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ithout formal action by Congress and that theright of withdrawal is absolute. If there arewords which can make these meanings clearer,they will be welcomed. It is not reservationsthat the President stands against, but nullifica-tion. (Applause) When the President came back from Paris inFebruary, 1919, he brought the first tentativedraft of the covenant of the League of Nations.He gave publicity to it. It was publishedthroughout the land. He invited the friends ofsuch a League to submit criticisms. FormerPresident Taft offered four amendments; form-er Senator Root offered six amendments; andMr. Hughes suggested seven. At a meeting ofthe Committee on Foreign Relations at theWhite House in March, 1919, other changeswere suggested. These amendments were takenback by the President to Paris and their sub-stance was actually incorporated in the reviseddraft of the League. Dr. Lowell, President ofHarvard University, in his joint debate withSenator Lodge, invited the latter to suggest con-structive amendments which the President mightincorporate in the draft; but he refused so to do.At no time has he offered constructive amend-ments. At no time has he failed to offer destruc- 38 tive criticism. So intolerant was his attitude thathe would not even consider a compromise pro-posed by former President Taft of his own partyand which was assured of the support of fortyDemocratic Senators. Senator Lodge knew that he controlled the Senate and that in his own time and way, he could destroy the Treaty. This is the sordid story of its defeat. Noblacker crime against civilization has ever soiledthe pages of our history. (Applause) ‘The lastchapter was written at Chicago. The Republican platform not only repudiatesthe League of Nations, but praises, without dis-crimination, all of the Republican Senators whoparticipated in its defeat. Its words of benedic-tion fall alike upon the irreconcilables, the Lodgereservationists, the mild reservationists and thosewho proposed a separate peace with Germany.It is consistent in one thing only, the recognitionof the fact that the open foes of the Treaty, thesecret foes of the Treaty, and the apparentfriends of the Treaty who conspired with itsenemies, are equally responsible for the destruc-tion of the instrument itself. (Applause) Itwould be idle to inquire by what political leger-demain this meaningless and yet ominous de-claration was prepared. It is enough to know 39 fo that the “Old Guard” sold the honor of Americafor the privilege of nominating a reactionary forPresident. (Applause)
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