The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-03-05
President Says No Party Will
Dare Oppose 1t in Long Run.
viii Stay Abroad Until
Peace Is Assured.

Saeat cause. He has displayed an ele,
dJ"ttol o. view. and a devotion to public
uutg which is beyond praise.
:, AND am the more happy becaus,
inls means that this is not a partl
ISSUE, NO party has the right to an.
htoPIlate this issue and no party will
III IIe long run dare oppose it.
we nave listened to so clear and
nSain' anle an exposition Of many of the
IIdth features of the proposed cove
r,aIt OF the league or nations that it is
heIndpS not necessary for me to discuss
III any particular way the contents ol
oie document. | will seek rather to
S ~ yo4 It's setting. l do not know
by ~. l nave been more impressed than
~. me conferences of the commission
set up by the conference of peace to
drdW up q covenant for the league oi
mdtlohs. The representatives of IA ma
IONS sat around that board-not young
sneI' not men inexperienced in the af-
IdlEs ~ their country, not men inexpe-
FENCED in the politics Of the world; and
me inspiring influence of every meet
ing was the concurrence, of purpose On
me part of all those men to come to an
agreement and an effective working
agreement with regard to this agu
OF the civilized world.
There was conviction In the. whole
impulse; there was conviction that this
thlng ought to be done, and there was
also the conviction that not a man
there would venture to 60 home and
say ne mad not tried to do it.
Vast Hun Plans.
Mr., Taft has set the picture for YOU
OF what a failure of tins great purpose
would mean. We have been hearing for
al these weary months that this agony
OF war has lasted because of the sinister
purposes of the central empires, and we
nave made maps of the course thai they
meant their ~conquests to take. Where
ala the lines of that map lie, OF that
central line hat we used to call from
Bremen to Bagdad?
They lay through these very regions
to which Mr.. Taft has called your at
tention. but they lay then through
united empire, the Austro- Hungarian
empire whose integrity Germany was
bound to respect as her ally lay in the
path OF that line of conquest; the
turkish empire whose interests she pro-
dlrect path that she intended to tread.
And now what has happened?
The Austro- Hungarian empire has gone
TO pieces n the Turkish empire has
disappeared and the hands that effected
mat great result-for it was a result
the trustees Of the assets of those great
nations. Not only would you have weak
nations lying in this path, but you
would hav nations in which that old
POISONOUS seed OF intrigue could be
planted with the certainty that the
crop would be abundant; and one Of the
Things that the league OF nations is IN
tended to watch is the course of in
trlgue. intrigue cannot stand publicity,
and II the league of nations were moth
ing u a great debating society it
would kill intrigue.
1T is one of the agreements of this
covenant that 1t is the friendly right
OF every nation a member of the league
TO, call attention to anything that IL
thinks will disturb the peace of the
world, no matter where that thing is
occurring,
There is no subject that may touch
the peace of the world which is exempt
from inquiry and discussion and | think
everybody here present will agree with
me that Germany would never have
gone to war if she had permitted the
world to discuss the aggression upon
Serbia for a single week.
THE British foreign office suggested,
1t pleaded that there might be a day
or two delay so that the representa-
tlVes of the nations of Europe could
get together and discuss the possibili-
ties of a settlement. Germany did not
dare permit a days discussion. You
know what happened. AS soon as the
world realized that an outlaw was at
the nations began one by one
to draw together against her.
Points to Lesson.
we know for a certainty that n
Germany had thought for a moment
Great Britain would go in with
France and with Russia, she never would
nave undertaken the enterprise and the
OF nations is mean as a notice
to all outlaw nations that not only |
Great Britain. but the United States
and the rest Of the world will go in
to stop enterprises of that sort. And
so the league Of nations is nothing
more or less than the covenant that
the world will always maintain the
standards which it has now indicated
some of the most precious blood ever
split.
THE liberated peoples Of the Austro-
empire and OF the Turkish
empire call out to us for this thing.
{ has not arisen in the council OF
Europe Is a bit sick at heart
1t this very moment because it is seen
hat statesmen have had no vision and
hat the only vision has been the WIS.,
Of the people. Those who suffer see.
those against whom wrong is wrought
lnow how desirable is the right and
he righteous.
The nations that have long been
lnder the heel of the Australians, that
long covered before the Germans.
have long suffered the indescrib-
bile agonies of being governed by the
have called out 10 the world,
generation after generation, for justice,
or liberation, for succor and no cabi-
Iet in the world has heard them.
Private organizations, plying
carts, philanthropic men and women
ave poured out their treasure in order
o relieve these s~ufferings; but no ma
ION has said to the nations RESPONSE
lie, you must stop; this thing is in
Clerable and we will not permit Ill
md the vision has been with the peo-
lie.
MY friends, I wish you would re-
Iect upon this proposition. The Wis
as to what is necessary for great ,
has seldom come from the top
l he nations of the world. 1t has
from the need and the aspiration ;
~self-assertion Of great bodies OF
zen who meant to be free. And /
an explain some OF the criticisms
hitch have been leveTled against this
reat enterprise only by the SUPPOSE
on that the men who utter the %criti-
have never felt the great pulse1
I the heart of the world.
And | am amaZed-not alarmed. but ,
ma2ed-that there should be in some
such a comprehensive ig- ,
ORANGE Of the state OF the world. These
do not know what the mind
I men Is just now. Everybody else
oes. l do not know where they have {
cen closeted, | do not know by what /
.lfluences they have been blinded; but !
do know that they have been a /
I'd from the general currents Of the
1ought of mankind. {
Aroused. :
"And l want to utter this solemn
-arning, not in the way off, threat: {
10 forces of the world do not threat I
n, they operate. rne great tides OF !
he world do not give notice that they !
re going to rise and run: they rise In )
leir majesty and overwhelming might .
nd those who stand in the way are =
verwhelmed. Now the heart of the :
'orld Is awake and the heart of the :
orld must be satisfied. 7
do not let yourselves suppose for ;
moment that the uneasiness in the
,pulations OF Europe is due entirely
economic causes or economic mo-
YES; something very much deeper I'M IL
rifles il all than that. I
They see that their governments A