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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1920)
f The Gdmmoiter VOL. 20, No. 3 President Wilson's Treaty Letter and French Criticism on, he negative side the report continues, 'and It is felt that better results could be obtained by taking positive action. To help this our mem bers should, by various means, establish closer contact with their Senators and assemblymen whenever opportunity affords, and even while the legislature is not in session. " ' vt T TTTp ?$ JW r 4 n r r fc. K The toxt of Prosldont Wilson's letter on the Poaco Treaty written in response to a request that ho Confer with Senator Simmons of North Carolina, in charge for the Democratic side of tho senato in curront negotiations for a compro mise, follows: "My Dear Senator Hitchcock: I understand one or two of you colleaguos do me the honor of desiring to know what my views are with ref erence to article 10 of the league of nations and tho effect upon the league of tho adoption of cer tain proposed reservations to that article: I welcomo tho opportunity to throw any light 1 can upon a subject which has become so singu larly bocloudod by misapprehensions and mis interpretations of ovory kind. "There is no escaping the moral obligations Which aro expressed in positive terms In this articlo of tho covonant Wo won a moral vic tory over Germany, far greater, even, than the -military victory won on tho field of battle, be cause tho opinion of tlio world swung to our support and tho support of the nations as sociated with us in tho groat struggle. It did so because of our common profession and prom ise that wo meant to ostablish an organization of poaco which should mak,e it certain that the combined power of free nations would check every invasion or right and, sprve to make peace and. justice tho more secure by affording a defin ite tribunal of opinion to .wltfc.li all must sub mit, and b'y which every international readjust " mont that cannot be amicably agreed upon by the peoples directly concerned shall ,be sanc tioned 1' CANNOfr IGOPJE SACREfi, OBLIGATION. "This promfse and assurance wero written into the preliminaries of 'the armistice' and into the preliminaries of the, peace itself and con stitute one of the most sacred obligations ever assumed by any nation or body of nations. It is unthinkable .that America should set the exam ple of ignoring such a. solemn 'moral engage-' ment. "I feel that I could not look tho soldiers of our gallant armies in the face again if I did not do everything in my power to remove every , obstacle in the way of the adoption of this par ticular articlo of tho covenant, because we made these pledges to them, as , well as to tho rest of the world, and it was to this cause they deemed themselves devoted in a spirit of cru saders. I should be forever unfaithful to them if I did not do my utmost, to fulfill tho high pur pose, for which they fought. "I think we can dismiss from our minds tho idea that it is necessary to stipulate in connet tion with article 10 tho constitutional methods we 'should Use in fulfilling our obligations un der it. We gain nothing by such stipulation and fieouro nothing not already secured. It was un derstood as a matter of course at the confer ence in Paris that whatever obligations any government assumed or whatever duties It un dertook under the treaty Would have to bo ful filled by its usual and established constitution al methods of action. Once or twice in meetings of tho conference, when the treaty was under consideration, reservations' wore made to that . effect by the representatives of individual pow ers, and thse 'reservations' were invariably re ceived in the way in which mon who have met for business and not for talk always receive acta of scrupulous supererogation listened to with . indifferent silence, as such mon listen to what 4s a matter of. course and was not necessary to say. NO OBJECTION TO INTERPRETATION "There can bo no objection to explainirfcr again . what our constitutional method is and that our congress alone can declare war or determine the . causes or occasions for w,ar and that it alone can authorize the use of the armed forces. ..of tho :- "United States on land or .the sea. Butto -make such a declaration would certainly be a work of supererogation. v . . . "I am sorry to say reservations that havocome under my notice are almost without exception no,t Interpretations, of the articles to which it is rnronoscd to attach them, hut in xtxr'kf -I-..-'. .nullifications otH&ose articled. . - .- "Any. reservations which seek to deprive tho league of nations of the force of articlo 10 cuts at tho very heart and life of the covenant Itself. Any league of nations which does not guarantee as a matter of Incontestible right tho political In dependence and integrity of each of its members might be hardly more than a futile scrap of paper, as ineffective in orperatton as tho agree ment between Belgium and Germany which tho Germans violated in 1914. Article 10 represents tho renunciation by Great Britain and Japan, which before the war had begun to find so many interests in common in the Pacific; by France, by Italy, by all tho great fighting powers of the world of the Old pretensions of political conquest and territorial aggrandisement. NEW DOCTRINE IN WORLD AFFAIRS "It is a new doctrine in the world's affairs and must be recognized or there is no secure basis for the peace which the world so longingly ae sires and so desperately needs. If article 10 is not adopted and acted upon, the governments which reject it will, I think, bo guilty of bad faith to their people whom they induced to make tho infinite sacrifices of tho war by the pledge that they would be fighting to redeem the world from the old order of force and aggression. They will be acting also in bad faith to the opinion or the world at largo to which they appealed for support in a concerted stand against the aggres sions and protestations of Germany. If we were to reject article jTo, or so weaken it as to take its full force out of it, it would mark us a desir ing to return to the old world of jealous rivalry and misunderstandings from Which' our' gallant soldiers have rescued us, and would leave us without any vision or new conception of justice and peace. We would have learned no lesson from the war but gained only the regret that it had involved us in its maelstrom of suffering. If America has awakened, as the rest of the world has, to the vision of a new day in which the mis takes of the past aro to be corrected, it will wel come the onnortunity to share the responsibil ities of article 10. "It must riot be forgotten, senator, that this article constitutes a renunciation of wrong am bition on the , part of powerful nations with trhom-'we were associated in the war. It Is by no (Continued on Page 14.) 4 THE PROFITEER IN THE LOBBY In a now item published below, the New York World calls attention to the successful lobbying carried on by the wholesalev grocers. The peo ple will soon know why it is so hard to get leg islative action against the profiteers. The item reads: "The gentle art of lobbying as it is practised by dealers' associations was revealed in a report for the year read before the Now York Whole sale Grocers' association, in annual convention at the Hotel Astor, by Philip C. Staib, chairman of the committee on legislation. "The association opposed thirty-one bills in troduced in the assembly, according to the re port, and only one of these was passed, and 'that affected us indirectly.' "Mr. Staib road a list of food bills the as. sociation opposed, and the majority of which w,e! ki11J?d in C0ImUtee. Here is his account of the fate of a bill designed to give the Depart ment of Farms and Markets power to 'inspect and supervise all factories, plants or places where food products to be sold or offered to the public are manufactured and to adopt such , rules as may be determined relative to the. Ban .,itary condition of such plants and places.' . Passed Assembly and went to third readin- . in Senate April 5 Sent telegrams to mom Zs urging to wire their Senators. H. M. F. (Her- '.'Other bills opposed -and kiiled by the associa tion were those empowering municipalities to buy and sell fpod products M cost, and those . .imposing restrictions on the grading anS-nniX. . in& of food products. traing and pack- ' " ".'Despite the direct benefits "to. our 'memw your.commiiteeeelshats vfrori iSu?h PRESIDENT'S LETTER TO' SECRETARY BAKER URGING CAUCUS NOT TO MAKE TRAINING A PARTY ISSUE . Following is the text of the' letter of President Wilson to Secretary Baker, which was read at the House caucus February 9 : ' The White House, Washington, Fob,, 7, 1920. Dear Mr. Secretary: I am told that a caucus of the Democratic members of the House of Representatives has been called to consider pending military legisla tion, and the suggestion has been made that a resolution bo adopted committing the Demo cratic membership of the House against the policy of general .military training. In the pres ent circumstances it would seem to me unfor tunate to make a party issue' upon this subject, particularly since within a few months the party will assemble in convention and declare the prin ciples upon which it deems it wise to commit it self in a national election. The present disturbed state of the world does not permit such sureness with regard to Amer ica's obligations as to allow us lightly to decide upon this great question upon purely military grounds, while the demonstrated advantage to the, use of the country which came from mili tary service in the war plainly suggest that in the national interest, quite apart from military considerations, the moderate and carefully con ducted course of military training may have the highest possible advantages. In our discussion of 'the subject you will recall I gave my approval in principle to the various very moderate training projects suggested by the General Staff, and I -would be very glad to have you conyey to appropriate ' members of the House, who will attend" the caucus, my strong feeling against action by the caucus which will tend to interpose an arbitrary party determina tion to the consideration, Which this subject 9 should receive from the hest thought of the members of the House; considering alike the na tional emergencies which may confront us and the great disciplinary and other advantages which such a system plainly promises for the young "men of the country. Cordially and -sincerely yours, . WOODROW WILSON. MR. BRYAN AND THE "WETS" Whatever of hope the "wets"' may have of securing a modification of 'the laws to suppress " the liquor traffic will not be fdrwarded in any ' degree by, onslaughts on William Jennings Bryan. He' is irrevocably committed to prohibi tion, and he has all but pledged his party to that,cnd. In fact, he is reported to have "announced that the platform to be adopted at San Francisco will" contain a "dry" plank. If that be true, the malcontents may; as well make up their minds that the camel and the donkey will- together pull the Democratic band wagon as far is'it goes in the procession uext fall. Tho revolt to be headed by Governor Edwards of New Jersey may come to paps, hut it will not affect the purpose of the great commoner, who et his face towards the goal of a dry America long ago, and who has actually achieved what he undertook to bring about. The country is , definitely dry, and, as the Baltimore American aptly says, the dying groans ' of the rum demon are not music but exasperating to the ears of Mr. Bryan.Omaha Bee. SENATOR GORE ON UNIVERSAL COMPUL SORY MILITARY TRAINING Washington -Feb. 28, 1920. I hope that the Presidents letter to Secretary Baker on behalf of universal compulsory mili- tary training will not be regarded as committing : the Democratic party to that principle. It is al ways pleasant to agree with the President, - particularly with the President 'of your own po litical faith. But I am apposed to universal com pulsory military training: ' t I- regard such training as'the ogg of militar ism and I want to crush militarismitt the shell. I don'trwant it -ever tov hatch 'out its hateful brood in this land of the freev-tft ishard enough foMhc' farmers now to. knepvlabo on the farm. These draining camps would cause .another ex- r odus of 'the farm boys from the farm.'" -.'".'...- ,Tv-P. GORE. rt&,t.MiJk a WuA.a-. ti .'i$tx 1