Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 73, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1919 — LODGE AND THE TREATY [ARTICLE]

LODGE AND THE TREATY

There can no longer be any doubt as to the attitude of Senator Lodge,

chairman of the foreign relations committee, toward the treaty, for it is plainly, and even glaringly hostile. If he has his way it will never be ratified, never even be brought again before the senate. That being the case, it surely becomes the duty of those Republican senators who favor the treaty to refuse to allow their party to be compromised by Senator Lodge, and to disallow his assumption to apeak for them. These men and the Democratic senators should come to an agreement as soon as possible, and press for prompt action. The imputed motive back ot Senator Lodge’s opposition does him no credit. He was quoted by a Boston paper as saying: "My fight is not against the .treaty of peace, it is against Woodrow Wilson.” Here is a great international agreement affecting the peace, safety and possibly the lives of hundreds es millions of people, and on the ratification of which vast Interests hang, and yet it is held up because (if the interview is credible) of Lodge’s wish to win -a battle “against Woodrow Wilson.” Whether this antagonism Is personal or political does not at all matter. Neither has any place in the consideration of this great question. The rule has been for

politics to stop at the water’s edge, and it is a sound rule. But now we halve an attempt to carry our domestic politics into every colintry of Europe, and to sacrifice the welfare of men and women all over the world, many of whom are even now starving to death, to the supposed exigencies of a political campaign. It Is all most .discreditable. It Is known, as was said In this paper yesterday, that Great Britain, France and Italy, by all of whom the treaty has been ratified, are unwilling to put it Into effect until States joins them in that step. The senators all know this —and yet action halts. "Europe,’’ says a European ambassador, "Is so shaken with unrest today that the allies hesitate to go ahead without the stabilising influence of the United States.” Senator Lodge can think only of beating Woodrow Wilson—and yet he is chairman of the foreign relations committee! The Republicans of the country should take the matter in hand and see to it that the treaty receives the attention which its great importance demands. — Indianapolis News (Rep.)