OBJECTIONS TO THE TREATY.
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he opponents of the Treaty cry out “Shallwe send our boys abroad to settle a_ politicalquarrel in the Balkans?” Immediately, the un-thinking applaud and the orator records a mo-mentary triumph. Have we forgotten that that isprecisely what America has already done! Havewe forgotten that we sent more than two millionmen to France, spent more than twenty billionsof dollars and sacrificed nearly a hundred thou-sand lives to settle a Balkan dispute? There was a controversy between Serbia andAustria. Territorial questions, political rights andboundary lines were involved. The Crown Princeof the House of Austria was assassinated. Alittle flame of war licked up into the powderhouse of Europe, and in a moment, the continentwas in flames. It took all the power of civiliza-tion to put out the conflagration. How idle toinquire whether we wish to send our boys to set-tle political disputes in the Balkans! 29 2 ee > It is extraordinary that men should waste ourtime and vex our patience by suggesting the fearthat we may be forced into future wars whileforgetting entirely that America was forced intothis greatest of all wars. No League of Nationsexisted when we entered the war; and it was onlywhen. we formed in haste, in the midst of battle,a league of friendship under unified command,that we were able to win this war. (Applause)This association of nations, held together by acommon purpose, fought the war to a victoriousconclusion, dictated the terms of the armisticeand formulated the terms of peace. If such aresult could be achieved by an informal and tem-porary agreement, why shou!d not the associa-tion be continued in a more definite and bindingform? (Applause) What plausible reason canbe suggested for wasting the one great assetwhich has come out of the war? How else shallwe provide for international arbitration? Howelse shall we provide for a permanent court ofinternational justice¢ How else shall we providefor open diplomacy? How else shall we providesafety from external aggression? How else shallwe provide for progressive disarmament? Howelse shall we check the spread of Bolshevism?How else shall industry be made safe and thebasis of reconstruction established? How else 30 > shall society be steadied so that the processes ofhealing may serve their beneficent purpose? Un-til the critics of the League offer a better meth-od of preserving the peace of the world, they arenot entitled to one moment’s consideration in theforum of the conscience of mankind. (Applauselong continued ) Not only does the covenant guarantee Justicefor the future but it holds the one remedy for theevils of the past. As it stands to-day, war isthe one way in which America can express itssympathy for the oppressed of the world. TheLeague of Nations removes the conventionalshackles of diplomacy. Under the covenant, itis our friendly right to protest against tyrannyand to act as counsel for the weak nations nowwithout an effective champion. (Applause) THE ExXIstTinc LEAGUE. The Republican platform contains a vaguepromise to establish another or a different formof association amongst nations of a tenuous andshadowy character. Our proposed co-partnersin such a project are unnamed and unnamable.It is not stated whether it is proposed to invitethe nations that have established the presentLeague to dissolve it and to begin anew, or 31 whether the purpose is to establish a new asso-ciation of a competitive character, composed ofthe nations that repudiated the existing League.The devitalizing character of such an expedientrequires no comment. Fatuous futility couldbe carried no farther. There is no mental dis-honesty more transparent than that which ex-presses fealty to a League of Nations while op-posing the only League of Nations that existsor is ever apt to exist. (Applause) Why closeour eyes to actual world conditions? A League .of Nations already exists. It is not a project, it is a fact. We must either enter it or remain outof it.
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