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The Commoner
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VOL. 20, NO. 6
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President Asks Aid for Armenia
A Washington dispatch dated May 24, says:
Authority to accept for the United States a man
datory ovor Armenia was asked of congress to
day by Prosldont Wilson,
Tho proaidopt informed the senate that ho had
accepted tho invitation of tho allied supremo
council that ho undertake to arbitrate tho ques
tions of tho boundary botwoon Turkey and Ar
monla, saying ho had thought it his duty "to ac
cept this difll cult and delicate task."
Provision for mandates is mado in tho peace
treaty and it is sot forth that such mandates
shall bo exocutod under tho league of nations but
since tho United States is not a member, admin
istration ofllcials said if congress decided that
tho United Statos should act for Armenia
tho treaty provisions would be waived in this
case.
Tho quostion of a mandate over Armenia was
discussed in the report of tho American mission
to Armenia) headed by Major General Harbord,
recently presented to tho senate. Tho general
estimated that acceptance o"f the mandate would
necessitate tho presottco of fifty thousand Ameri
can troops thoro. Other estimates howover, havo
placed it at less, once the Turkish army had been
domobilizod. -
After referring to the senate resolution tho
president said;
"I received and road this document with great
interest and with genuine gratification, not only
becauso it embodied my own convictions and
Toolings with regard to Armenia and Jts people,
but also, and more particularly,, because it
seemed to mo tho voice of tho American people
expressing their genuine convictions and deep
Christian sympathies, and intimating the line of
duty which deemed to them to lio clearly before
us. r
"I cannot but regard it as providential and not
as a more casual coincidence, that almost at the
same time I received information, that tho con
ference of statesmen now sitting at San Romo
for tho purpose of working out the details of
peace with tho central powers which it was not
sfoasiblo to work out in the conference at Paris,
&ad formally resolved to address a definite ap
peal to this government to. accept a mandate
tfor Armenia. They were at pains to add they
did this not from, tho smallest desire to evado
any obligations which they might be expected to
.undortake, but because the responsibilities which
they are alroady obliged to bear in conriection
with the disposition of the former Ottoman
empire will strain their capacities to the utter
most and because that tho appearance on the
scone of a power emancipated from the pre
possessions of the old world will inspire a wider
confidence and afford a firmer guarantee for
stability in the future than would the selection
of any European power.
TRUST OF CIVILIZATION
"Early in the conference at Paris it was agreed
that to thoso colonies and territories which as '
a consequence of tho late war have ceased to.
be under tho sovereignty of the states which
formerly governed them, and which are in
habited by peoples not yet able to stand by them
selves under the strenuous conditions of t'he
modern world; there should bo applied the prin
ciple that tho well-being and development of
such peoples form a sacred trust of civilization
and that securities for tho performance of this
trust should bo afforded.
"It was recognized that certain communities
formerly belonging to the Turkish empire havo
reached a stage of development where their ex
istence as independent .nations can be provision
ally recognized, subject to the rendering of ad
ministrative advice and assistance by a mandat
ory until such time as they are able to stand
alone.
"It is in pursuance of this principle and with
a desire of affording Armenia such advice and
a.sslitnnce that .the statesmen "Conferring at San
Renio haye formally requested this government
to assume the duties of mandatory in Armenia.
At the same sitting it was resolved to request
the president of tho United States to undertake
tp arbitrate the difficult question ot the boundary
betweeen Turkey and Armenia and the Villayets
of Erzerum, Trebizond, Van andJBltlis, and it
was agreed to accept bJs decision thereupon, as
Weill as any stipulation he may prescribe as to
access to tho sea for tho independent state of
Armenia. In pursuance of this action, it was
resolved to einbody in tho treaty with Turkey
and Armenia and the other high contracting
parties agree to refer to the arbitration of the
president of the United Statos of America of. tho
question of the boundary between Turkey and
Armenia in tho Vilayets of Erzerum, Trebizond,
Van ffnd Bitlls, and to accept his decision there
upon a3 well as any stipulations he may proscribo
as to access to tho sea for tho independent state
of Armenia, pending that decision the boundaries
of Turkey and Armenia to remain as at present.
I have thought it my duty to accept this diffi
cult and delicate task.
ASKS CONGRESS TO GRANT POWER
"In response to the invitation of tho council
at San Remo, I urgently advise and request that
the congress grant the executive power to accept
for tho United States a mandate over Armenia.
I make this suggestion in the earnest belief that
it will be tho wish of the people of the United
States that this should be done. The sympathy
with Armenia has proceeded from no single por
tion of our people, ,but has como with extraord
inary spontanoity and sincerity from tho whole
of the great body of christian men and women
in this country by whose free will offerings Ar
menia has practically been saved at the most
critical juncture of its existence. This great and
generous people have made the cause of Armenia
thoir own. It is to this people and to their gov
ernment that the hope and earnest expectations
of the struggling people of Armenia turn as they
emerge from a period of indescribable suffering
and peril and I hope that the congress will think
it wise to meet the hope and expectation with
the utmost liberality. I know from unmistak
able evidence given by responsible representa
tives of many peoples struggling towards inde
pendence and peaceful life again that the govern
ment of tho United States is looked to with ex
traordinary trust and confidence, and I believe ,
it Would do nothing less than arrest the hopeful
processes of civilization if we were to refuse the
request tct become the helpful friends and ad
visers of such of these peoples as we may be au
thoritatively and formally requested to guide
and assist.
CRITICAL KIND OF TASK
"I am conscious, that I am urging upon the
congress a very critical choice, but I malce the'
suggestion in tho confidence that I am speaking
in the spirit and in accordance with tho wishes
of the greatest of the Christian peoples. Tho
sympathy for Armenia among our people has
sprung from untainted consciences, pure Chris
tain faith and an earnest desire to see Christian
people succored in their time fit suffering "and
lifted from their abject subjection and distress
and enabled to stand upon their feet antl take
their place among the free nations of the world.
Our recognition of the independence of Armenia
will mean genuine liberty and assured hap
piness for. her people if we fearlessly undertake
the duties of guidance and assistance involved
in- the functions of a mandatory. It is there
fore, with the most earnest hopefulness and with
the feeling that I am giving advice from which
the congress will not willingly turn away that
I urge tho acceptance of the investigation now
formally and solemnly extended us by the coun
cil at San Romo into whose hands has passed
the task of composing the many complexities
and difficulties of government in the one-time
Ottoman empire and the maintenance of order
and tolerable conditions of lifo in those portions
of that empire which it is no longer possible
in the interest of civilization to leave under the
government of the Turkish authorities themselves,",
PRESIDENT VETOES KNOX PEACE PLAN
The Knox resolution, restoring normal con
ditions without a formal treaty, and adopted
by both branches of congress, was vetoed by
President Wilson, May 27. A later effort to over
ride the veto failed. The full text of the veto
message follows:
"To the House of Representatives:
"I return, herOwith, without my signature
House Joint Resolution 327, intended to repeal
the joint resolution of April 6, 1917, declaring
a state of war to exist between the United
States and Germany, and the joint resolution
of Dec. 7,. 1917, declaring a state of war to or
1st between tho United States. and the Austrol
Hungarian Government, and to declare a stato
of peace. lo
"I havo not felt at liborty to sign this joint
resolution because I cannot bring myself to be
come party to an action which would place in
effaceable sttfin upon the gallantry and honor
of tho United Statos. Tho resolution seeks to
establish peace With the German Empire with
out exacting from the German Government any
action by way of setting? right the infinite
wrongs which it did to the peoples whom it at
tacked, and whom wo professed it our purpose
to assist when wo ent&red the war.
IS SACRIFICE IN VAIN?
i
'Havo wo sacrificed the Uvea of mnrA ,
100,000 Americans and ruined 'the lives of
thousands of others and brought upon thou
sands of American families an unhappiness that
can never end for purposes which wo do not now
care to state, or take further steps to attain?
The attainment of these purposes is provided for
in the Treaty of Versailles by terms deemed ade
quate by the leading statesmen and experts of
the great peoples who were associated in the
war against Germany. Do we not now care to
join in the effort to secure them?
"We entered the war most reluctantly. Our
people wore profoundly disinclined to take part
in a European war, and at last did so only be
cause thoy became convinced that it could not
in truth bo regarded as only a European war,
but must be regarded as a war in which civiliza
tion itself was involved and human rights of
every kind as against a belligerent Government.
Moreover, when we entered the war we set forth
very definitely tho purposes -for which we en
tered, partly because we did not wish to be con
sidered as merely taking part in a European
contest.
"This joint resolution which I return does
not seek to accomplish any of these objects,
but in effect raak'os a complete surrender of the
rights of the United States so far as the German
Government is concerned. A treaty, of peace
was signed at Versailles on the 28th day of Juno
last which did seek to acomplish the objects,
which we had declared, to bo in our minds, be
cause all tho great Governments and peoples
which united against Germany had adopted our
declarations of purpose as their own and had
in solemn form embodied them in communica
tions to the German Government preliminary to
the armistice of Nov. 11, 1918.
TREATY REJECTED BY SENATE
"But the treaty as signed at Versailles has
been rejected by the Senate of the United States,
though it has been ratified by Germany. By
that rejection and by its methods we had in ef
fect declared that we wish to draw apart and
pursue objects and interests of our own, un
hampered by any connections of interest or of
purpose with other Governments and peoples.
'Notwithstanding the fact that upon our en
trance into the war we professed to be seeking
to'assist in the maintenance of common interests
nothing is said in this resolution about the
freedom of navigation upon the seas, or the re
duction of armaments, or the vindication of the
rights of Belgium, or the rectification of wrongs
done to France, or the release of the Christian
populations of the Ottoman Empire from tho
intolerable subjugation which they have had for
so many generations to endure, or tho estab
lishment of an independent Polish state, or the
continued maintenance of any kind of a under
standing among the great powers of the world
which would b calculated to prevent in the fu
ture such outrages as Germany attempted and
in part-consummated,
"We have now in effect declared that we do
not care to take any further risks or to assume
any further responsibilities with Regard to the
freedom of nations or the sacredness of interna
tional obligations' or the safety of independent
peoples. Such a peace with Germany a peace
in which none of the essential interests which
we had at heart when wo entered the war is
safeguarded is, or ought to be, inconceivable;
is inconsistent with the dignity of the United
States, with the rights and liberties of her citi
zens, and with the very fundamental conditions
of civilization. v ,
"I hope that in thoso statements I have suf
ficiently set forth the Toasons why I have felt ic
incumbent upon me to withhold my signature.
(Signed) WOODROW WILSON.
"The White House,- May 27, 1920."
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