The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-04-30
And That Idea is the Main Fea,
ture Of League to Enforce
Peace Platform.

MoRGANTowN, April 2s.-Presi-
dent Frank B. Trotter Of the West
Virginia University, has received a
communication from DR.. A. Lawrence
Lowell. president Of Harvard Univer-
sity urging him to attend the hrst
annual assemblage of the League to
Enforce Peace. Ex-President Taft
10 president Of the league. Dr.. Low.
ell Is chairman OF the executive COM
inittee.
III. however" DR.. Lowell writes.
you should be unable to attend the
meeting. may we ask you to appoint
other delegates to represent your In
stitution. either from the faculty or
from the board Of trustees. We con-
ceive the program of the League to
Enforce Peace to be SO fundamental
to business. industrial and social
future Of our country. and to the part
1t must hereafter play in interna-
tional affairs. that we consider most
desirable that leaders Of thought In
every community. and especially In
the higher institutions Of learning
shall be fully informed regarding the
movement ~ = =
Originates Proposal.
It was DR.. Lowell. who with ex-
President Taft and others inaugu-
rated the league to enforce peace
movement, at the Independence hall
meeting last June. and II Ia under-
stood that II was Haryard's president.
who originated the proposal that the
joint armed forces Of a league Of
nations be used against any sienatory
refusing TO keep an agreement to
submit q dispute to court of arbitrn.
ton or council Of Cancellation before
beginning hostthties or declaring
war. This proposal is the main feat
ure Of the leagues program.
With Dr.. Lowell's letter was en-
closed pamphlet specially written
BY him for the league.s Some of the
more striking paragraphs Of which
follow: ~ :
THE resolutions adopted at the
meeting In Philadelphia In favor Of
a league to enforce peace are so con-
else that proper regard for public
opinion requires those who are re-
sponsible for them to explain and
Justify each proposition set forth.
But before trying to do so It Is well
to remove apprehension by stating
that the plan Is not directed at stop
ping. the present war. For any COM
bination OF neutral states to attempt
to enforce peace upon both groups Of
belligerents would be an absurdity.
The only way to intervene would
obviously be join one side or the
other, and this might result In length
ening instead Of shortening the wnr.
There is little use In trying to stop
conflict after 1t has begun: but
there is much hope Of diminishing
the cases where international dis
sentions shall hereafter lead to fight
Ing: and 1t is against the outbreak of
future wars that the proposed League
to Enforce Peace Is exclusively aimed,
sr At.- For Interest, of All.oSi y.
But why should the United States
join o league to maintain peace over
the world? Simply because 1t is for
the interest Of every country to pre-
vent war anywhere. and also the duty
Of every great country to help In
doing SO by all reasonable means.
The present conflict has shown that
the trade, the manifold interests, nay
more. the safety Of citizens, Of neu-
trail states are profoundly affecter by
war on a large scale; that neutral
rights are inevitably fmperiled, II
not actually violated; and that there
Is always grave danger OF being
drawn into the whirlpool. It has
been our tradition that the rectitude
OF our intentions. the absence with
US OF foreign ambitions, and our
distance from Europe, would preserve
us from complications arising there.
But with the best intentions we were
at last drawn into the wars Of Ma
poleon, and for all practical purposes
we are much closer to Europe than
We were then, while the European
nations have extended their ambi-
lions more and more general over
the whole face Of the earth. The
Atlantic take less than O quarter OF
the time to cross than It did a
century ago. and few years hence
1t may be easy to drop incendiary
bombs from the sky on New York
In forty-edght hours, or for SUBJ
marines in a week or ten days to
destroy our coastwise shipping and
Shell our seaboard towns. II would
be satisfactory to have some security
for the maintenance Of peace. or at
least against the danger Of sudden
attack.
So much for our interest in the
preservation Of peace. Our duty Is,
perhaps, no less clear. The meaning
Of war has been brought wildly be-
fore US during the last year. The
acts It justlfes would, n done by the
individual members Of q community
Il. one another. be properly regarded
as proof Of q relapse into utter bar
barism. Can We. or can any civilized
nation. say that such things are none
Of our affairs as long. as we do not
ourselves suffer from them? Civil
izatton 10 q common product OF en-
liEhtensd peoples, and to set 1t baclt-
ward In any progressive country i'm
pairs It everywhere. II a combina-
ton Of nations would prevent the
horrors Of war. can we reduce the
chances Of success by refusing to
Join 1t. even at some expense In
der his full care. Several furnaces
are visited at least four times day In
cold weather. TIL evening round of
caretaking brings him home, IL moth
ing out Of the ordinary happens, at
. ~ q e