Page:William Howard Taft - America Can't Quit (1919).djvu/8

 is said that the council! is the managing body, that it is the super-sovereign. There is no function to be performed by the council that is not advisory. The expression "to deal with" occurs once or twice, but you will find that expression refers rather to the scope of the subject matter to be considered in the meeting, of which all members must take notice so as to be there, and that the description of the functions of the council itself is contained in the words "recommend," "advise," and "propose."

Upon those words and the construction of those words must depend what the function of the council is. Those who object on the ground that that is super-sovereignty maintain that "recommend" means "command," that "advise" means "direct" and that "propose" means to "order." I submit on the face of it that that is a strained construction of the words, and that nothing but a most unusual context in each case would justify such a misinterpretation of the words according to their ordinary meaning. And when you consider that this League is a league not under a supreme court which has the power over every member to compel it to render its affirmative duty, but that this must depend on the spirit of coöperation, and that each nation must determine for itself its meaning, its construction by us will certainly be reasonable.

Why, these gentlemen discuss this as if they were going before a hostile supreme court and they seek for strained constructions to impose them on the United States. No secretary of state would accept for a minute the view, when it would be presented to him, that the word "recommend" means "command," when a council would recommend a course of action. He would reject such a view without the slightest hesitation.

"Recommend" means a suggestion to be accepted or rejected. "Advice" means something to be accepted or rejected. And when you take away that foundation, the whole structure of the argument as to super-sovereignty fails and fails utterly.

The council consist of nine members, selected, five of them by the great powers: Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the United States; and four of them by countries to be selected by the assembly. The assembly is a convention of the League, with delegates, one, two or three, from each country; but whether one, two or three, with only one vote. The assembly has three functions; one is to elect non-members by a two-thirds vote to membership; the second is to act in place of the council in conciliation, and recommending a settlement or com-