The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-12-27
If No League
Then What ?

The thing most to be desired in this
world at the present hour is an ar
rangement that shall make war i'm
possible of future occurrence or re-
duce the possibility of them to a
minimum.
No other thing that can be mag
ined by the mind of man could prove
so great a blessing to the whole hu-
man race.
And it would seem that if there
were ever time when the abolish
ing of war were possible the time is
now. 1t would also seem that, with
the blood of the world still red on the
earth and the horror of the battles
still vivid and poignant in the MEM
ory and the heart of the world, there
would not be the slightest opposition
anywhere to any arrangement what
ever that would do away with wars
| forever.
Yet, strange to say, this is not the
case. Peace is not yet a month OLD,
the guns are not yet cold, the wounds
of those who fought are not yet turn
ed to scars, the graves of the dead
are still not yet green with the grass
of one single springtime. But al
ready clouds loom on the horizon OF
the hope of a peace that will last.
1t scarcely appears credible that
this can be true, but it is true. I'm
less the peoples of the world shall dis
cipline their statesmen, and unless
they shall make mandatory their de-
ip IN
that the coming Peace Conference
may prove failure.
1t may not prove failure in all re-
spects, but it may fail in the main
thing, which is to make an end OF
wars.
1t is, indeed, strange situation.
If, by some miracle, the peoples OF all
the world could be assembled in way
that each man and woman could be-
hold all the others and they were to
| be asked to say whether of not they
| favored the adjustment of wars, the
voice in the affirmative would shake
the very stars in heaven. But, in
the very face of that--and every man
knows it the truth-there are states
men on both sides of the ocean who
have even now begun to bubble and
to split hairs over that great settle
ment.
Is it any wonder that God becomes
impatient with the ways of men? Is
| it any wonder that we arc no farther
on our way after the millions OF years
that man has possessed the earth!
How can the peace Of the world bt
brought about and made to last? Is
there any basis or source in the hope
for it, or is it Utopian dream?
The lasting peace Of the world car
be brought about through a league
of free nations, and the proposal /!
not more Utopian than it is to sup
pose that individual men can agree
and be made to keep peace between
themselves, as they are doing and have
done for generations past IN all en-
ligtened countries. -.
There is nothing simpler, nothing
more practical. And it will be crime
against high heaven if it be allowed
to go by the board now that the on
chance in a million years has com
to put it in effect.
But, with all this, the fear that tn
plenipotentaries at the peace tabl
will fail to agree to the formation OF
league of nations to keep the world
peace is not without foundation.
There are, indeed. serious reason
on which to base the grave fear tina
one or another Of the free nations WI!
refuse to agree to level its power wit!
that Of all others.
Of course, if any one nation shall
insist that it shall be given armed su
premacy on either land of water, tn
whole thing falls through, right the
and there.
1t would be ridiculous to form
league of nations in which any on
nation reserved for itself the master
of the seas, of the land either, for tina
matter.
If America, for instance, were t
say at the peace table that she alon
should keep great navy, and that al
nations shall reduce their sea powe
to a harmless handful of ships, is
r to be thought that any of the othe
nations would agree to the PROPOSE
tion?
: If. then, it would be ridiculous 70
t America to put forth that proposition
D would it not be just as ridiculous TO
= any other nation to make the sam
proposition on it's own behalf?
The thing can't possibly be don
; unless all the nations put themselve
t mutually in the hands of one anotheI
So long as one is able alone to ovei
power the others by any means what
ever, there can be no league of ne
\ tions any more than there could be
league between a herd of lambs an
a lion.
! In other words, if any one nation
| the league can defy the combine
| power of all the others, then it is
| league Of straw. The other natior
| would stand the same chance in this
kind of league that the minorit
| stockholders in a corporation stan
| against one man owning two-thirds
the total number of shares.
Il IT,, for these reasons, or any other
| the proposal of league of nation
shall fail, and the dearest hopes {
the world be thus defeated-wh'
then?
H If the league of nations does nt
materialize and the civilized world, 8