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Show B WHERE IS THE "AMERICAN" H PLAN? H The country first heard on February H 28 that the American delegation had sub- H mitted to the Peace conference a Plan for H the League of Nations. On the previous H evening, following the famous dinner at H the White House, the information was H elicited through the questioning of Sena- H tor Brandegee, to whom the President H replied that four drafts had been pro- H posed, one each by the United States, H Great Britain, Italy and France. The H colloquy continued: H "Which was accepted?" inquired Sena- H tor Brandegee. H "The British," repied the President. . H "What was done with the rejected H drafts?" Brandegee asked. H "They were put aside," Mr. Wilson ex- H plained. M -"Well, Mr. President," said Senator H Brandegee, sl.owfy, "we would like to bo H able to examine those other drafts to B compare them With the accepted draft so H as to familiarize ourselves with the dif- H ferenccs;" H "I see no objection to that," said the M , President." ' MNH M -"Then," said the Senator f roiri Connec- H ticut, "will it hot be possible to.have those H rejected drafts 'printed for our informa- H tion?" m "I should think," agreed the President, H "that that would be possible." H ' Feeling that sufficient time had elapsed H for the publication sought and tacitly at H least promised, we took the liberty of in- H -quiring of Senator Brandegee how the 1 matter stood. He replied that already, H (on April 3, he had already addressed the B following, communication to the acting H secretary of state: April 3, 1919 Hon. Frank L. Polk, H" Acting Secretary of State, H Department of State, H Washington, D. C. B Dear Sir: M On February 27th, as a member of the M commjttee on Foreign Relations of the m Senate, I discussed certain provisions of M the proposed plan for a League of Na- tions with the President, at the White m House. Among other things I asked him m how many phins had been offered to the m Peace Conference. He stated that there M had been four plans, a British, a French,. 1 an Italian, and an American plan. I asked m Irim which plan had been adopted and he replied, the British. I askdd him what H had become of the others, and he said that they had been "set aside" or "laid H .aside." I inquired whether they had ev-m ev-m er been printed and made public. He said they had not. I said "Is there any H objection to having that done?" He said H he' knew of no objection. I then stated that I would like very B -much to have this done so that I could B com)are the American plan with the M plan which he had favorably reported to E the plenary conference, and I stated that jH. I thought the public would be interested H to see what plan the American Commis B sioners had reccommended to the Peace H Conference. H Five weeks have elapsed since that time H but I have not heard that the American B plan has yet been made public. Inasmuch H as the President says that there is no ob- jection to letting the people know what H plan he had urged upon the Peace Con-H Con-H f erence, I respectfully request that at H: your earliest convenience you will send H me a copy, of this American plan so that WM I may know what our representatives at H this conference had recommended and H may make it public. FRANK B. BRANDEGEE. H c This letter was delivered by hand, on 'April A, but thus far has brought no satisfactory sat-isfactory response; indeed, at this writing, writ-ing, mere receipt of the communication is yet to be acknowledged. So it transpires that, despite the President's Presi-dent's virtual pledge to the Foreign Relations Rela-tions Committee of the co-ordinate branch of the treaty-making power, neither neith-er "that committee nor the American people peo-ple are, or apparently are likely to be, permitted to examine the terms upon which their own representatives offered to incorpoate their country in a world organization. Does this not impress the reader as a most extraordinary state of affairs? Consider: First, the fact that the American Am-erican delegation had proposed a plan at all was concealed and came to light almost inadvertently; secondly, the American plan was rejected and the British plan was adopted; thirdly, the American plan is withheld from publication for the enlightenment en-lightenment of the American people; and finally, so far at least, the request of a leading Senator for compliance with the President's pledge is discourteously ignored. ig-nored. We refrain from comment until an-otherweek an-otherweek shall have been added to tiiej six weeks which already have elapsed" since the existence of the document was discovered and its publication was promised. prom-ised. We merely state . the amazing facts as simply as possible to a hundred million's of people who are supposed to be masters of their own affairs and shapers to an appreciable degree of their own destinies. des-tinies. Harvey's Weekly. " BB Kk Gt. |