The Dominion. SATURDAY, AUGUST 2, 1319. AMERICA AND THE LEAGUE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 263, 2 August 1919, Page 6

The Dominion. SATURDAY, AUGUST 2, 1319. AMERICA AND THE LEAGUE

Presumably the United Slates Senate will come very soon to a decision regarding the Treaty of Versailles. The absence meantime of specific'news on the subject leaves several things open to conjecture. The- news service ma-y beat fault in leaving important developments unreported, or, on the other hand, the campaign in which Republican Senators arc attempting to secure the separation of the League of Nations Covenant from the Treaty may have lapsed tome w : ceks __ ago into a condition oE stalemate. Even, however, if affairs have taken this course it is likely that the cablegrams of late have passed over some aspects of the situation which voiild have been well worth reporting. The last reference to the Senate campaign was a message outlining certain ' proposals by Ex : Presjdent Tact for the modification of the League Covenant... Apparently he is attempting to establish grounds of compromise on which supporters and opponents of the League would he able to meet, but there • is difficulty at the moment in placing his action in true /elation and perspective with the situation as it was last more or less dearly defined in its details. As long ago as the middle of June interest centred, so far as the Senate controversy was concerned, in _ the Knox resolution. . This consisted of a set of proposals drafted by Senator Knox, one of the Republican leaders, and a former Secretary of State and Attorney-General ol v the United States. After undergoing amendment it w : as transmitted to the Senate by an S to 7 vote of the Foreign Affairs _ Committee. In its amended form it was sum-, marised as follows by a leading American newspaper: (1) That the United States went to war to correct the wrongs! committed against 'this' Government by Germany; and that (ho sol" idea, of thi6 Government in making peace is to satisfy the purposes for which the United States went to war. ■ ri) That no treaty will be acceptable to the United States -which in -effect nmends the Constitdlion of the United States. , (:»■ That Hie Treaty of Pence be separate from the League of Nations Covenant, and ■■lusit a diplomatic, coinmission be substituted for the League of Nations .without prejudice until Mich tiino'as thorough consideration can be given tii the League. (i) The three foregoing limitations are intended to facilitate the actual making of peace, and will not afreet tho League of Nations, which is left for later discussion, i I It was pointed out by an American commentator that the resolution was adroitly drawn with an eye to gaining the support of sevc-l ral distinct classes of opinion, but! the surprising thing is that the cablegrams have had nothing to say about the Knox resolution since it was' passed on to the Senate by the Foreign Relations Committee.

This silence on the whole bears out the opinion expressed six weeks ago by various American observers that in spite of their aggressive attituclo the Republican leaders were by no means anxious to carry the Knox resolution to a vote in the Senate or in any respect to commit themselves to definite and irrevocable hostility to the League of Nations. It is certain that they had before their eyes some excellent reasons lor abstaining from any such extreme action. For 1 instance, shortly after the Knox "Yfolntion passed the Foreign delations Committee a petition urging the early ratification of the Treaty was presented to' the Senators of New York State by twentyeight Republicans of national prominence, one of them (Mil. Wickersham) an ex-Attorncy-General and another a brother ot Ex-President T.aft. The petition declared that the.Republican Party could not justly be placed "in an attitude of hostility, to the project adopted by the Conference at. Paris for-the extension of the principle to all the Associated Nations for the purpose of averting all preventiblc wars." It urged "that the Treaty containing the Peace Covenant be promptly ratified by the Senate without attempting to embarrass it by amend; ment, thus delaying the conclusion of peace and the establishment of a great agency for'its future preservation." Ample evidence ' appears in American files recently to hand that this is not an isolated" incident and that the view is. general that the 'Republican-• representatives in. Congress, and. particularly in (he Senate, could take no more certain way .of spoiling their party's; otherwise bright prospects for. the" campaign of 1920 than by persisting, in their opposition to the acceptance of ihe League Covenant as an 'integral part of- the Treaty of Versailles. It was reported towards the end of June that Mr. W. Hays, chairman of the Republican National (I'ommittec, had betaken him-!-elf. to Washington for a month with no other object than that of preventing such a blunder by_ his party. Party interest is not in itself a high-souled motive, but its operation is significant in the present case because the aim plainly js to advance, party interests by" supporting the policy which the nation favours. The attempt to separate the League Covenant from the Treaty is not, of course, condemned in the Republican ranks only on interested grounds. The Republican New York Outlook, ior instance, looks.directly to the merits of the case. Without claiming that l-hf T.pamm of Nations is nprfocfc. it

uie League ox is pericci, ig maintains that it:i constitution is tho only plan proposed for Mm purpose of enabling civilised nations to combine to protect each other from robber nations. "The remote perils feared by the opponents of the. i.eayue of Nations," it obs"rvcd on a reeent occasion, "scein to us far less than the inevitable perils involved in a rctnrn to the old policy of National isolation."

Carriod to Us logical conclusion the attitude of the. Republican Scn;rtors who oppose tin- League of Nations would lead up to an appeal to the American people on international as distinct from domestic policy. It-is generally agreed that the Senate cannot in any vital particular, amend the. Treaty without forcing the issue to this extent. It, remains probable, however, that the Republican Senators will stop short of this extreme, and it is not unlikely that the. main trend in Washington at present is towards a compromise. As a step in this direction Ex-Presidfa'l T.-uts proposals 0 transmitted a day or two ago, do not- loolt particularly hopeful. Some of his points, for

instance liis objection lo flic simultaneous representation of 'BriUin hikl nny of her Dominions on l-lie uoaguc 'Jouncil, in:iy be fairly eniitled i.o consideration. But, it is difficuU lo find reasonable justificition 'for other suggested reservations which would serio.isly weaken the constitution of Ihe League. With flic whole, position_ in regard lo the Senate's action still open so far as definite information goes, it may bo of interest tu_ cite the following confident opinion expressed i;y David L,uvrenck,_ a well-known .ind well-informed Washington correspondent, in regard to the courseevents are destined to take: "The Peace Treaty creating a League of Nations and settling . the war with.Germany will be presented to the Seivite . . . and the pact will he ratified, League of Nations and all. with ."crtain reservations. When they get through donating the reservations and put them in the ratifying resolution, bets are better than even that I'iiesident Wilson himself will find 'he reservations unobjectionable, and the season of absurdity will come to an undraifiatic and unceremonious end.'