The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-09-13
TO MAKE THE WORLD
SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY
In the War to Prevent Any Nation from
Imposing Military System on
Any People.

NEW YORK, Sept. 13.-The whole |
world series of armed camps, prepar |
ing for another fray and compelled to |
adopt German methods of warfare-this |
picture of the result of a drawn battle, |
q stalemate, with Germany in her pres
ent state of mind, was presented last
night by DR.. A. Lawrence Lowell, pres
ident of Harvard university, and chair
man of the executive committee of the
League to Enforce Peace, in his address
at the annual dinner of the National
Safety Council.
He declared that with the fall of mill
tary autocracv must be removed the
oppression of one race by another, and
for that reason 1--WE cannot consider the
return to Germany of her former colo
MES, that their people may be exploited
as they have been in the past Ameri-
cans have no love for the rule of the in
ferior by the more civilized races; and
if at the present stage of history that is
unavoidable, it must be done with due
regard to the welfare of the subject
race, and we cannot be a party to any
thing else.
'Can anyone contemplate without
horror said DIR. Lowell, "a planet
whose inhabitants devote their efforts
to devising scientific processes for MAX
ing il unfit for human habitation2 Yet
such is the result that we must at least
contemplate if the present war should
decide nothing, leaving the belligerents
with their former ambitions and prin-
ciples, with fiercer hatreds and a better
knowledge of what the next war will
signify.
eff, on the other hand, the side on
which we are fighting wins, it may mean
a better world, reorganized on a basis
of Justice and peace; and much of the
| result may depend upon US, both in the
| field and at the council table.
81 Let us be perfectly clear in our own
minds. We proclaim that we are fight
ling for democracy, but President Will
| som has put it more accurately when he
| said we are at war to make the world
safe for democracy. We are not fight
| ing to impose any form of government
| upon an unwilling people. That would
be contrary to our principle of political
| liberty. If any people prefer to be
ruled by monarch it is their affair,
| provided they mind their own business,
leave other nations alone and live peace
| ably with their neighbors. A military
autocracy, that goes forth conquering
and to conquer, the world must subdue,
| or it will have no peace.
1--WE are at war to prevent anv ma
ton from imposing an autocratic mill
tary system on the world or on any PEG
Fle and when the allies have succeeded
in so doing, they, and any other peo-
pies that sincerely desire better and
more peaceful world, must solemnlv re
solve that no such catastrophe shall oc-
cur again. For this purpose they must
not again split apart into discordant
fragments or hostile groups, but must
combine to police the world. and bring
in a reign of international Justice
among men. We often boast that we
are both an idealistic AMI a practical
people, and III the reorganization that
will follow this war we have the only
chance we shall probably ever have t.
show these qualities on world wide
scale. We are now a world power en-
gagged IN a world war and we cannot
by shrinking into ourselves when it i
over, evade our duty or shut our eve
to our own future security In leagu,
with the other free nations of the eartl
we must set up an international cour
of justice with a sheriff armed Will
such force as may be needed to summon
offenders before the tribunal Bv s,
doing we can fulfill a great destiny 70
our nation and bring peace and good
viii among men.