The Spanish American. [volume] (Roy, Mora Co., N.M.) 19??-19??, 1919-10-11

I'VE went into the war to destroy
autocracy as menace to our own and
all other democracies. If we had not
come into the war every inch of Euro
pean soil today would be under auto
cratic government. We have imposed
our will on the world. Out of this
victory has come the destruction Of
the four great qutocracles = Ger
many, Russia, Turkey and Austria ana
the little autocracy In Greece. New
democraeies have sprung into being in
Poland, Finland, Letvia, Lithuania,
Esthonia, Czechoslovakia, Greater
Serbia, Greece, Siberia, and even Ger
many and Austria have established
democratic governments. Beyond
these a host Of small republics, such
as Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and
others, have sprung up, and again as
a result of this great world movement
the constitutions Of Spain, Rumania,
and even England, have made final
ascent to complete franchise and de-
mocracy, although they still maintain
symbol of royalty
1--WE have been the living spring for
this last century and half from which
these ideas have sprung, and we have
triumphed. The world today, except
for a comparatively few reactlonary
and communistic autocracies, is dem
ocratlc, and we did it.
"A man who takes a wife and
blesses the world with several infants
cannot go away and leave them on
/ the claim that there was no legal mar
rlage,
"These infant democracies all have
political, social and economic prob.
lens involving their neighbors that
are fraught with the most intense
friction. There are no natural bound
aries in Europe. Races are not COM
pact they blend at every border They
need railway communication and sea
outlets through their nelghbors' terri.
tory. @&G% ~ ~
"Many Of these states must for the
next few years struggle almost for
bare bones to maintain their very
existence. Every one of them is go.
ing to do its best; to protect its own
interests, even to the prejudice Of itA
nelghbors.
Governments Lack Experience.
~We In America should realize thai
democracy, as stable form of govern
Ihent as we know 1t, is possible only
with highly educated populations and
q large force Of men who are capable
Of government Few Of the men who
compose these governments have had
any actual experience at governing
and their populations are woefully A.
| literate.
'They win require q generation Of
actual national life in peace TO de-
veIop free education and skill In gov
ernment.
Unless these countries have guild
Ing hand and referee In their QuarreIs,
a court of appeals for their wrongs,
this Europe will go back to chaos
II there is such an institution, rep
resenting the public opinion of the
world, and able to exert its authority,
they will grow into stability. We cam
not turn back now.
'There is another poiHt which also
needs emphasis. World treaties hith-
erto have always been based on the
theory of a balance of power. Strong
er races have been set up to dominate
the weaker, partly with a view to
maintaining stability and to a greater
degree with view to maintaining oc-
equations and positions for the re-
dictionaries of the world.
1.-THE balance Of power is born of
armies and navies, aristocracies,
autocracies, and reactionares general
ly, who can find employment and
domination in these Institutions, and
treaties founded on this basis have
established stability after each great
war for a shorter or longer time, but
never more than a generation.
America came forward with a new
idea, and we insisted upon its injec-
tion into this peace conference. We
claimed that 1t was possible to set
up such piece of machinery with
such authority that the balance of
power could be abandoned as a relic
Of the middle ages. We compelled an
entire construction of this treaty and
every word and line in it to bend to
this idea.
"0utside Of the League Of Nations
the treaty itself has many deficiencies.
It represents compromises between
many men and between many selfish
interests, and these very compromises
and deficiencies are multiplied by the
many new nations that have entered
upon. its signature, and the very safety
of the treaty itself lies in court Of
appeal for the remedy Of wrongs in
the treaty.
Benefits Of the League.
zone thing is certain. There is no
body Of human beings SO wise that
treaty could be made that would not
develop injustice and prove to have
been wrong in some particulars. AS
the covenant stands today there is
place at which redress can be found
and through which the goodwill Of
the world can be enforced. The very
machinery by which the treaty is to
he executed. and scores Of nOinfR vet