Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-12-28 | Page 26 | Time to Act

TIME TO ACT. It is now said Unit the peace treaty nnil the, lea;;iio of nations covenant will hf; ratified by Uio senate shortly after eungress reconvenes. Tho K.'publican lnild reservaticiniata have told Chairman .nilj;o of the fornijrn relations com-ndtl.ee com-ndtl.ee that the timo lias coino to part company with tlioso who seek to defeat tlto league, and the Democrats aro pre-' paring to givo up tho idea of securing ratification of tho covenant without qualifications and interpretations. It in a known fact that a great majority oC the people of tho country earnestly favor ratification nml they aro mak-iujC mak-iujC an insistent demand that the senators sen-ators ceaso playing football with the sivlomu pact entored into at Versailles, fheso demands aro being mado upon moral grounds, by God-fearing Christians Chris-tians who lovo their fcllownien. Almost Al-most oqually strong demands for ratification ratifi-cation have been coming from tho big business men of the United States. This infhuenco is usually potent, even such hidebound politicians as Senator Lodgo being susceptible when it is vigorously vig-orously applied. Taken together, the two forces are practically irresistible and wo incline lo tho belief that tho treaty and covenant cov-enant will be adopted by tho senate, wilh tho Lodge reservations materially mate-rially modified. Tho president will havo no part in tho negotiations between tho Republican and Domooratie senators, and it is not probablo that his wishes in tho premises will be given any great amount of consideration. At the samo time, care will be exercised in order to mako certain that tho reservations do not destroy tho treaty and covenant. Tt is a great pity that tho men of moderalo views did not get together and arrange for ratification months ago. The delay has dono an incalculable incalcula-ble amount of harm to the cause of humanity and tho influence of the Vuitcd States all over the world has been greatly lessened. Some of the lost grouud can bo regained by prompt action when the senate meets aftor the holiday Teeess. The dispatches slate that Senator Hiram Johnson, who lias presidential aspirations and who has been laying political po-litical wires in California for somo time past, will rolurn to "Washington at once to join Knox, Borah, Poiudexter and lieed in an attempt to defeat ratification. ratifica-tion. Johnson lias gained somo notoriety noto-riety by reason of his vicious assaults upon tho covenant, but ho has not made any political friends. If the moderates among the Republicans and Democrats are really determined to end tho fight over tho treaty the California senator and oilier members of what has been aptly termed the "battalion of death," will not bo allowed to delay matters on tho floor of tho senate. Statesmanship is the greatest need of the country at the present time and the violent partisans par-tisans should take notice.