The Dominion SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1919. OSTRICHES OR EAGLES?

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 299, 13 September 1919, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1919. OSTRICHES OR EAGLES?

President Wilson spoke . with point and force when ho said the other day in' refcrcncc to the current debate on the Peace Treaty that the citizens of the United States must cither be provincials or statesmen, either ostriches or eagles. Ifc will be a'sad' reflection 911 the intelligence of the American .people 'if they allow the tangle of talk that has' arisen over the objections of Republican Senators to the League of Nations Covenant to in any way obsfcure the simple issue set before them. The whole question raised is whether the American nation is to co-operate in maintaining the i-cace of the world or to. adojjt the ostrich tactics of hiding its head from troubles which certainly' will not be averted by that method. T.hp/establishment of the League is the only hopeful method' in sight of bringing security into the world, and in light- of. that cardinal fact the elaborate efforts of.-Republican Senators to whittle, down the Covenant marks-' them as men too small iu.spirit, and outlook for the problems _ of .'their day. A cablegram published 011 Thursday stated that the Senate has received a report .from its Foreign Relation's Committee submitting .forty-five amendments to the Treaty and four reservation? The reservations relate to the right of withdrawal from the League, the right to refuse the obligations of Article X (guaranteeing the territorial integrity of League members against external aggression) unless Congress decides to the contrary, the right of the United States to deride what .constitute domestic questions, and absolute' reservation of questions connected with the Monroe Doctrine , to the judgment of the United States. . As to Article X, President Wilson has expressed an opinion that nothing in the Treaty or League would bind the United States to act if Congress did not-wish to do so. All the Kxec.utive would do, he contends, would be to recommend action, and Congress would exercise its Constitutibna) function to agree br disagree with" the Executive, !Fhen, again, not' President Wilson only, but British and other authorities of the highest standing have declared that it is foreign to the purpose of the League, to interfere 111 the do mesfcic affairs of any nation. These tilings understood, it 'would appear that reservations recommended by the Foreign Relations Committee arc already met in the League Covenant as it stands. In these matters and others everything depends upon the precise wording of the reservation? and amendments No, doubt som'c of, the I Republicans are' intent upon hedg-' ing_ America's' adhesion to the I League with so many, restrictions that it would be,, adhesion only in name, but the. cable message, which has been quoted does not show exactly how far they have gone in tliiß direction,- _ One of the amendments asked for is the abolition of . the separate voting power.-on . -the League of the-British-Dominions. This is a matter'in which some concession may be possible. ~ It has to be_ recognised th'&t the Dominions enjoy a semi-independent status, and are likely to grow rapidly in population and importance, but some limitation of the arrangement under which each Dominion enjoys in the League all the rights, of a small sovereign State, may be advisable for the time being. _ In the main, however, the objections of the Republican Senators are those of men who are dialing in a petty way wifcla great issues. Their campaign shows many streaks of party feeling _ and ' of animus against the President, partly accounted for by his-failure to consult the Sonatc while the peace negotiations were in -progress: " But for the impetus it. derives in this way the Republican campaign would probably have- collapsed before now' from infernal weakness. It rests npon essentially negative criticism of the Treaty and League, and offers the American people no attractive substitute lor co-operation in a world organisation to uphold peace. What jt does offer tlienij'as an alternative to effective membership of the League, is friendless isolation in a world shadowed with the possibility of even more terrible wars thanthat .which lately ended. It is quite evident :that the League of Nations will arise, if at all, as the result of voluntary co-operation between the great nations of the world, and that- the quibbling contentions of the Republican Senators amount to little better than an evasion of the real issues at stake. Before he set out on the tour on which he. is now engaged Pjiesidknt Wilson was. counselled by his friends to place his reasons and hit* facts in regard to the. Leagw> squarely, exhaustively, and simply before the American- people. To appearance, as far as can be judged from brief cablegrams, ' lie is doing these things very successfully. In his speeches he has thrown into high relief the strength of his own case and the weakness of the ease upheld by his opponents. He is able to set in effective contrast a policy of constructive effort _ in the interests of peace and a policy of.mcrc drift. There is evident weight in the argument he has freely used that hopes of correcting what is at fault in the Treaty, as in the case of Shantung, centre in the establishment of the League of Nations. It would be interesting to know in what manner j Sunatoii Lodgh and his supporters■' propose to secure full justice to China should they succeed, in- suppressing the League of Nations or

reducing it lo a shadow. It is the more >ikcly th.it the American people will respond in the' right spirit to the President's appeal since the llepublieaii!! are not by any means a happy and united family as a party, or even in the Senate, in their'opposition to the Leaguo Covenant. The .Republicans are in a majority of two in the Senate, and rcccntly it was reported that seven of their number were conferring with a view to drawing up "mild" reservations which- they hoped the Democrats and the President would accept. It seems very probable that this movement will pxtend. A two-thirds majority is needed lo ratify the Treaty, and President AVilson lias contended that an equal majority is needed to amend it. It seems fairly certain in any case that after all their manoeuvring Sknatoji Lodge and his supporters will find themselves faced by the plain question of ratifying or rejecting the Treaty,'with the League Covenant, substantially as it stands.