The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-11-21
LEAGUE OF NATIONS TO MAIN
TAIN PEACE.


tions to maintain the peace of the
world before the world was set on
fire by the war that has just ended,
and we also heard much Of the beau
tiful dream of peace so POLITICALLY pic
tured by one, William Jennings Bry-
an, long lost to view in the cataclysm
of blood that has drenched the world.
And now while we are still technically
at war and before direct considera-
ton has been given to the terms of
peace, the president seems to be in
clined to give more attention to the
creation of league of nations to en-
force peace than he Is to the multi
tude of questions that must be con-
sidered and solved before amy such
league is possible. When a burglar
has been captured 1t is the part of
wisdom to put him in Jail before en-
tering upon any long drawn discussion
regarding protection against future
depredations, and certainly the culprit
should not participate in the discus
sion nor be a party to the enforce
ment of the agreement finally reach
ed. The danger of injecting this
question into the peace deliberations
is pointed out by Colonel Roosevelt in
the Kansas City Star, who says:
That such discussion may be
not only futile, but mischievous,
has been vividly shown in the last
six weeks During the first week
of October President Wilson and
Germany agreed on the famous IA
points of Mr., Wilson as basis
for peace, but this agreement
amounted to nothing whatever
except for a moment 1t gave Ger
many the hope that she could es-
cape disaster by negotiated
peace. The emphatic protest of
our people caused this hope to
vanish, and just five weeks later
peace came, not on Mr.. Wilson's
IA points. but on General Foch's
twenty odd points, which had all
the directness.. straightforward
ness and unequivocal clearness
which the IA points strikingy
lacked"
Colonel Roosevelt is far from de-
claiming against a peace league of
nations, but he would be very guard
ed about the company with which we
tie up and would make the league
limited in it's scope. On this point he
says:
"Of course, fundamentally war
and peace are matters of the
heart rather than of organization.
and any declaration or peace lea
que which represents the high
flown sentimentality of pacifists
and doctrinaires viii be worse
than useless; but If, without in
the smallest degree sacrificing
our belief in a sound and intense
national aim, we all join with the
people of England, France and
Italy, and with the people in the
smaller states who in practice
show themselves able to steer
equally clear of bolshevism and of
kaiserism. we may be able to
make a real and much needed adj
vance in the international organi-
zation.
Probably the first essential
would be to limit the league at
the outset to the allies, to the
people with whom we have been
operating and with whom we are
certain we can cooperate in the
future. Neither Turkey nor Aus
tria need now be considered as
regards such a league, and we
should clearly understand that
bolshevist Russia is and that boil
shevist Germany would be as un-
desirable in such a league as the
Germany and Russia of the Ho-
henzollerns and Romanoffs. Boil
shevism is just as much an inter-
national menace as kaiserism.
Until Germany and Russia have
proved by a course of conduct ex-
tending. over years that they are
capable of entering such league
in good faith, so that we can count
upon their fulfilling their duties
in it, 1t would be merely foolish to
take them in. The league, there
fore, would have to be based on
the combination among the al
lies of the present war, together
with any peoples like the Czecho-
Slovaks, who have shown that
they are fully entitled to enter in
to such league If they desire to
do so.
Each nation should absolutely
reserve to itself it's right to estab-
fish Its own tariff and general eco
nonic policy, and absolutely ought I
TO control such vital questions as S