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 Chamber ee Commerce 
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 = Ptate oi New Park 
 
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 \ 
 
 ea: e regular monthly meeting of the Chamber of Com~ 
 “e Shoccte ofthe State of New Yo: ck, held December 4, 1919, 
 
 the following report and resolution, submitted by the Ex- 
 ecutive Committee and the Committee on Finance ‘and Cur= 
 rency, were adopted: ; 
 
 REPORT RESPECTING TREATY OF PEACE 
 
 To the Chamber of Commerce: 
 
 
 
 The Chamber of Commerce bf the State of New York, in 
 common with the business men of the whole nation, believes that 
 as a people we are now confronted in the world of morals and 
 in the world of trade with a crisis similar to that which we faced 
 on the 6th of April, 1917. We then realized suddenly that we 
 had well-nigh waited too long, and for nineteen months after 
 that date, the question of what the results of our delinquency 
 
 might be, hung in the balance. 
 
 On the 1Jth of November, 1918, came victory. We again felt, 
 as we had not for some time surely felt, that we had a right to 
 have pride in our descent from the men who fashioned our 
 
 Constitution in 1787 and preserved it in 1865. 
 
 Victory not only restored our self-respect; it also brought 
 duties and opportunities. Our declaration that we sought none 
 of the usual spoils of war, no territory, no indemnities, placed 
 us in a position of moral leadership. We fought not alone to 
 preserve our self respect and to defend free institutions, but to 
 end war. In harmony with the .unselfish motives that moved 
 us we were as a people insistent in our demands that a post- 
 bellum program should be adopted by the free nations of the 
 world that would make a repetition of the horrors of 1914-1918 
 impossible. The Peace Delegates at Versailles undertook to 
 
 meet this demand. , 
 _Whep we made the demandit is probable that few of us fully 
 
 ye 
 aghyae- 
 a 
 
realized what that demand involved. It necessarily involved some 
 sacrifice of long cherished precedents and practices. It involved 
 at least the establishment of a council of free nations with such 
 power of moral and economic suasion, with such machinery 
 for the adjudication of international disputes, as would surely 
 lessen the probability of war. The Versailles Treaty sought, 
 even though its machinery may well seem to some of us as 
 lacking in perfection, to achieve these ends. 
 
 The Senate of the United States, faced with the specific pro- 
 visions of a compact which demanded some departure from the 
 well settled practices of the Government hesitated, debated, 
 delayed. And finally to the grave concern and even alarm of 
 the country at large, not only was the Treaty rejected, but 
 no compromise treaty was left for discussion. This has created 
 what we have called a crisis in morals and trade. As a conse- 
 quence of this unhappy condition we are losing moral leader- 
 ship; the legitimate commerce which victory assured us is 
 slipping away. The prosperity of America’s export trade is 
 largely dependent upon the extension of credits to our cus- 
 tomers abroad. But pending a condition of peace, and the 
 establishment of a known basis for the continuance of interna- 
 tional trade, no adequate credit plans can possibly be established. 
 The alarm of the whole world of business over this protracted 
 delay is evidenced by the continued and wholly unprecedented 
 fall in the rates of exchange—a fall almost as detrimental for 
 us as exporters, as it is for the unfortunate peoples of Europe 
 who are unable to buy from us the tone and materials which 
 they so sorely need. 
 
 It is not the duty of this body to place the responsibility for 
 this condition. Rather, our problem lies in the circumstances in 
 which we find ourselves and in the practical measures that ought 
 to be taken to solve the problem. 
 
 Whatever the moral or trade effect of that fact may be, the 
 Treaty as presented cannot command the votes necessary to its 
 ratification, but the situation thus created is intolerable. Unless 
 the parties to the controversy make concessions we shall soon 
 stand before the world self-indicted as governmentally incom- 
 petent. 
 
 To drop the Treaty and seek a direct and separate peace 
 with Germany would not only imperil American business inter- 
 ests but would be a base abandonment of our Allies and of our 
 own principles. The only alternative is mutual concession by 
 both the President and the Senate. 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 
We want peace. We want it speedily; but we want an hon- 
 orable peace. Many parts of Europe are in desperate plight. 
 A peace in which we wrap ourselves in the robes of isolation 
 and self-interest would be as dishonorable as further. delay would 
 have been in our decision to enter the war on April 6th, 1917; 
 Therefore, be it 
 
 Resolved, That some form of international covenant which 
 seeks to prevent war is a moral necessity ; 
 
 That the differences between the President and the Senate 
 should be composed without delay by such mutual concessions 
 regarding reservations as may be necessary in the Treaty to se- 
 cure ratification. 
 
 Executive 
 
 We.pInG Rine, Chairman) 
 
 ALFRED C. BEDFORD 
 
 Detos W. CooKE 
 
 IrvinGc T. BusH 
 
 Darwin P. KINGSLEY 
 
 Cuartes L. BERNHEIMER pr ae 
 
 Howarp C. SMITH 
 
 ALFRED FE. MArLING | 
 
 Puinip A. S. FRANKLIN } 
 
 WiLutaAM H. Porter 
 
 EucEeNiIus H. OUTERBRIDGE 
 
 WILLIAM WoopwARD 
 J 
 
 THomas W. LAMONT 
 Otto T. BANNARD 
 
 Of the 
 Committee on 
 Finance and 
 
 Pau, M. WarBurRG Currency 
 Attest: 
 CHARLES T. GWYNNE, ALFRED E. Martina, 
 Secretary. President. 
 
 New York, December 4, 1919.