Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-02-21
CRITICISM OF THE LEAGUE
Is RIGHT AND INEVITABLE
Mr.. Taft Shows How 1t May Be Made Val.
liable by Distinguishing Between the
Intent and the Details Of the Plan

war. Yet pride in our basic instrument OF
government has resisted all these shocks.
Certain Senators in Congress heed them
not. To these champions the American
Constitution is still sacred and superb.
They are right. The document is man.
made and hence fallible. II was born Of
compromises. it has been amended by the
same machinery. some of its unaltered
words have even lost their original mean
ing. and yet the chorus Of laudatlon swells
upward. unabashed.
The intent of the Constitution is
grounded in truth and justice. Its ma
chinery has more often worked for good
than for harm. Praise is justified for those
reasons, and it is superficial to emphasize
its in~adequacies and inconsistencies when
the spiritual design is so admirable.
Whether it is equally indefensible to pull
to pieces the league of nations covenant
because some OF its details are obscure
and others suggest alarming complications
is a question fast crystallizing in the
American mind. Is the standard OF criti.
cism by which we judge the Constitution
to be discarded when we approve a gov
ornamental structure of vaster proportions?
To those who think It should be the oppor.
tunity to tear the new covenant to shreds
is at hand As even after a war for free
dom mankind continues to be imperfect, il
is obvious that any scheme he may devise
for his betterment can be found faulty.
The very minute that the intent of the in.
ternational pledge is overlooked any one
with imagination and a taste for dismal
hypothesis can condemn the whole scheme.
1t fails, of course. to cover every one of
the legion of eventualities which may arise.
Perhaps it may run afoul OF our Consti.
tuition. which is so much more charitably
judged. Perhaps il may merely be the
framework for a domineering alliance OF
great powers. Almost any tragedy may
indeed be postulated concerning the league
of nations plan If its inherent and avowed
nature fails to appeal.
All criticism, however. is by no means
of this blind type. Some of it may prove
exceedingly valuable. Mr.. Taft. for exam.
pie, sees certain defects of detail in the
draft as submitted by the Paris commits.
sion, but those objections are minimized
in his keen mind beside the essentially
lOIlN puIpOst VI lne pIOkldI1. II cannot
be too strongly emphasized that the burst
OF hearty Indignation of which he has
relieved himself in San Francisco was
directed not at attacks on the plan by
those who favor it in principle. but at "the
gentlemen Of the Senate who are setting
out to defeat the league Of nations" The
eX.President has no patience with such OBJ.
structionists. for he perceives In their atti.
tude the disposition 10 reject a plan which
of the worlds good in favor OF one which
has been discredited by a war which all
but wrecked civilization.
Public opinion IL bound to react strongly
upon congressman, however reckless of
speech, and public opinion has ever had
scant regard for a merely perverse policy.
Tactics of that variety are certainly ex-
emplifed in procedure which demands i'm
possible perfection in any scheme for
world redemption and is at the same time
inlmical to the basic idea of such a pro.
gram. Were Mr.. Taft indorsing without
reserve every item of the Paris covenant II
might be permissible TO conclude that his
legal acumen is under a cloud. But for
purposes OF the larger public interest he
has RELOCATED tangles in detail to a second.
airy place. What concerns him now, as il
should concern all lovers Of peace and lib.
erty. is the fundamental purposes back
Of the twenty.six articles. Endorsement of
them should carry with it the right OF
sincere and honest criticism. But by what
authority in logic opponents of the whole
design may assume to pick flaws in it's
details it is not easy to determine. In
other words, there are only two really
tensble positions with respect to the league
Of nations. One must either be for II or
against II. The nan for It Is entitled to the
full scope OF constructive criticism. The
man against II states his case in repudi-
ating the whole idea. To bubble disin.
genuously about details after taking such
a stand Is folly.
In considering the covenant in it's
present shape 1t is s~alutary to remember
that the draft is to some extent provisional.
II represents the agreement of members
of a special commission. Point on which
the trainers could not decide are not
specifically treated, and hence the by.
product OF the plan must be a dehnit body
Of law, which will make the essentials of
the scheme operative, What Mr.. Wilson
intends to champion on returning home is
therefore the framework, necessarily in.
complete, of an extremely exalted concep-
ton.
1t would be altogether unreasonable eyen
for the most jealous lover Of peace to ask
that every item of the broadly outlined
program be unreservedly indorsed. Criti.
cism Of the work, II conducted In .ae right
spirit, should be OF enormous worth. The
| scrutiny cannot be too searching. for the
most colossal enterprise which the world
ever considered should be buttressed 10 the
utmost, In order that the test should be
comprehensive. Only the shallowest indi.
viduals caqkexpect that the twenty-six arti-