The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1919-07-18

4
and common counsel among the gov
ing to enforce justice and give pledge.
of an enduring settlement. regions
like the Saar basin could not be pui
under temporary administrative re
gime which did not Involve q transfer
or political sovereignty and which
contemplated a final determination OF
Its political connections by popular
vote TO be taken at distant date
no free city like Danzig could be ere
ated which was under elaborate inter
national guarantees TO accept excep-
tional obligations with regard to the
use of its port and exceptional rela-
tions with a state of which ii was not
TO form part: properly safeguarded
| plebiscites 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; sthe
| long-contfnued 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-
ministrative arrangements and restric-
tons which the treaty prescribed. but
which It was recognized might not
prove of lasting advantage or entirely
fair II too long enforced, would be I'M
practicable.
A league of free nations had become
practical necessity. Examine the
treaty of peace and you will find that
everywhere throughout its manifold
provisions its 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 10 set up In the
world. the world of civilized men.
That 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 | think there was feel
ing among some of them that, while
it must be attempted, the formation OF
such league was perhaps a 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 |
means of common counsel which all |
were obliged to accept. common au-
thorfty whose decisions would be rec |
ognized as decisions which all must /
respect.
Skeptlcaf 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 1t.
1t 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.
The 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
of all administrative
problems which were to require
oversight. What had
seemed a 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 q mere
for carrying out the pro-
visions of a particular treaty. 1t was
recognized that all the
peoples of the world demanded of the
conference that it should create such
continuing concert of free nations
Is would make wars of aggression
md spoliatiOn. such as this that has
ust ended, forever impossible. A cry
lad gone out from every home in
very stricken land from which sons
md brothers and fathers had gone
orth TO the great sacrifice that such
sacrifice should never again be
1t was manifest why it had been
xacted. 1t had been exacted becausel ]
ne nation desired dominion and other !
lations had known no means of de-
eEse except ornaments and alliances.
Old Policy Meant Force.
War had lain at the heart of every .
arrangement of Europe-of every ,