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Show I WILSON - HIMSELF I ANSWERS COX I AND BAKER 1 BBS Things are gohiB Mr. Wilson's M -way wltli regard lo his personal de- Bl sire tlmt llio election shall bo a ttol- BJ utiin rcftTClitm on his personal roln-Bl roln-Bl t lion to tlio Wilson League of Nnt- m Ioiih, to tliu WItwn Covenant nnd m particularly to the heart of tho WII- BB bom Covenant the Wilson Article x. The ovldenco of solidarity accumufa- Bb les. The process of complete Iden- BB " tlflratlnn proceeds tipace. Fine for BB "President Wilson, out nn awful dc- BB cice of Destiny for Governor Cox! BB "" ; Hie pnst forty-eight hours BB both Governor Cox, speaking In bo- BB halt of IiIh own candidacy, nnd Pre- B ' uldent Wilson's Secretary of War, BB Hpenklug Is behalf of Governor Cox B have put Article x. at tho frpnt again B Denying that tho obligations of the BH United Stutes under that urtlclo of BB ( tho Wilson 'Covenant would trans- HM Kress constitutional limitations. Oov BB rnor COX nt Columbus on BB Tuesday used this strong languago: BB "Tho Republican leaders, In de- BB clnring that four or five potentates BB overseas can order, our soldiers any- BB where are speaking a deliberate and B wilful untruth." BB .Again: BB "What the rccation&ry Kepubll-' BB ran leaders contend would require BB a constitutional amendment." BB Secretary Baker lent his facllo ' larynx to tho same attempt to make BB It nppenr that Artlclo x. of the Covo- Hfl tiant, ,'whlch, as the President has BB mill, U the heart of tho whole mat- BB .tor renulrcs of the United States no bVbh committal or promlso or pledge which BB la not safeguarded by (he constt'tu- HB tlnnal provision which vests In our H Congress the ynr making- power. BH Mr linker salil. In a speech which BB luiil received Mr. Wilson's approval: H ' .'Tliorc who crltlbo Article x. B I '"l-r-'nd into it soiiio sort of fear BB ' ' lilaces the military power of H "e United States at the disposal of BB tli Cuinvll of Nations nnd wilt re- HH ' ii"lre American nniiies to be sent HH ' v,Tfeas to enforce guaranties of HBr 'rtlclu'x without the consent of BBT. I'e Amoilcfin people. Hut thero Is B I'nlhliig' whatever In the Covenant BB v hlrh mks lo change tho power H nlven hythu CotiBltullon to Congress BB ulone to 'declare war." i BH HH '.'Vao j. r truths respecting Artl- B . '"" i slnr-ia i-it" among tho most HH j ; Volt jalr-"i.puiiitloiis 0f the real HH l (jcKvlItm which hao ben produced HH ' 1I' rmir." t the long controversy H Invl'cd br President Wikm nnd con- H -h.. r.iiotwl "JSluly In the Interest of his HH -. 'Wwttlftjlle egotism. Of courso it U H 'I. -up that without action by our B' ' 'nw' wo cannot constitutionally H. 1' hivlvtd In n foreign war. That I 'i precisely what tho objections to Alr Wilson's , .x.- TU6 Sun & BBMBBB New York Herald among them have urged from the beginning. That In precisely what tho reservation ns to Artlclo x. was intended to ninko clear; tho reservation which Mr. Wilson positively refused to accept. There Is something almost humorous in tho foregoing replies of Governor Cox and Secretary Baker to "thoso who crltlcsu Article x." This being true however, why Is It that Governor 'Cox and Secretary Baker are Insistinglhnt for tho sal- . vatlon of President Wllson'8 prldo of opinion and for tho respectability of tho Democratic, patty's Indorsement Indorse-ment of tho Wilson Admlnstratlon, Artlclo x. shall bo regarded ns vital and not futllo? "Without Artlclo x. said Mr. Baker at Columbus, ns his chief had said a hundred times in i hundred different forms of lan-Ktiage, lan-Ktiage, ihe League la vain, while with It the League becomes a great mod-1 ern civilized agency, operating always al-ways to bilng tho world Into just relationship." re-lationship." He continued "This Is the artlclo of the Cove-j nant which, It Is said, needs to bo Americanized. It Is American. Wo Invented It and applied It among ourselves., our-selves., wo fought for It as tho cardl-, nal principle at Issuo In tho world war, our President formulated It and forced its acceptance; Its princtplo and lt8 purposo are thoroughly American." Am-erican." Courlously enough, the direct and convincing answer to tho misleading half truths of Governor Cox and Secretary Baker about artlclo x. as an Innocuous Item of tho Covenant. Incapable of committing tho United States to any course of action which the wisdom of Congress might disapprove, disap-prove, lias been supplied by tho ou-( thor of Article x. himself. Singularly enough, also, Mr. Wilson's views as to the national obligations Incurred by tho United States Government were brought out In tho first place by a ocrtcs of evory pertlnont questions ques-tions propounded to him by Senator Harding at tho White Houso conference confer-ence exactly one year ago to-day. This Is tho anniversary of President Presi-dent WJlson'a declaration to tho Senate Sen-ate Committee on Foreign rtclatlona that Artlclo x., pleadglng tho United States at tho call of tho League's Council, to preserve as against external ex-ternal aggression tho territorial Integrity In-tegrity and existing political Indepcn 'denco of all members of tho League carries an obligation superior to a legal obligation. Wo quote from the report of tho colloquy between Senator Sen-ator Harding and President Wilson Just a year ago to-day; "-nator Harding ttlght there, Mr. President, If thero Is nothing mote than a moral obligation on tho part of nny mernbor of the Leaguo what avail Articles x. and xl.J "Tho President Why, Senator It Is surprising that that question should bo asked. If wo undortako nn obligation wo aro bound In tho most solemn way to carrp It out " "Senator Harding Tho point I am trying to get at la, aupposo some thing arises affecting tho peace of the world and tho Council takes steps as provided here to conservo or pre-scrvo pre-scrvo and announces Its decision, and every nation In tho Leaguo takes advantngo of the construction that you place upon these articles and says, "Well, this Is only a moral obligation nnd wo assume that tho nation Involved does not deserve our participation of protection, and tho whole thing amounts to nothing but nn expression of the Council. J "Tho President There is a national na-tional good conscience In such a mat ter. I should think that was ono of tho most serious things that could possibly happen. My understanding when I speak of a legal obligation, r mean ono that specifically binds ou to do a particular thing under certain sanctions. That Is a legal obligation. Now n moral obligation Is. of courso, superior to a legal obligation, obli-gation, and , If I may say so, of great er binding" forco. Only thero always remains In tho moral obligation tho right to exercise ono's judgement as to whether It Is Indeed Incumbent upon ono In thoso circumstances to do that thing. In every moral obligation obli-gation thero Is an element of judgment; judg-ment; In a legal obligation there Is no clement of judgement." And a little later In reply to this question by Senator Williams: "Senator Williams But if In such case, Mr. President, we concluded that the case provided for and proscribed pro-scribed had arisen and that the extraneous ex-traneous attack existed and that It fell within the terms of tho treaty then wo would be untrue If wo did not kept' our word? "The President Certainly." The answer of Woodrow Wilson to Governor Cox and Secretary Baker concerning tho Inevitable obligation, superior to any legal obligation Incurred In-curred by this Government In ratifying ratify-ing Article x. without reservation, is hero clearly presented by tho author of Artlclo x. It Is complete and It ought to bo conclusive. N. Y. Iler-ald. |