Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 176, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1919 — THE SENATE AND THE COVENANT. [ARTICLE]

THE SENATE AND THE COVENANT.

President Wilson’s determination to insist upon flat acceptance of the covenant of the league of nations is reported by senators who I have talked to him to ibe unshaken. The insistence has no arguments which have been made public. The (president says 'that 'the senate must adopt the covenant as it stands. The reasoning is with the opposition. t If the senaite were such an instrument of government as the president wishes .it to be it would be useless. It would (be a futility in the office of advice and consent which the constitution provided for it. The president did not ask advice. He now is determined to force consent. Such a procedure would eliminate the senate as a treaty making authority and commit the United States to the dangers of an autocracy. If the covenant as it stands won in the fullest and freest discussion in the senate and then proved to be a mistake in American policy, the mistake would be one of judgment and not one resulting from an overriding of our methods of government. ilf the president were able to intimidate the 'opposition in the senate and compel senators to abandon positions in which they are sustained by their intelligence the country would 'be committed to a World policy in the worst possible fashion. . American, traditions and policies which ahve permeated* our nation from its (beginning are expressed in the senaite. The senate is not a house of 'lords fighting liberalism xfrith the stubbornness of a privileged inartte It is a representative body of Americans undertaking the duty changed to St, expressing Americanism, trying to guard American interest and dignity, and to safeguard the American future.

This is its duty in the making of treaties. It has always performed this duty, to the well-being of the republic. It must perform it now. If it yielded to the president’s insistence when it knows that the covenant cannot be adopted safely without reservations fit would be renegade. The administration's representatives in the senate do not make out a case for the covenant. They have not been able to meet the objections of their opponents. They icauinot answer their arguments. The assertion that the United States must not fail the world comes out ,of an unreasoning senifftmentalism. The United States will fail in everything if it fails itself. The first responsfibildty of the American government is to the American people. The government ds charged with that responsiilbiliity. It is its peculiar duty and, if necessary, its exclusive duty. The men in the government are elected to perform that duty and they are paid to perform that duty. Jf there are serious doubts regarding a policy the United States should 'be given the benefit of the doubt in proper safeguards. In this covenant there are more than serious doubts. There are some obvious certainties (which demand prudence and ask for safeguards. The senate by writing in the reservations will not destroy the league of nations. It will protect the United States. We believe that America will be the best intentioned member of the league at affi times. We have not asked anything for our- ( selves. The senate Us trying to pre-1 serve what we have and to maintain principles and policies which have been the basis of American development. —Chicago Tribune.