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Show BORAH ATTACKS GOVERNMENT PLAN (By William E. Borah) ' WASHINGTON, D. C, May 2. The President In his address explanatory explan-atory of jthe now covenant had this to say with reference to article XXI which Is tho article that Is supposed to, preserve Intact the Monroe doctrine: doc-trine: "Artlle XXI Is now." There Is a wise old adage that' when you) have anything to say, bo sure and say nothing. I tako It that tho silence of tho president upon this matter of such moment to tho American people Is duo to.the fact that ho Is unwilling to tako tho responsibility of saying that this amendment was sufficient and cqullly unwlllng to say anything which might endanger tho league. Tho President has long let It bo known that ho docs not regard tho Monroo doctrine any longer of Importance Im-portance to tho American people. At the same tlmo ho realizes that there Is a very strong sentiment among tho people for Its preservation. Tho only thing he could do .therefore, ' under the circumstances, was to sim ply remain silent as to the effect ot ' this reconstruction and permit such ' construction to be placed upon It as' others might see fit to place upon It. ' i5Jftprtlerto fully 'understand why' this peculalr language and this pe- t i cullar phraseology has been used U' Is necessary to go back a little. A STRONG PROPAGANDA For the last fifteen years there has been a very strong propaganda quiet- ly carried on against the maintenance of the Monroe doctrine. Thlapropa-gan'da Thlapropa-gan'da has Us Impetus In foreign countries. From time to time articles arti-cles havo appeared and arguments have been presented showing why It was no longer essential to our welfare wel-fare tb maintain it, and how and whoreln It was calculated to create HI feeling wlih other people. When tho conference at Versalllec met, Lloyd Georgo 'said, according to press. reports, that England could afford af-ford to glvo us much In order to win America .away from her traditional foreign policy, meaning the -policy of Washington ngalnBt entangling alliances and tho policy of Monroo. Whon tho first league ; constitution was presented, tho Monroo doctrlno ! was entirely surrendered. No off-ort off-ort was made therein to prcsorvo It. Mr. Taf t and somo of the others zealous zea-lous supporters of tho loaguo attemp tod to convlnco tho people that It was suttlccntly prosorved by being extended to tho wholo world. But. thin position was nbandoncd. It. could not. bo maintained. Tho mere statement of what tho Monroe doctrine doct-rine was answered tho argumont of those who claimed it was preserved. SENTIMENT OVERWHELMING. Then tho covenant went back for amendment and sentiment in favor of prosorvlng tho Monroo doctrlno unmistakably un-mistakably was overwhelming. Somo consideration had to bo given to It. But thoro was a tremendous opposition oppos-ition abroad to its recognition When an American representative of the Lcaguo to Enforce Peace endeavored to securo tho Indorsement of tho Indorsement of tho English division of tho Leaguo to Enforce Peace of an nmondment to tho covenant provld-lg provld-lg for tho Monroo doctrno It was rejected. re-jected. Both tho Fronch and English Eng-lish dolegates to this meeting ot tho Lcaguo to Enforce Pcaco In London objected, and also other nations. Tho matter finality came beforo tho conference at Versailles, and whon it was first presented by tho president, presi-dent, tho prcss.dlpnatches Inform us there wciro objections and it was very seriously doubted whether anything could bo accomplished In tho way of preserving it. Wo do not know who objoctod and wo do not know anything any-thing about tho grounds of objection becauso all this was In secret. A VITAL rOLIOT. While one ot tho most vltafpollclcfl of our country was being considered, the people nt largo were not permitted permitt-ed to know tho arguments pro nnd con upon the matter,. So much for open dlpomacy then it was reported that the president had finally succeeded succ-eeded after agreat fight In presorting presort-ing the Monroo doctrine by a v'vcry narrow margin, and '1 presUme It Is fair to say that' tho reason "why this anaemic amendment was found In I ' 'the league was becauso It was the best the president could get. Oppo- . V"" ? sltlon' to the Monroo doctrlno was cr-I cr-I ' " -1 'ldently so strong that nothing better could bo had. It is not surprising that Lord .Cecil stated at the tlmo that there, was no 'objection to tho amendment In tho I 'form lnwhlchytwas ndoptod. I ns- sumo for tho'slruplo reason that In. the form In which" It was adopted It docs ot prcsorvo the Monroo doctrlno at all. Artlclo xxl says, "Nothing in this covenant shall be deemed to affect tbo validity of interesting oni gagements, such as treaties o arbitration arb-itration or regional understandings Uko tho Monroo doctrine, for' securing secur-ing tho malntalnanco of peace.- In tho first place, overyono understands under-stands that the Monroe doctrine is not a regional understanding. It is an Individual' national policy. It Is' 'the policy of' the United States alone. ' It depends for its vitality and Its ex-' lstcnce upon no understanding with' any nation. It is the law ot self defense de-fense as applied to a nation. Then are added the words, "For securing tho -maintenance ot peace." In other words the Monroe doctrine 'depends upon the declslonof the executive, council of the league. It Js for the' executive council in the Interests of peace. This article subordinates the Monroe doctrine' entirely to tho league lea-gue and the decisions of the league. I am supported ,1a this contention by n statement put out by the. British peace delegation,- April 29, In which It is declared: "Artlclo xael makes It clear that the covenant Is not Intended In-tended to abrogate or weaken any other aggrcement8iso.long,.as thy are consistent with Us own terms. Tho Mourfie doctrine and' similar un-derstndlngs un-derstndlngs are In this category." " SIGNIFICANT SENTENCE. And. then.it concludes Its statement with this- significant sentece: "Should any dispute as to tho meaning ot the latter (tho Monroo .doctrine) over arise between American, Am-erican, and European powers,, the leaguo is thqro to sottlo Jt.", 1)ila 'plainly states that tho Monroildo'ct-'1 rlno exists only so long as ft la doomed doo-med consistent with1- tho torms and conditions of tho leaguo constitution and that tho council of tho leaguo is to dotormlno when It Is not consistent. con-sistent. Tho Monroo doctrlno may or may not boor tho purpoejo of maintaining pcaco. But oven If It could bo Bald to bo In the intiertlijlb of peace It is still for the executive council to dotermlne wheather or not It is. Boar Law stated that the Monroo doctrlno docs not weaken tho covenant. |