Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1917-01-31

Mr.. Bryan'S conception OF human
brotherhood, If carried to its logical
conclusion, would RESULT in total an
archy His idea of brotherhood seems
to be that if the other man does not
want to be your brother, but prefers
to beat you into pulp, the spirit of
brotherhood requires that you should
let him do it.
The other objection to the preser-
walton Of the worlds peace by q league
of nations is that by joining such .
league the United States would be de-
parting from her traditional policy of
national isolation.
The United States will have to de-
part from the policy in any event. That
policy was well enough in the earlier
days, when means of communication
were slow, when trade was largely
localized, when all nations were more
or less isolated. But today the nations
of the world are being bound together
more and more by great network of
common interests. No nation can now
live unto itself, and with the ever
increasing complexity of civilization
it will be more and more impossible.
The hermit-nation idea is antiquated
and out of date. 1t does not fit into the
modern world. Thevnotion that a ma
ton of hundred million people can
shut itself up like an oyster in she'll
and assume no world responsibilities
is impossible.
A league OF nations, then, for the
enforcement of future peace, is Pres
ident Wilson's fundamental PROPOSE
ton. But this league cannot be form
ed until the nations of Europe now
at war shall have made peace with
each other; and the United States can
join no such league unless that peace
is based upon stable foundations.
What are those stable foundations
There we come to the milk in the CO.
coanut.
The first of these foundations, says
Mr.. Wilson, is peace without victory.
If the war is to 60 on until the
one side has absolutely crushed the
other side, then the final peace will be
a peace dictated to the vanquished by
the victor. Such peace will have in
it humiliation that can never be for
gotten, sting that will never die. AS
a result, that peace will be nothing
more than a truce, an ,armistice, a
pause for breath, lasting only until
the defeated party has recovered suf-
ficient strength to make another effort
to right what it conceived to be the
wrong done to 1t. Such a peace, says
Mr.. Wilson, would rest upon quick
sand. Enduring peace is possible on
ly if both parties to the controversy
are willing to make concessions and
sacrifices, toNforgive and forget. That
is Christian. To carry on the war be-
cause wrongs must be avenged, in
suits must be resented, outrages must
be repaid, and truculent pride must
be Inundated, is to act on the Old
Testament principle Of IAN eye for an
eye and tooth for TOOTH" A league
of nations based upon such a principle
of peace, says the President, is one
that the United States cannot join.
In the next place, this coming peace
must rest upon the recognition, by the
nations of Europe, Of the justice of
the principle formulated in our Ameri-
can declaration of Independence, that
"all men are created equal"-not
equal in station, or place, or power,
ability, or resources, but equal in
their rights.
In our American democracy, every
man, be he big or little, strong or
weak, rich or poor, has the same legal
rights guaranteed him by the consti
tuition. No man may claim any legal
right or privilege above another. The
same principle, says Mr.. Wilson, must
prevail among the nations of Europe,
If lasting peace is to come. The old
political theory Of Europe, that of the
balance of power, in which one