OCR Text |
Show ORflH ATTACKS 1 COHNTPL! Declares Amendment Re-ferring Re-ferring to Monroe Doc-i Doc-i trine Still Too Weak. daho Senator Gives Views on Revised Pact for World League. By WILLIAM E. BORAH. United States Senator From Idaho. WASHINGTON. May 'J. The president ii his address explanatory of the new o ven iint had this to say with reference o article XXI. which is the article that s supposed to preserve intact the Mon-ve Mon-ve docrrlne: "Article XXI is new." There s a wise old adage, that when you have inythin.c to say, he sure and say noth-n. noth-n. I take it that the silence of the presl-Icnt presl-Icnt upon this matter of such moment o the American people is due to the fact ha: he is unwilling to t:ike the responst-ili:y responst-ili:y of saying that this amendment was ;i;i":u'ient and equally unwilling to say anything hi--h mkht rndu!n'.'i the leauf. Th.e pivoUlcnt hu:t Unu: let It e Known that tie dos mn icaid the Monroe Mon-roe ditctrluo any lutim-r of Impnrtanci to t no A met lean people. At the sa me I line he realise (Nat there la a very Mroni; . st'Titimeut among (ho people i'r ltn prev-ervat prev-ervat ion. The only thing he eouUl do, t herofore, ximier the i'Iivuhin tames, was to nI in ply romaln .silent as to the effect of this construction and penult such construction con-struction to he placed upon It a a others, might see fit to place upon It. In order to rully understand why this peculiar lanmumo and this peculiar phraseology has been used It la necessary to go back a little. A Strong Propaganda. For the last fifteen years there hap been a very strong propaganda quiet ly carried on against the maintenance of the Monroe doctrine. This propaganda has its tm pet us in foreign count rios. From time to time articles have appeared and iirguments have been presented showing why It was no longer ossein lal to our welfare to ma In tain It. and how ami wherein It was calculated to create, ill-feeling ill-feeling with ot her people. When the conference at Versailles met, Lloyd George said, according to press report a. that Finland could afford to give up much in order to win America away from her traditional foreign polio-, meaning mean-ing the policy of Washington against entangling en-tangling alliances and the policy of Monroe. Mon-roe. When the first league constitution was presented, the Monroe doctrine was entirely surrendered. No effort was made therein to preserve it . Mr. Taf t and some of the other zealous supporters of the league attempted to convince the people t hat it w: s sufficient ly preserved by being extended to the whole world. Tint this position was abandoned.. It could ! not be maintained. The mere statement i of what the Monroe doctrine was an- I swered the argument of those who claimed it was preserved. ! Sentiment Overwhelming. J Then the covenant went hack for amendment and sen t! men t in favor of preserving the Monroe doctrine unmis-1 tji la hlv whs overw helming. Homo con-Mder.tt con-Mder.tt lun had to he en to II . I tut (lu re was a tiemeiidouH opposition ahrmd In its re. 'oe.ii It Ion. When an American rrprcM-n t;i 1 1 o of the League to Knfoiee IVaeo endeavored to Hceuro (ho Indorsement Indorse-ment of the I'higlish division of the I.etiMUe to Enforce J'eace of an amendnn nl to the c.ivenant providing for the Monroe Mon-roe doot rlne, it was rejected. Itot h t ho French and Kngllsh delegates to this meeting of the League to K n force- TVneo In IauiiIou objected, and also other nations. na-tions. The matter finally came before the conference at Versailles, and when it was first presented by the president, (ho press (lis Hit dies Inform us. t hero, were objections and it was very seriously serious-ly doubted whether anything etui Id be accomplished ac-complished in the way of preserving It. We do not know who objected and we do not know uuythlng about the ground of objection, because all this was in secret. A Vital Policy. While ono of hts most vital policies of our country was being considered, the people at large were not permitted to know the arguments pro and con upon the matter. So much for open diplomacy. Then it was reported Unit the president had finally succeeded after a great fight In preserving the Monroe doctrine by a verv narrow margin, and I presume It Is fair to say that the reason why this anaemic amendment was found In the league was because it was the best the j president could pet. Opposition to the Monroe doctrine was evidently no strong that nothing better could he had. It is not surprising that l.ord Cecil stated nt the time that there was. no objection ob-jection to tho amendment in the form in which it was adopted. I assume for the simple reason that in the form in which it was adopted it does not preserve thn Monroe doetrino at all. Article XXI says. "Nothing In this covenant shall bo deemed to affect the validity of international engagements, en-gagements, such as treaties of arbitration or regional understandings like tho Monroe Mon-roe doctrine, for securing the maintenance of peace." In the first place, everyone understands th:it the Monroe d-'.-ulne N not a regional re-gional uihlciMiaii'Hir-;. It la an individual national policy. It I the polkv of the t lilted States Jilone. It depends for ll vitality and Its e iMeuce upon no undei-Mauding undei-Mauding Willi hmv nation. It is the law of self-defense as applied lo a nut ion. Then urn added the wunla. "Fur curing the maintenance of peace. ' In ot'm-r wordn, the .Monroe docninc depends upon the decision of the e.ecutte council oj tho J.amie. It Is for Urn exeeullve council coun-cil to ilelrrmllio wtnui the Monroe, doclnne is In the Intercuts of p. -ace. This mtlHn subordinates tho Miinnni do'Mrlne entirely to the leaguu and tin rb-cislors of lho league. 1 am support ed In this con ten -tlou hv a statement put out by tho Hrll-ish Hrll-ish pea co delegation, April ".':, in which it Is declared; "Artleln XXI makes It clear I tiat the covenant Is not intended to abrogate or weaken any ot her a ki e-tnents e-tnents so long as they are consistent with Its own terms. Tho Monroe doctrine and similar understandings are- in this category." Significant Sentence. And then it concludes Us statement with this signifies nt sen i f nee : "Should any dispute as to the meaning of the latter (the Monroe doctrine) ever arise between American and Kuiopean powers, the league is there to settle It." This plainly states that the Monroe doe-trine doe-trine exists only so long as it is deemed consistent with tin; terms ami condltfcuis of the league const I tut Ion a ml tlia t thw council of the league Is to dctrumine when It is not consist out . The Monroe doctrine doc-trine may or may not be for the purpose of maintaining peace, liut even if it could bo said to be in the interests of peace it Is still for the executive council to determine deter-mine whether or not It Is. Houar I,aw stated that the Monroe doctrine doc-trine does not weaken the covenant. Does Not Weaken Covenant. The contention always was that the M on roe doctrine weakens the covenant. I that it was impossible to have the Monroe-doctrine Monroe-doctrine preserved without weakening the covenant, and for that reason serious oh. Jeotlons were made to it. Hut as It now exists it is not believed that it will weaken weak-en the covenant. Senator Hoot said a short time ago that to submit the Monroe doctrine to a tribunal tri-bunal composed of a majority of foreigners foreign-ers was to surrender it. That Is precisely what this amendment does. It leaves It to the discretion and to the Judgment of the executive council, which, of course, Is to destroy it. The only difference between be-tween the former covenant and this covenant cove-nant with reference to the Monroe doctrine doc-trine Is the difference between putting an epitaph upon a friend's tombstone or leav- I Ing it blank. |