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. "
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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.
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