Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1919-01-16
The League of Nations Discussed !
From the London Spectator, October 2s, 1918.

From the London Spectator, October 2, 1918.
1t is no eXaggeration to say that the fate of the civilized world
and of all human progress hangs upon whether we take the right or
the wrong %g pa, path in dealing with the problem of the league of nations;
nations has haunted the minds of men in on shape or another for
the Persian war, during the whole Of the great Psloponnesa qe con- n
s sss a on s sfesp it. e0n am;1sS a. and tds though smnt the syn tS;ns and the asd pr gasss
ascendant. and minds and ne SPIRITS britt: are finely Gy't touched ll it to these % fine fine
issues. Men of light and leading are wondering whether it may not
be possible in a more enlightened and more democratic age actually
Success or failure in this great venture must depend upon the
Esans. object fsa4a aimed d. at tho' We do 81 not want It, to make the object of the
OF some mixed tribunal into whose hands men and nations shall
rights, and their indep per- nas'N We s&y do n @tS Want the " objees of n the
league Of nations to be the establishment of some committee or col
everybody am and yet y@ shri Hau While it shete rpaS: We do spa NOT t wa s"st tse
witnessed and experienced, first to rush into the extreme belief that
and revert to the old and MIl hopeless sH1 regime in e% of armed m sM pea @e'' Wars ,e
ask then m t to do and l IT, IS all ~ sJ 6elisys it Is safe for them to do; is to
betreen nations shall not be treated as "scraps of paper" but shall be
nations. while they remain, the most solemn and essential things in
the wordmsemsthing a thousandfold more sacred than contracts be-
fold more sacred than those of the single individuals that compose it.
greater Of more despisa B Il than s&i the i illegal ie reputation d aant Of !" a a seaey
contract IT, whether the made aa for some specific I. purpose or for general
never be put into a straight waistcoat, that there must always be tho
f taRad'' cir eSs i AboT sna aMs W. sn %u stree ec deye foTeef ths WITHIN fnaed tho j; int ssna-
tial to human happiness, and, further, that freedom to do right must
man the beneficial power to choose the one path without taking s tho
risk sds of st his choosing shssat the other lss,! Therefore, treaties which NJ not to
w O"o viz A0NOS lLN HluIue
mics rather than free imbed human organisms, can never be por-
petual. They must be revocable, and revocable within a time that
will not make men despair of seeing what they will regard as an
essential improvement. Thus, though treaty contracts as long as
they are in existence must be maintained by the whole weight and
power Of mankind, the nations which entered into them must be able
to free themselves from their contractual bonds, if they deem 1t essen
tial to their welfare to do SO, without intolerable difficulty or delay.
We suggest that>if mankind acting in unison shall be bound to
uphold the sanctity of treaties, a years notice shall free any nation
from its diplomatic instruments. Any recourse to arms before that
year has expired, no matter what the alleged excuse, and no matter
what the merits; must be dealt with with the utmost sternness. But
1T must not be dealt with by war, for that would mean som system
Of international armies and fleets and air squadrons, which, men
being what they are, would open up a hopeless vista of intrigue. We
must have recourse to non-intereourss as the weapon by which the
armament m compulsory arbitration compulsory entry into an interna-
amy. and intrigue and ultimately either to the loss Of that national
Of the league as a hopeless failure. Instead of all these high sounding
aims, we desire to have the one clear obligation that nations must
respect their treaty pledges.
Remember that no nation which was restrained from fighting for
one year would be able to say, as it might in the case of arbitration
that it must refuse to submit to the ruling of a court of which the
judges could be alleged to be foolish, inhuman, prejudiced. bribed or
capable OF acting as politicians rather than as jurists. BY our plan
we avoid all these apparently good excuses for war. We avoid also
the danger of the great powers being judges in their own cause. or
else OF having to submit issues of supreme importance to the legal
representatives of the smaller nations, as the only persons procurab,e
who could be regarded as wholly impartial.
Fighting Famine.