man."
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You know the House
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You can tell by the floor plan whether or not is ful
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Buy Coal Mow
You'll thereby be assured a supply for winter.
Otherwise you may experience difficulty obtaining it
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FOREST LUMBER GO.
WM. BEVINGTON, Manager.
We have customers for the following lands:
1st A 160-acre or 320-acre improved farm, with fair set
of buildings, in Box Butte county. Customer can
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2nd. From 160 acres to 640 acres of raw farming land in
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LLOYD C. THOMAS - - - F. A. BALD
Alliance National Bank Building, Alliance, Neb.
Wanted
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