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Theodore Roosevelt does not want the Senate to pass the arbitration treaties without “an addendum that emasculates them.” He would prefer that this was done with an amendment but it could also be accomplished with an interpretation as suggested by Senator Elihu Root.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-01-12
Theodore Roosevelt is pleased with Senator Lodge’s amendment to the arbitration treaty which has “taken the guts entirely out of the treaty.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-01-16
Theodore Roosevelt offers advice on the arbitration treaties. Roosevelt would like the treaties to fail and then be amended with Senator Lodge’s suggestion, but at a minimum Senator Root’s resolution needs to be adopted.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-01-10
Theodore Roosevelt feels relieved after reading Senator Lodge’s letter regarding the arbitration treaty. He finds the phrase “‘and all questions internationally justiciable'” to be amusing since it “means nothing or everything.” Roosevelt has only seen a draft of the treaty in an editorial and found nothing particularly objectionable. Compared to what he read, Roosevelt views President Taft’s pronouncements on the treaty to be overblown and misleading.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-19
The Taft administration is prepared to accept Lodge’s resolution that will allow the Senate to “pass on the arbitrability of a question.” Senator Lodge is pleased with providing the Senate with this level of control even though it “makes the treaties of little value.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-01-10
Senator Lodge went through Senator Crane in order to impress upon the Taft administration the dangers of an open debate on the arbitration treaties. Lodge believes that his resolution will be suitable as it is of a general nature and will allow the treaty making powers of the United States to reject any question they choose.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-01-11
Senator Lodge’s amendment to the arbitration treaties will allow the United States to ignore any question it does not want to arbitrate as if the treaty did not exist. It is predicated upon the assumption that the president and Senate would never submit certain issues to arbitration, such as the Monroe Doctrine.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-01-13
Senator Lodges’ resolution will leave the arbitration treaties with “nothing but language and machinery.” He tried and failed to prevent public debate on the treaties. He also supports Theodore Roosevelt’s silence in the face of statements from the Taft administration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1912-01-17
Seth Low offers his opinion on how to craft the arbitration treaty in order to protect some issues from arbitration. He agrees that the best option is to remove the last clause of Article 3. However, Low also suggests that each country have the right to reject an arbitration decision and that the propriety of their rejection be judged by the international community. A similar plan was used by the faculty and trustees of Columbia University.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-11-29
Senator Lodge agrees that there are dangers with the arbitration treaty. President Taft claims that the treaty will be ineffective without Clause 3 of Article 3 but also states that certain matters cannot be arbitrated, thus ignoring Clause 3. Silas McBee of The Churchman has come out in defense of the Senate’s position and Lodge has sent a letter for McBee to publish. He was pleased to receive a copy of The Outlook with his article and read Theodore Roosevelt’s Dante article with great interest.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-01
Senator Lodge believes that amending the arbitration treaty is preferable to the resolution suggested by Senator Root that would require Senate ratification of any arbitration. Such a resolution would make it obvious that the United States would not accept arbitration on some issues, which is exactly what President Taft said in a recent speech. Lodge does not want a treaty that claims all issues will be arbitrated when it is clear that the United States will not follow such a treaty on several issues. Root agrees with Lodge’s views but is in an awkward position as he negotiated previous arbitration treaties and does not want to appear to be amending a treaty created by his successor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-08-24
Senator Lodge enjoyed seeing Theodore Roosevelt, despite the naturalists, but cannot visit again until the fall. He is continuing to work on the language and amendments to the arbitration treaties. Lodge sees dangers in allowing arbitration on some issues, such as the Monroe Doctrine. He does not see the treaty passing in its current form and is working with Senator Root on a report explaining the treaty and amendments.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-08-12
Senator Lodge is concerned about the phraseology of the arbitration treaty but thinks that the words “internationally justiciable” should provide protection.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-21
Senator Lodge discussed the British arbitration treaty with President Taft who assured him that the phrase “all questions internationally justiciable” will provide an escape for issues that no nation could agree to arbitrate, including all domestic issues. Lodge feels that the phrase will make the treaty safe but also very limited in scope. The Democrats are troubled by the treaty and Lodge believes that they are being influenced by opposition from Irish and German Americans.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-06-15
Victor Howard Metcalf updates President Roosevelt about the tense situation growing between Japan and the United States over the segregation of Japanese children in schools. The California Supreme Court’s decision will be based on whether or not the treaty with Japan had a “most favored nation” clause. This will determine what the United States’, and thus California’s, obligation is to educate immigrant Japanese students in the same manner that it educates immigrant children from European descent, who are educated as if they were American children. United States District Attorney Devlin seems to think the clause was not included. This needs to be determined to decide whether or not segregating the students was in violation of the treaty. Metcalf notes hostility to the Chinese that is nearly as bad as towards Chinese immigrants and mentions that both parties are in support of legislation to restrict Japanese immigrants.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-02
The State Department contends that a canal treaty can be made with Panama without further legislation as Panama will simply take the place of Colombia within the Spooner law. The rights and obligations of the United States on the isthmus are the same no matter what government holds the territory.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-11