The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-11-28

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World League. Probably at the outset Il
would be an absolute impossibiltty to
tional police force which would be efkec-
tive in a great crisis The prime necessity
10 that all the great nations should agree
IN good faith to use their combined war
like strength to coerce any nation. which
ever one 1t may be- that declines to abide
the decision of some competent tnterna-
In a recent admirable article in that ex-
cellent weekly THE New Republic. the
soundest OF sound doctrine Is preached on
beginnings Of international order out OF
the world Of nations as these nations act
uaiiy exist. We do not have to deal with
must proceed on the assumption that
treaties will never acquire sanctity until
nations are ready to seal them with their
blood. We are not striving for Peace IN
We were hidden to strive Tor Is PEACE
on Earth and Good VIII toward Men,
to treat the earth as 1t IL and men as
they are, as an indispensable prereQUslte
to making the earth better place IN
which to live and men better fit to live In
it. It is inexcusable moral culpability on
our part to pretend to carry out TINS IN
junction in such fashion as to nulltfy IT.
and this we do II We make believe ina.
professions OF bringing good will TOWARD
men are in actual practise shown to be
empty Shams.
Peace congresses peace parades. the
appointment and celebration of days OF
prayer for peace. and the ike. wnlcn re-
suit merely in giving the participants tns
something and are therefore to be ex-
cused from hard, practical work Tor right
eousness. are empty shams. Treanes
such as the recent all-inclusive arbitra-
ton treaties are such empty shams, and
convict US as a nation Of moral culpa-
bilfty when our representatives sign them
at the same time that they refuse to risk
anything to make good the signatures we
have already affixed to the Hague con-
ventions.
Peace Treaties.
Moderate and sensible treaties
which mean something and which
can and will be enforced mark
a real advance for the human race. AS
1.-The New Republic" says: ut is our
business to make no treaties which
we are not ready to maintain with all
our resources, for every such scrap OF
paper is like a forged check-an as
sault on our credit in the world"
Promises that are idly given and idly
broken represent profound detriment
to the morality of nations. Until no
promise is idly entered into and until
promises that have once been made
are kept at no matter what cost OF
risk and effort and positive loss, Just
SO long will distrust and suspicion
honest lawyer will hesitate to advise
his client against signing contract
either detrimental to his interests or
impossible Of fulfilment; and the In
dividual who signs such a contract at
once makes himself either an object
of suspicion to sound-headed men or
else an object of derisiOn to all men.
One of the stock jokes in the comic
columns of the newspapers refers to
the man who swears off, or takes the
n indnfinito NJ
Der Of good resolutions on New Years
day, and fails to keep his pledge or
romise or resolution; this was one
of Mark Twain's favorite subjects for
derision. The man who continually
makes new promises without living
up to those he has already made, and
who takes pledges which he breaks.
is rightly treated as an object for con-
temptuous fun. The nation which be-
HAYES in like manner deserves no
higher consideration.
The conduct Of Messrs. Wilson and
Bryan in signing these all-inclusive
| treaties at the same time that they
have kept silent about the breaking
of The Hague conventions has repre-
| sented the kind of wrongdoing to this
nation that would be represented in
| private life by the individuals who
sign such contracts as those mention
without protest while The Hague
conventions have been torn up and
thrown to the wind. 1t has watched
the paper structure of good will COL
lapse without taking one step to pre-
vent it; and yet foolish pacificists, the
very men who in the past have been
most vociferous about international
morality, have praised 1t for this posi-
ton.
The assertion that our neutrality
carries with it the obligation to be
silent when our own Hague conven-
tiOnS are destroyed represents an ac-
tive step against the peace of right
eousness. The only way to show that
our faith in public law was real was
to protest against the assault on in
vasion Of Belgium.
| Somebody Must Take q Chance.
Unless some one at some time is
ready to take some chance for the
sake of internationalism, it will re-
main what it is today, an object of de-
rision to aggressive nations. Even if
| nothing more than an emphatic pro-
| test had been made against what was
done in Belgium the foundations
would have been laid for an effective
world opinion against international
cynicism. Pacificists claim that we
have acted SO as to preserve the good
will of Europe and to exercise a guild
| ing influence in, the settlement Of the
war. This is an idea which appeals
to the thoughtless, for it gratifies our
desire to keep out of trouble and also
| our vanity by the hope that we shall
! do great things with small difficulty.
1t may well be that the settlement
will finally be made by a peace con-
| gress in which the president Of the
| United States will hold titular posi-
ton Of headship. But under condi-
+! lions as they are now, the real i'm
! portance of the president in such a
! peace congress will be comparable to
the real importance of the drum ma
! jor when he walks at the head Of a
/ regiment. Small boys regard the
j drum major as much more important
than the regimental commander; and
the pacificist grown-ups who applaud