The menace. [volume] (Aurora, Mo.) 1911-1920, 1918-09-14

TL4T VlSloRY does not record nor have human eyes
ever seen, war comparable to the present one.
0CV beiore It's record of carnage devastation, an
ESesI guIsn ana suffering, the stoutest hearts
appalled, and overwhelmed. Before a catas-
trophe so stunning, humanity with one impulse feels
Vhat war must never again be permitted to swallow
up the flower of the human race.
10 this end, many able and patriotic statesmen
urge tat league OF nations be formed to preserve
the future peace of the world. So alluring is the
suggestion OF such league that many are disposed
to accept it Internationally without serious thought
Of the manifold difficulties involved and the Injustice
and oppression that such league might inAict upon
the world if permitted to include undemocratic
elements.
hundred years ago, imperial and papal autocrats
formed formed IN Europe league of nations which they
clevery christened as the Holy Alliance whose avowed
purpose was to promote the peace and security of the
world and the stability of civil government. Not
withstanding the mlennial goodness which this al
lance professed its real purpose was to perpetuate
autocratic institutions by crushing every struggle of
oppressed peoples to vindcate their rights.
, with good reason to suspect its unholy designs on
the New World, the United States quickly thWarted
any such designs by promugating the Monroe Doc
trlne, which has prevented European war lords from
overrunning the weaker countries in this hemisphere
fortunately this league of nations fell to pieces
by reason Of its inherent worthessness Later in the
nineteenth century European autocrats formed an
other league known as the Triple Alliance which was
directly instrumental in bringing the present cata-
clysm upon the human race.
few centuries ago the papacy was virtually
league of nations, as the pope exercised throughout
the world the prerogatives of supreme tribunal to
adjudcate all domestic and international disputes
OF this function of the papa government Georges Bry
of the University of Versailles says: ut was si-
perior tribunal to which kings submitted their diff
ferences and accepted its adjustments -Drot Inter-
national Public, 9Th Ed. Sec $780,
But the spirit of all these leagues and tribunals
was selfish and autocratic. The progress of liberty
has outlawed them all Like the world-empires of
antiquity they served only to fasten chains of des-
potism on unwilling peoples. About the greatest curse
that could afct mankind after the present war would
be league of nations dominated, or even tainted by
selfish and autocratc purposes-worst Of ALL by the
papal autocracy that has so long and completely
bighted the fairest lands in Europe and more than
half of the western hemisphere
In the first years of the present war;, the Roman
Catholic press with one accord declared persisently
that the terms of peace and the reconstruction of the
world should be committed exclusively to the Pope,
Italy, which knows popery better than any other ma
ton, answered this papal ambition by exacting from
England, France and Russia treaty agreement to
exclude the pope entirely from the peace conference
Italy declined to enter the and so risk her life
on the altar of liberty till this treaty was duly
executed.
The efficacy of an international league to promote
human welfare must depend on the spirit and men,
bership of the league. With all autocrats deposed
and civil government everywhere placed In the hands
Of the people, the possibility Of righteous and ben
efcent league would be brought infinitely nearer,
But under conditions which now seem possible,
will such an organization remove selfish ambition
from human hearts and bring the millennium. Forty
eight enlightened commonwealths now compose the
great republic Of which every American is SO Justly
proud, but human nature with all It's fralties Is ever
present in all departments Of our government. So
will it be in any tribunal that the sovereign powers
can establish
The able and patriotic statesmen who favor such
tribunal have not yet reached an agreement as to
the basis of representation therein nor as to the ma
ture and extent of its jurisdiction. Touching the
basis Of representation, important questions remain
unanswered.
Shall all nations have equal representation and
power in the proposed tribunal shall they be rep
resented on the basis Of population, or on the COM
bined basis Of population and industrial and com
| mercial rank? Shall a government with three mill
lions Of people have equal representation with the
British government which rules four hundred mil
lions, or shall Britain have hundredfod more votes
| than her drninutve neghbors?
A similar problem arose in the framing Of our
own constitution and was fercsly debated In the con-
stitutlonal convention, The difficulty finally COM
promised, rather than removed, by giving all states
equal power IN tho senate Of the United States, but
giving the larger states power In the house Of rep
| resentatlves commensurate with their population,
Shall highly enlightened nations DO favored IN tho
league In proportion to their attainments In science
and industry, shall China. for Instance, have four
times as much power as the United States and nearly
as much as the whole continent Of Europe2 II attain