The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-02-03

into European and Asiatic difficulties /
as we were likely to be injuriously af-
fected by European interposition in |
South America in the days of PreSi- +,
dent Monroe. |
President Wilson has said that in |
the nextsworld war there will be no
neutrals. If the science of killing men
and destroying countries improves i'll
the naxt war as it has in this, he is
fully justified. We may well join the
league as protection.
1t is said we abandon the Monroe
doctrine and imperil our policy of i'm
migration and naturalization in join
ing the league. How? Either of
these questions if involved in dis
pute must go to the commission I'M
der the second proposal, for they are
rot questions of a legal nature. The
Monroe doctrine does not grow out of
rules of international law. It is a
policy to be pursued in our own in
tereSt and to be maintained by US by
force if questioned. No nation can
deny our legal right to exclude when
we will from our shores, or to deny to
whom we will grant our citizenship
unless we have contracted these rights
away. If it is said that such questions
might nevertheless be held by the in
ternational court to be of legal ma
ture, they are SO clearly not in that
category that specific provision de-
filming them as nom justiciable issues
could. doubtless with the consent of
all the powers, be inserted in the
treaty. If therefore we do not accept
the recommendation of compromise,
on the Monroe doctrine. or our inlmi-
grafton policy. honor will not require
us to acquiesce in it. Thus we shall
be no worse off as to such issues than
if we had not entered the league.
Neither the delay nor the hearing
would prejudice us because we are
now under treaty obligations with
Of + f,-16 FOL l.
tiles for a year after the issue arises,
and to have an investigation by an i'm
partial tribunal meantime.
Will Aid Monroe Doctrine.
The league instead of being
abandonment of the Monroe doctrine
will aid in its maintenance because
violations of the Monroe doctrine be-
ginning with threatened hostilities by
a European or Asiatic power against
one of the American republics would
be halted by the league with an eX-
animation of the ground of quarrel by
a court or commission
The success of the Monroe doctrine
for now ninety-three years without
firing shot shows the effect of
threat of force upon the conduct of
the world without the necessity for its
exercise. The great power of the
league of the world and the interna-
tional police would afford for the
maintenance OF Its pOlIcleS a lar
greater sanction.
Then it is said that the league is
unconstitutional, in that it will turn
over to a council of representatives of
all the world. power to plunge us into
war, whereas the constitution vests
congress alone with the power to de-
clare This is a misconception. We
enter into the treaty thru the treaty
making power of the president and
the senate. The treaty binds US in
certain event to contribute our share
to a world police force and thus help
to restrain or suppress the beginning
of war in violation of the terms of the
league. Our nation must perform this
obligation in the way enjoined by the
constitution. That is. congress must
act by proper declaration, furnish the
force and authorize the executive to
act. The course is exactly the same
in a national promise to pay money
to another nation. The treaty-making
power makes the agreement and when
the time for performance arrives. con-
gress must make the appropriation. In
either case congress may refuse to do
SO and thus break the obligation
which honorably binds the govern
ment, but the original agreement is
not therefore unconstitutional.
Not Unconstitutional, Congress Decides
| If congress recognizes the binding
IOTCe OI the OD1lSdIlOn, congress must
still determine and is the only power
which can determine whether the
| event has occurred which requires the
United States to furnish it's quota of
| police. Therefore, the league is Meth
| er unconstitutional nor does it put in
| the hands of council of foreign ma
| tons to plunge Us into hoStilities I'M
| less congress decides that under the
/ league the time has arrived for us To
| take action. OF course, no one would
| yick1 hot h INIT a6 iAi-,
| a league of this kind with it's momen-
| tous consequences, unless not only the
| treaty-making power but congress and
| all the people understand what the
| league is, and what risks and burdens
it would impose on US, and with their
| eyes open approve the contract Sd
| that they will carry it out when the
time comes. That is why we of the
league are attempting to spread the
! propaganda and why we welcome the
discussion of the issues which our pro-
posed joining it raises.
| Under the conditions which exist,
! has the United States the moral right
to decline to join a league organized
to maintain the peace of the world be-
cause it may involve it in some risk
We have one hundred millions of peo-
pie. of the highest average inteIi-
gence, of great solidarity and homo
geneity. We have greater variety of
resource within our continental boun-
diaries than any other country. We Ire
by far the richest nation in the world.
| We have a brave and determined peo-
pie and are making preparations for
war in order to resist the unlawful
/ aggression of any nation in Europe
/ Such adequate preparation will en-
able US to meet any call the League
may make on us. We occupy posi-
ton of neutrality in the sense that we
| have belonged to no offensive or de-
fensive alliances in Europe, and we
stand Indifferent between all the ma
tions of other continents. The war
| will have reduced the power of all the
European nations engaged in it. Il