Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-27
GRAND FORKS HERALD, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY ~, 1918.
4 LEAGUE Of NATIONS.

The serious attention which lis now beins savens BY
British statesmen to the proposal for a league OF nations
to enforce peace after this war is one Of the many symp-
toms Of the growing demand for a different and better
International order. It gould be futile to ignore the fact
that until very recently this proposal was one which was
not seriously entertained by most European statesmen
and owed such outward marks Of respect as it received
from them chiefly to the distinguished advocacy Of Pres.
ident Wilson. Premier cleneneeau, shortly after he as.
sumed office, openly scoffed at the suggestion az ire
Ideemably Utopian. In Great Britain. however, as else
where, there has been throughout a growing conviction
that the idea of a league of nations can be given a tan
gible, living body that will bring it out Of the clouds onto
the ground Of practical politics; with many this conyic-
ton is accompanied by the belief that its present an.
bodiment in a form in which it can be enyisaxed will
serve to hasten the coming of the peace which it ii in
tended to maintain in permanent being.
Some few weeks ago Mr.. Ealfour, in GLASGOW gave
the public the assurance that the proposal was receiving
the serious attention Of the government. His speech,
however, like an interview on the subject given about
the same time by Sir Edward Carson. was devoted main
of its achievement and struck no note which would
greatly encourage optimism. These statements have been
followed more recently by a discussion in the house of
commons, much more hopeful in tone. in which Lord
Robert Cecil. the minister of blockade, minated that he
had drafted a plan for the formation OF a league of ma
tons and gave some few indications of its character.
The process Of thought which is bringing this pro-
p"sal more and more into the limeight of public discus
SION is not hard to trace. The demand for a new inter-
national order after the war is becoming universal, The
condition must pass in which the sure foundation of ma
ticnal security is found only in the struggle for national
power: in the future it must not be possible, as in the
past. to justify imperialist aims by reference to the needs
OF national defense. The existeace Of a league of nations
now appears, rot merely as a necessary safeguard, but
as the only effective safeguard against a return Of the
old ordtr, with all its lurking dangers. People are there
fore no longer asking:' Can such a league be organized?
but rather, What shall the organization. be?
An inpo' tsnt factor to pe remembered by those
who may be erpaned by the difficulties with which any
s'gs:':.d plan will brist!. is the sentiment for peace
which-pro'i ded the victory Of the ideas for which the
allies stand rs made compile. in tho war-wir1 be univer-
sal after the war. Some pessimists may recall that when
this war came upon Europe the sentiment of the masses
in all the countries affected was overwhelmingly favor
able to peace. To this the reply pust be made that peo-
pie then were not so much favorable to peace as con-
WINGED that war could not come; in the future these
people will be not merely favorable to peace, but deter
mined that war shall not recur.