The Dominion TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1919. TURNING BACK?

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 46, 18 November 1919, Page 6

The Dominion TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1919. TURNING BACK?

f The United States Senate, as far as can be judged from available reports, has capped an interminable discussion on the Peace Treaty by a decision which is hardly distinguished from ( the definite rejection of that document. .A cablegram published on Saturday stated that tho Senate, by 46 votes to 33, had adopted the Foreign Kelations Committee's ( reservation to Article X. This is the article under which signatories to the Treaty undertake to respect and preserve from external aggression the territorial integrity of other States. The reservation proposed by the Foreign Relations Committee, which 'the Senate is now said to have adopted.- runs as follows:— The United States declines to assume, under the provisions of Article X, or any other article, any obligation to proservo the territorial integrity or political independence of any other country or to interfere in controversies between other nations whether members of tho League or, not, or to employ the military or-ninal forces of tho United States iii such controversies, or to adopt economic measures for tho protection of any other ooiintry, whether a member of the Loaguo or not, against external aggression, or for the purpose of coercing any other country or for the purpose of intervention in the internal conflicts or other controversies which may 'arise in any other'country, and no mandate shall bo accepted by the United States, yjidor Article XXII, Part I, of the Treaty of Peace with 'Germany, except by tho nction or joint resolution of the Congress , of the United States. When it was presented this reservation was denounced by the minority members of "the Foreign Eolation's Committee. In a report submitted to the Senate they declared that their majority associates, while, professing to wish to amend the Treaty, were actually bent on its destruction. Independent newspapers also were outspoken in condemnation. The New York Globe, for instance, observed that: If this reservation i« presented to tho Senate it will be rejected by every Senator who wnnts a League that nhnl'l bd little more than a ladies' bcwiuk circle. If it could be, by soino disastrous mimclo, approved by two-thirds of tho Senate, Mr. Wilson, provided ho continued, to believo' in a League Of Nations, would have no recourse but to refuse to sign. . . . One's respect for Senators who have not tho courage* to denounce the entire project, but who cover up (heir real attitude with this shabby ffawuent of feigned acceptance, must diminish. The reservation can be regarded as nothing else than an attempt to so whittle down the obligations of the United States as to make its ratification of the Treaty a dead letter. As the Treaty stands, the Council of the League could advise the use of force under Article X only by the unanimous agreement of it's members. This section ' of thu Treaty in fact is based upon an assumption that the conscience and judgment of the members of the League would induce them to take the right course unitedly in an emergency. It has tho effect less of imposing obligations than of setting up the machinery which would make it possible, should the need arise, to take united action, at short notice, in the interests- of peace. Such machinery, created years ago, might have averted the late war. On the other hand, if the United States refuses to assume the measure of obligation imposed by Article X prospects of maintaining the rleace of the world in years to come will be dangerously impaired. If the Senate is allowed to enforce its reservation the American people will incur the odium which rests on those who,- having set their hands to the plough, turn back. It is difficult to believe, that a great and proud nation will sink to such pitiful poltroonery, such an abject repudiation of responsibility, after being stirred to effort in a just war. _ As a matter of fact, the. news as it stands presents sonic puzzling features, and the adoption of the reservation in any case cannot Iks accepted as America's last word on. the Treaty. The approval of the reservation is markedly inconsistent with some earlier reported decisions of the Senate, and the figures oi voting—46 to 33—are also surpris- i ing. In the Senate of 96 members there are 49 Republicans and 47 Democrats. Several of the latter are numbered amongst the opponents of the Treaty, but according to the latest detailed information available seven or eight Republican Senators arc firmly opposed to any* thing more than mild reservations. More lhan half the Senate might thus have been expected tu vote against such a reservation as >s now reported to have'been carried It is noteworthy, also, that even 33 Senators—and there is not the slightest reason to suppose that the supporters of the Treaty have been reduced to that number—could block the ratification of the Treaty in its amended form if they so desired. Kaiiification.requires a twnthirds majority, so that it is still open to the Democrats to impose upon the opponents of the Treaty' the full responsibility of rejecting it, or accepting it without material nmcnd'iiont. Then, again, there is the possibility mentioned by the Globe that tho Pherident may refuse to sign a mutilated Treaty. In one way or another the present situation, if it is correctly defined, may culminate in an appeal to tlio country. But for the extent to which the position is complicated by President Wilson's breakdown the Republicans would have littk to hope from that course. Tlioir majorities in Congress wore obtained in a contest over domestic issues, and they have misused the power thus pained in opposing such a peace settlement as public: sent*menl, demands. The, best proof of the fact is that strong demands have

been raised within the ranks of the Ilopublican Party for the unconditional ratification of the Treaty. Plain evidence is available also of the extent to which the Republican leaders in Congress arc governed by politicnl animus, and have gone back on their own previously-ex-pressed convictions in regard to peace. For instance, Senatoii IjOhoe, who leads the Republicans in Hie Senate, said in 1918: — We must do our share to carry out the peace as wo have dono our nliare to win the war. ... Wo cannot escape doing our part in aiding tho peoples to whom we have helped to give freedom and independence in establishing themselves with ordered governments, for in iio other way I viiii we erect the barriers which are essential to prevent another outbreak by Germany upon the world. We cannot leave the Jtigo-Slavs,. tho Czocho-Slovnks, and the Polos, tho Lithuanians, and the other States which we hope to Bee formed and inarching upon the path of progress and development, unnideo! and alone. The same Senator when he spoke recently on the Fall amendments (providing, that the United States should take no part in the work of international commissions under the Treaty) spoke as follows: — . I do not see why we should take up tho burden of settling boundaries' all over Europe Loavo it to Europe to do.' A policy which falls so far short even of common honesty could hardly be defende'd in an appeal to the. people, and for that and other reasons it is possible to hope that the American people have by no means sjiid their last word on the Treaty. Short' of some, unexpected turn of events, however, protracted delay by the United States which will seriously handicap the work of world reconstruction seems now to bo inevitable. The Allies are bound to proceed with the enforcement of the Treaty and the, constitution of .the League of Nations while America, for the time at least, stands ingloriously apart. Britain, France, and Italy have ratified the Treaty. Japan was .reported recently to have done so, arid though the report was subsequently said to be premature it is likely that she has either ratified or is on tho point of doing so. An early convocation of the League of Nations is' imperatively necessary in order that tho Allies may give such treatment as they demand to questions of pressing urgency,- such as the Adriatic dispute and tho trouble between Rumania and Hum gary. The .reported submission of Rumania to the Supreme Council is an encouraging indication that even with America standing apart ths Allies are rapidly completing an organisation which will enable them to do effective work in the interests of peace and settled order.