River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1919-07-17

70 be the end Of cooperative authority
and common counsel among the gov
ernments to which the world was look
Ing TO enforce justice and give pledges
or an enduring settlement, regions
ike the Saar basin could not be put
under q temporary administrative re-
CINE which did not involve q transfer
OF political sovereignty and which
contemplated final determination Of
Its political connections by popular
vote to be taken at q distant date;
no free city like Danzig could be Gre
ated which was under elaborate inter-
national guarantees to accept excep-
tional obligations with regard to the
use OF its port and exceptional rela-
lions with state OF which 1t was not
to form part; properly safeguarded
pleD1scites could not be provided for,
where populations were at some fu-
ture date to make choice what sover-
eighty they would live under; no GER
tain and uniform method Of arbitra.
ton could be secured for the settle
ment OF anticipated difficulties Of final
decision. with regard to many matters
dealt with In the treaty itself; the
long-continued supervision Of the task
OF reparation which Germany was to
undertake to complete within the next
generation might entirely break down:
the reconsideration and revision Of ad-
illustrative arrangements and restric-
lions which the treaty prescribed, but
winch it was recognized might not
prove of lasting advantage or entirely
fair If too long enforced, would be i'm
practicable
A league of free nations had become
a practical necessity. Examine the
treaty OF peace, and You will find that
everywhere throughout it's manifold
provisions it's trainers have felt obliged
to turn to the League Of Nations as an
indispensable fundamentally for the
maintenance Of the new order it has
been their purpose to set up in the
world, the world Of civilized men.
mat there should be League of
Nations to steady the counsels and
maintain the peaceful understanding
OF the world, to make, not treaties
alone, but the accepted principles Of
international law as well, the actual
rule Of conduct among the govern
ments of the world, has been one Of
the agreements accepted from the first
as the basis Of peace with the central
powers.
War Statesmen Agreed.
The statesmen Of all the belligerent
countries were agreed that such a
league must be created to sustain the
settlements that were to be effected.
But at first I think there was a feel
ing among some Of them that, while
1t must be attempted, the formation Of
such league was perhaps counsel
of perfection which practical men,
long experience in the world Of affairs,
must agree to very cautiously and
with many misgivings.
1t was only as the difficult work Of
arranging an all but universal adjust
ment Of the worlds affairs advanced
from day to day, from one stage of
conference to another, that 1t became
evident to them that what they were
seeking would be little more than
something written upon paper, to be
interpreted and applied by such meth
DDS as the chances Of politics might
make available, if they did not provide
a means Of common counsel which all
were obliged to accept, a common au-
thority whose decisions would be rec
ognized as decisions which all must
respect.
Skeptical Turn to League.
And so the most practical, the most
skeptical among them turned more
and more to the league as the author
ity through which International action
was to be secured, the authority with
out which, as they had come to see it,
it would be difficult to give assured
effect to this treaty or to any other in
ternational understanding upon which
they were to depend for the mainte-
nance Of peace.
Ihe most practical Of the con-
ferees were at last the most ready
to refer to the league Of nations
the superintendent Of all interests
which did not admit Of immediate
determination of all administrative
problems which were to require a
continuing oversight. What had
seemed counsel of perfection had
come to seem plain counsel Of neces-
sity. The league of nations was the
practical statesman's hope Of success
in many of the most difficult things
he was attempting.
And it had validated itself in the
thought of every member of the con-
ference as something much bigger,
much greater every way than a mere
instrument for carrying out the pro-
visions Of particular treaty. 1t was
universally recognized that all the
peoples Of the world demanded Of the
conference that it should create such
a continuing concert Of free nations
as would make wars Of aggression
and SDO1iafiOn S11ch &c fTic that hoe