Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-07-10

IuSg Adu COM6 70 see IT. MOu1Q
be difficult to give assured eff
feet to this treaty or another
international understandings
upon which they were to de-
pend for the maintenance of
peace. The. fact that the COW
enant of the league was the
first substantiatiVe part of the
treaty to be worked out and
agreed upon while all else was
IN solution, helped to make the
formulation OF the rest easier.
The conference was, after all
not to be ephemereaI. The
concert of nations was to con-
tfnue, under a definite cove
nant which had been agreed
upon, and which all were con-
WINGED was workable. They
could go forward with conf
dence to make arrangements
intended to be permanent The
most practical OF the conferees
were at last the most ready
to refer to the league Of ma
tions the superintendent of
all interests which did not ad-
nit of immediate determine
ton of all administrative prob
lens which were to require a
continuing oversight. What
had seemed a counsel of per-
lection had come to seem a
plain counsel Of necessity. The
league Of nations was the prac-
teal stateman's hope of sue
cess in many of the most diff
cult things he was attempting.
Must Make War Impossible.
And it had validated itself in
the thought Of every member OF
the conference as something
much bigger, much greater
every way than a mere instru-
ment for carrying out the pro-
visions OF a particular treaty.
1t was universally recognized
that all the peoples OF the
world demanded of the confer
ence that it should create such
a continuing concert OF free
nations as would make wars of
aggression and spoilation such
as this that has just ended
forever impossible. A cry had
gone out from every home in
every stricken land from which
sons and brothers and fathers
had gone forth to the great
sacrifice, that such a sacrifice
should never again be exacted.
1t was manifest why It had
been exacted. It had been ex-
acted because one nation de-
sired dominion and other ma
tons had known no means of
defense except ornaments and
alliances. War had lain at the
heart of every arrangement of
the Europe-of every arrange
ment Of the world-that pre-
coded the war. FESTIVE peo-
pies had been told that fleets
and armies, which they toiled
to sustain, meant peace, and
they now knew that they had
been lied to; that fleets and
armies had been maintained to
promote national ambitions and
meant war They knew that no
old policy meant anything else
but force, force-alWays
force. And they knew that it
was intolerable.
Demanded New Order.
Every true heart in the world
and every intelligent judgment
demanded, that at whatever
cost of independent action,
very government that took
thought for its people or for
justice of for ordered free
dom should lend itself to a new
purpose and utterly destroy the
old order Of International poll
tics. Statesmen might see diff
flculties, but the people could
see none and could brook no
denial. A war in which they
had been bled white to beat the
terror that laid in every bal
ance of power must not end in
a mere victory OF arms and a
new balance. The monster
that had resorted to arms. must
be put in chains that could not
be broken. The united power
of free nations must put a stop
to aggression, and the world
must be given peace. If there
was not the will or the intelli-
gence to accomplish that now,
there must be another and final
war and the world must be
swept clean of every power that
could renew the terror.
Only Hope OF Mankind.
The league of nations was
not merely an instrument to
adjust and remedy old wrongs
under a new treaty of peace; it
was the only hope for man
kind. Again and again had the
demon of war been cast out of
the house Of the peoples and
the house swept clean by q
treaty of peace; only to pre-
pare a time when he would en-
ter in again with spirits worse
than himself The house must
now be given a tenant who
could hold it against all such.
Convenient, indeed indispensi-
BILE as statesmen found the
newly planned league OF ma
tons, to be for the execution
Of present plans OF peace and
they saw it in q
new aspect before their work
was finished. They saw it as
the main object OF the peace,
as the only thing that could
it or make it worth
while. They saw it as the hope
they did not dare to disappoint.
Shall we or any other free peo-
pie hesitate to accept this
great duty? Dare we reject il
and break the heart of the