Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-02-20
REACTTONARY SENATORS

When joined to bitter partisanship and exag-
gerated ego developed to an extreme point IN
group of United States senators, we have tar
ing up of the reactionary and unprogressive
spirit, it affords cause for uneasiness to some
newspapers like the Chicago Daily News whicn
is Independent in it's politics and sees peril IN per-
formances of Senators like Borah OF ldaho
Poindexter of Washington, and Reed OF MIS-
souri,, Sherman of Illinois and Harding OF ONO
1t finds itself moved to comment on their vlo-
lent speech and action in opposition to the league
of nations to preserve peace, as follows:
There is spirit in the United States Senate
intensely dangerous to the international peace
of this country. 1t shows itself day after day
in speeches by both republicans and democrats.
1t expresses itself in the following manner:
Let is forget Europe. Let us abolish 1t from
our minds Let us get out of there and stay
out Let us enter into no arrangements OF con-
troll or of conference Of any kind hereafter with
any European person or any European matter
America is enough. Let us devote ourselves ex-
clusively to our own hemisphere Thus we shall
have peace"
But what is this policy? 1t is precisely the
policy we were in fact following before the great
war. And what did we reap? We reaped an
American expeditionary force fighting and bleed
ing on European soil.
It is more than amazing, it is pitiful, that ex-
perienced and distinguished United States sena-
tors should tell us that we can get peace by for
getting Europe, when We have Just 1lnsheo
participating in European war which we enter
ed after having forgotten Europe most complete
ly for SO years. The policy of not thinking
about Europe is a manifest failure as an insur-
ance against not fighting in Europe.
In fact, one may surely go farther and say
that the policy of not thinking about Europe IS
one of the surest possible ways Of allowing Eu-
ropean quarrels to proceed to the point of re-
curing and of exacting toll of American lives.
Why did we Americans give no assistance diplo-
matically to Sir Edward Grey in 1914, when ne
was trying to persuade Austra-Hungary to sub
nit its complaint against Servia to council OF
the nations? Why did we do nothing to deter
the kaiser from starting the fire which we at
terward had to help put out? Because our ig.
norance of European affairs was perfect Be
cause our president himself did not know, and
said he did not, what all this European uproar
was about. We were not in daily touch with
British statesmen and French statesmen in a
continuous conference of the craftsmanship OF
the word. We were not engaged in an exchange
of the facts and of ideas with other countries in
a central diplomatic body of league of nations
We did not know enough about Europe, we did
not know enough about Germany, to say to the
kaiser in 1914 what we said to him in 1917
"You are trying to conquer and wreck the world
and we are going to stop you" We could have
said it to him in 1914, and we might have dis
suaded him from even trying to conquer the
world, if we had been possessed of the European
information which continuous central interna
tional diplomatic body would have given us.
The prime purpose of any sensibly organized
league of nations is to promote international in
formation and to facilitate common decision
on matters of common concern. Whether or no
a league Of nations should go beyond counsel tt
coercion is debatable. But that there should b.
a place for counsel and for continuous counsel
about Europe and about Asia and about Afrc;
and about America and about the isles of thu
sea is surely beyond question. We tried ignor
ance and it failed. Why not try knowledge?
THE SOLDIERS CLUB
II Il