THE HABIT OF RESERVATIONS

If the proposed reservation to the Four-Power Treaty is so drawn as to be meaningless now and forever it is a childish gesture unworthy of the Senate. If, on the other hand, it is worded so as to mean something no (as it seems to) or so as perhaps, to mean something in the future, it is open to objection not only in connection with this particular treaty but on broad considerations of national policy.

The Treaty of Versailles was negotiated under the direction of a Democrat while the Republicans were in control of the Senate. The opposition it encountered was therefore such as the world, could conceive of and understand. But the Four-Power Treaty was negotiated by a commission which not only fairly reflected the party complexion of the Senate but included the two men who stood out as the leaders of the opposing parties in that chamber. Never was a treaty signed by us with brighter prospects of immediate ratification. If in spite of all this a reservation is now adopted, the world may conclude, with sufficient provocation, that the Senate will never trust to the judgement of the country's accredited representatives. The other nations may decide that "reserving" has become the habit in the Senate and that no treaty negotiated by the United States will be ratified as drafted.

Such an opinion, if genuinely held to by the other powers, would seriously complicate and retard future negotiations. Overtures preliminary to new treatles would be less frank; other nations would be less frank; other nations would concede less, expecting that our concessions would be withdrawn later; others, too, might try their hand at "reserving". Negotiations would thus extend from the council-table, through the ratifying bodies, to a grand international committee of conference designed to smooth over the objections which the various parliaments had enacted. This procedure would be open diplomacy openly arrived at but it is indirect, slow and uncertain. The Senate will help to avoid it by giving to the present treaties its unconditioned approval.