New-York tribune., 1919-02-09
Neso York Triouns
Special Cdhe Servics

f,op,fisht. 1919 New York Tribune Inc)
PARIS. Feb. S.-The league of ma
,;ons is the all-absorbing topic of the
hour. Comments on the league some
humorous and some serious-arc heard
an all hands. All that is known of
what is said TO have been agreed upon
nv the committee of which President
Wilson is chairman, is that the docu-
ment comprises preamble and twenty
TWO articles, contains 5000 words and.
savs the Paris correspondent of the
mail" is in the form of a yellow,
hound pamphlet with the single word
eCovenant" on the title page 1t re-
mains TO be seen whether it will be-
come covenant of peace.
The "Temps." in leading article
entitled "Realization of the League of
Nations" points out that the essential
object of the league is the maintenance
of peace. 1t is that which all peoples
expect This, in a word, explains the
attitude Of the European peoples
toward the project
Europe Wants Wars Ended
They passionately yearn for condi-
tions which will forever remove the
fear of more butcheries and repeti-
tion of the horrors which all countries
in which the war has been waged,
notably Belgium and France, have suf-
fered during the past four years
Mr.. Wilson, in his address to the
Chamber of Deputies, said: ~The ma
tions Of the world are about to con-
summate brotherhood in which they
will make it unnecessary in the future
to maintain those crushing armaments
which make peoples suffer almost as
much in peace as they suffer in war"
he then cried to the men, women and
children of France:
"We have come to work out for you
world that viii be fit to live in and
in which all countries can enjoy the
heritage of liberty for which France,
America, England and Italy have paid
so dear"
High Hopes Aroused
This is a noble thought and dazz-
ling promise The conception Of it
must stimulate the efforts of the
statesmen who gather at the Quai
d0rsay. The reflection that thess
promises have been accepted as an ac-
complished fact by the millions of war
weary peoples throughout Europe must
sometimes give them uneasy dreams,
for high as are the hopes aroused by
the promises OF statesmen, so great
will be their fall unless accomplished
facts speedily take place
Mr.. Wilson has. come to Europe as
the representative of a great nation
beyond the sea which, to the minds of
the peoples here, is the embodiment
Of unlimited wealth and power, a ma
ton whose millions of fresh soldiers,
arriving at critical moment of the
war, saved France and the world from
defeat They know nothing Of the con-
stitutional limitations upon the Presi-
dents power. They understand nothing
about the details of the general as
sociation Of nations nor of the diff
culties of putting into effective opera
ton the plan for universal control
which it involves
Wilson's Responsibility Heavy
They are told that it is-to repeat
tne Presidents words -" "somethinr
which will remove the burden of crush
ing armies" And in the faith Of little
children they accept it 1t is an ap-
paiiing responsibility which Mr. Viii
son has assumed in holding forth this
league as an effective nostrum for the
greatest ills Of the world, something
Ihat VIII avert sacrifices and fears like
'nose which France. Britain and Italy
nave suffered IN the war just closed
Students OF history cannot but re-
meet upon the failure of similar plan
ouilt in the face of a like crisis and
launched with hopes as high and
promises as rosy as these When the
treaty OF Chaumont was signed, March
i 1874, by the representatives. of the
Aiied powers who had united for the
overthrow Of Napoleon, it was said that
al Europe ls united in opinion, the
expression OF the prime necessity of
al the peoples" In spite of the char
ac'ef Of their engagements, in the
words OF Sorel, "the Allies had not ad
'usted their disagreements and their
fVairles; IN the background remained
'ne questions of Poland and the su-
prenacy Of Russia, in the foreground,
me question of peace with Napoleon or
the destruction OF his empire"
History Repeating Itself
history to-day is in large measure
repeating itself in the background of
me general peace lies the question of
roland and the supremacy of Russia,
0u' 1t IL not the supremacy of the Rus
san Imperial government. 1t is that
VI the corroding Russian social force
s'fec'ed by cunning intelligence, prose
su'eo With cruel barbarities, appealing
% the passions and ycarning of the
s'ost ignorant, destroying the old
s'ciai order and substituting more
'ofr'd and more dreadful tyranny than
any previously existing.
Inc question Of Poland is whether