Part 30 (1/2)

cu Middle West and coast Will be away six weeks My own opinion is that it would be unwise at this tifield _Republican_ editorial

[The editorial suggested that the President withdraw his name from consideration in connection with a third ter about your attitude toward matter discussed in editorial because there is a depression in our ranks and a feeling that our prospects for 1920 are not bright Republicans would say you had retreated under the threat of defeat and the cause of the League of Nations would be weakened instead of strengthened The issue of the League of Nations is so clear-cut that your attitude toward a third term at present is not a real cause of eained for the ratification of the League by giving the i to the country on the League of Nations Aly of belief, as you know, that you should not under any circumstances consider or accept nomination for third term In this matter I have very few supporters in our party A trip I just made to Illinois and St Louis over Decoration Day convincesdrive will be ain The Presidency for another four years would not add one whit to the honour that will be yours and the place of dignity that you will occupy in the hearts of our people when the League of Nations is consummated and your present term expires

Upon your return to this country and with a clearer perception of what you are trying to do, there will come a turn of the tide in our favour Many factors not now very clear are leading in that direction

The Republicans by the selection of Penrose have ain the stand-pat party of America and their failure, which will become more evident as the days pass, to correct abuses that sorave, will prove th and value of De in from coast and Middle West will soon be upon us Even business which turned away fron in the hope that Excess Profit Tax and other burdensome taxes would be reduced, will soon find out how fatuous and futile is the Republican policy Many Progressive leaders will soon come to the front and will take up the work left undone by Roosevelt My opinion, therefore, is that what action you take in this matter should await the turn of the tide so that as the hopes of De than it does to-day, then that tiical moment for you to say what really is in your heart about a third terue of Nations Therefore, until the psychologicalto do is to keep ”s of the future

TUMULTY

A clear, inside view of the feeling of the man toward the Treaty, his deep heart interest in it, and his characterization of the opposition were disclosed in a speech delivered by him to the members of the Democratic National Committee at the White House on February 28, 1919 This speech is now published for the first tientleue of Nations, and I think we ht ith regard to that issue We ought not, as I know you already feel froht not even to create the appearance of trying to ested this to Mr cus and the others who sat by me: I think it would be wise if the several National Coanizations upon returning hoest this course of action--that the Deet into conference with the Republican state organizations and say to thereat issue upon which the future peace of the world depends; it ought not to be made a party issue or to divide upon party lines; the country ought to support it regardless of party (as you stated in your resolution); noe propose to you that you pass resolutions supporting it, as we intend to do, and ill not anticipate you in the ree to that policy; let us stand back of it and not make a party issue of it” Of course, if they decline, then it is perfectly legitianization if it pleases to pass resolutions, frae as is possible, but nevertheless doing what citizens ought to do init a matter of party record that it has anizations and has proposed this similarity of action In that e accomplish a double object

We put it up to theet instructed by the resolutions, and we find where the weak spots are and where the fighting has to be done for this great issue

Because, believe entlemen, the civilized world cannot afford to have us lose this fight I tried to state in Boston what it would mean to the people of the world if the United States did not support this great ideal with cordiality, but I was not able to speak when I tried fully to express hts I tell you, frankly, I choked up; I could not do it The thing reaches the depth of tragedy There is a sense in which I can see that the hope entertained by the people of the world with regard to us is a tragical hope--tragical in this sense, that it is so great, so far-reaching, it runs out to such depths that we cannot in the nature of things satisfy it The world cannot go as fast in the direction of ideal results as these people believe the United States can carry them, and that is what makes me choke up when I try to talk about it--the consciousness of what they want us to do and of our relative inadequacy And yet there is a great deal that we can do, and the i national endorsereat plan If we have that ill have settled most of the ier of the world--of course, I have to say this in the confidence of this coer in this world is that the peoples of the world do not believe in their own governovernments to be made up of the kind of men who have always run them, and who did not kno to keep them out of this war, did not kno to prepare them for war, and did not kno to settle international controversies in the past withoutconcessions They do not believe in theot to be buttressed by some outside power in which they do not believe Perhaps it would not do for them to examine us too narrowly We are by no means such ideal people as they believe us to be, but I can say that we are infinitely better than the others We do purpose these things, we do purpose these great unselfish things; that is the glory of America, and if we can confirm that belief we have steadied the whole process of history in the immediate future; whereas if we do not confirm that belief I would not like to say ould happen in the way of utter dissolution of society

The only thing that that ugly, poisonous thing called Bolshevism feeds on is the doubt of the rity of the people he is depending on to do his governing That is what it feeds on No man in his senses would think that a lot of local Soviets could really run a govern rather than the kind of thing they have been having; and they say to themselves: ”Well, this may be bad but it is at least better and more immediately in touch with us than the other, and ill try it and see whether we cannot work so out of it”

So that our immediate duty, not as Democrats, but as An that was ever concerted in this country in favour of supporting the League of Nations and to put it up to everybody--the Republican organizations and every other organization--to say where they stand, and toto the people

In one sense it does not ue of Nations is This present constitution in ment is a very conservative and sound docus in it which I would have phrased otherwise I ah to believe that the American draft was better than this, but it is the result of as honest work as I ever knew to be done Here we sat around the table where there were representatives of fourteen nations The five great powers, so-called, gave theates apiece and they allowed the other nine one delegate apiece But it did not count bythe rest was a man whom I have come to admire so much that I have come to have a personal affection for hienuine a friend of man as ever lived and as able a friend honest people ever had, and a reat principle, and yet who is intensely practical and as there to insist that nothing was to be done which would put the s nations So that he was the most influential spokesman of what reat But Ihim this tribute, and not because the others were less earnest in pursuing their purpose They were a body of men who all felt this Indeed, several of them said this to us: ”The world expects not only, but de successfully, and we cannot go aithout doing it” There is not a states that he had ned a treaty of peace no matter how excellent the terms of that treaty are, because he has received if not an official at least an influentialis done in addition which will o ho that So that all around that table there was cooperation--generous cooperation of ood as we could hly sound docu sentence in it--only one sentence that conveys a wrong ioing to be extreain as will have to be done if any alteration isto which every nation that joins the League agrees is this: That it won't fight on any question at all until it has done one of two things If it is about a question that it considers suitable for arbitration it will submit it to arbitration You know, Mr Taft and other serious advocates of this general idea have tried to distinguish between justiciable and non- justiciable subjects, and while they have had more or less success with it, the success has not been satisfactory You cannot define expressly the questions which nations would be willing to submit to arbitration Some question of national pride may come in to upset the definition So we said ould make them promise to submit every question that they considered suitable to arbitration and to abide by the result If they do not regard it as suitable for arbitration they bind themselves to submit it to the consideration of the Executive Council for a period not exceeding six months, but they are not bound by the decision It is an opinion, not a decision But if a decision, a unanimous decision, is made, and one of the parties to the dispute accepts the decision, the other party does bind itself not to attack the party that accepts the opinion Now in discussing thatthis difficulty Suppose that Power B is in possession of a piece of territory which Power A claims, and Power A wins its claim so far as the opinion of the Executive Council is concerned And suppose that the power in possession of the territory accepts the decision but then siot the territory The other party, inasmuch as the party that has lost has accepted the decision, has bound itself not to attack it and cannot go by force of arms and take possession of the country In order to cure that quandary we used a sentence which said that in case--I have forgotten the phraseology but it means this--in case any power refuses to carry out the decision the Executive Council was to consider the means by which it could be enforced Now that apparently applies to both parties but was intended to apply to the non-active party which refuses to carry it out And that sentence is open to a misconstruction The Commission did not see that until after the report was made and I explained this to the General Conference I made an explanation which was substantially the same as I have made to you, and that this should be of record may be sufficient to interpret that phrase, but probably not It is not part of the Covenant and possibly an atte fro of a thing that the world insists on There is no foundation for it except the good faith of the parties, but there could not be any other foundation for an arrangeht after dinner Senator Thouarantee of peace” Certainly not Who said that it was? If you can invent an actual guarantee of peace you will be a benefactor of uarantee has been found But this coet

I had this interesting experience when the Covenant was framed I found that I was the only ranted that the ht to secede I found there was a universal feeling that this treaty could be denounced in the usual way and that a state could withdraw I demurred from that opinion and foundto the on the other side of the water, that the only Southerner on this conference should deny the right of secession But nevertheless it is instructive and interesting to learn that this is taken for granted; that it is not a covenant that you would have to continue to adhere to I suppose that is a necessary assun states, but it would not be a very handso to withdraw after we had entered upon it The point is that it does rest upon the good faith of all the nations Now the historic significance of it is this:

We are setting up right in the path that German ambition expected to tread a number of new states that, chiefly because of their newness, will for a long ti a piece of Poland out of Ger an independent Boheing Ru the territorial divisions of the Balkan States We are practically dissolving the Eue of Nations a number of states in Asia Minor and Arabia which, except for the power of theor aggressive force, and that is exactly the old Berlin-to-Bagdad route So that when you re desire on the part of Austria to unite with Germany, you have the prospect of an industrial nation with seventy or eighty ht in the heart of Europe, and to the southeast of it nothing but weakness, unless it is supported by the combined power of the world

Unless you expect this structure built at Paris to be a house of cards, you have got to put into it the structural iron which will be afforded by the League of Nations Take the history of the war that we have just been through It is agreed by everybody that has expressed an opinion that if Gero in, she never would have started What do you suppose she would have done if she had known that everybody else would have gone in? Of course she would never have started If she had known that the world would have been against her, this ould not have occurred; and the League of Nations gives notice that if anything of that sort is tried again, the world will be against the nation that tries it, and with that assurance given that such a nation will have to fight the world, you may be sure that whatever illicit ambitions a nation may have, it cannot and will not attempt to realize them But if they have not that assurance and can in the ue such asran like a honeycoeue did accoration which made the realization of Germany's purposes almost possible So that those people will have to hbour Germany unless they have already made friends with all the rest of the world So that we ue of Nations or else a repetition of the catastrophe we have just gone through

Now if you put that case before the people of the United States and show theue of Nations it is not worth while coot an argument which even an unidealistic people would respond to, and ours is not an unidealistic people but the most idealistic people in the world Just let the which really underlies this and there won't be any doubt, as to what the response will be froments of the people of the United States

I would hope, therefore, that forgetting elections for the tiies and our plans to this great business, to concert bi-partisan and non-partisan action, and by whatever sort of action, to concert every effort in support of this thing I cannot i afforded a better theme, so trot out your orators and turn them loose, because they will have an inspiration in this that they have never had before, and I would like a guarantee that the best vocabulary they can mobilize won't be equal to the job It surpasses past experience in the world and see what once seemed a remote hope of international uarantees the uarantees to each their territorial integrity and political independence as against external aggression

I found that all the other reat respect for the right of revolution We do not guarantee any state against what ression from the outside, so that the faenerally happens to an interloper if you interfere in a faht of revolution; it ht it was nearer at hand than they had supposed and this immediate possibility breathed a respect in their reat respect for it I read the Virginia Bill of Rights very literally but not very elegantly to overnest or to influence the kind that it is going to have Soovernment, but that is none of our business And I find that that is accepted, even with regard to Russia Even conservative men like the representatives of Great Britain say it is not our business to dictate what kind of govern to do is to see if we can help theht eleether and not leave the country in a state of chaos

It was for that reasonable purpose that we tried to have the Conference at a place I had never heard of before--a place called Prinkipos I understand it is a place on the Bosphorus with fine summer hotels, etc, and I was abashed to ad plenty of house rooet the several Russian eleet theether and tell us what it was all about and what they intended to do The Bolshevists had accepted, but had accepted in a way that was studiously insulting They said they would come, and were perfectly ready to say beforehand that they were ready to pay the foreign debt and ready to make concessions in economic matters, and that they were even ready towith perjured governain, and if that is the price of European recognition and cooperation, we are ready to pay it”

I never saw anybody e, who said: ”We cannot let that insult go by We are not after their money or their concessions or their territory That is not the point We are their friends ant to help them and must tell them so” We did not tell them so because to son debt was aand important matter, but that will be made clear to them in conference, if they will believe it But the Bolshevists, so far as we could get any taste of their flavour, are the most consummate sneaks in the world I suppose because they know they have no high motives themselves, they do not believe that anybody else has And Trotsky, having lived a few months in New York, was able to testify that the United States is in the hands of capitalists and does not serve anybody else's interests but the capitalists' And the worst of it is, I think he honestly believes it It would not havereceived six dollars a week to write for a socialistic and anarchistic paper which believed that and printed it, and knowing how difficult it is to live on nothing but the wages of sin, he believes that the only wages paid here are the wages of sin

But we cannot rescue Russia without having a united Europe One of o home and say we had made peace if we left half of Europe and half of Asia at war--because Russia constitutes half of Europe and Siberia constitutes half of Asia” And yet we reat territories, but if we go houe of Nations, there will be so problem

And so from every point of view, it is obvious to the men in Paris, obvious to those who in their own hearts are ue of Nations, that we have to tie in the provisions of the Treaty with the League of Nations because the League of Nations is the heart of the Treaty It is the only machinery It is the only solid basis ofthat I know that I a the opinion of all those horeater historic glory for the party than to have it said that for the ti not of elections, but of the salvation of the plain people of the world, and the plain people of the world are looking to us who call ourselves Democrats to prove to the utmost point of sacrifice that we are indeed Dee D, that we are ready to put the whole power and influence of America at the disposal of free men everywhere in the world no er to the cause