The Washington times., 1919-02-12


pOnents in the United States to Such
an extent that the first pTactical In-
stallment of the league of na;iOhs
looks very like combination If 'ne
British government and the Amerie:'n !
opposition against the American
government and the British OpPGSl-
ton.
Must Depend On Fears.
All of which confirms tie view /
that Mr. Wilson will not be helped |
by partly politics. He mus n-oke !
his way as the man of destiny, de
pending for his support on the hopes
and fears of mankind. and or he /
urge OF evolution which inspires !
them. waving the mere votes aside !
as an old hand who knows what
votes are worth.
The cruX of the fourteen poiris is !
the league of nations, and what we
have to consider now is what this !
league must come to in practice
At the guildhall, Mr.. Wilson de- |
sCribed ii as mot one group y: na- |
tions set against another. but d sim /
gle, overwhelming: powerful gICup !
of nations which shall be the trUs- !
tee of the peace of the world" At
which there was immense cheering.
1t will be observed that in this defi- |
milton the group is only a group.
"The parliament of man, the fedora
tion OF the world" is still out of the
question: and Anacharisis Klootz,
orator Of the human race, is still q
fool and a farceur This is quite as
il must be. For l am sorry to say,
that Anacharsis Klootz, being guillO-
tined, yet speaketh, and is indeed all
over the place, especially in the Unit
ed States, which issues from the press
every week or so the latest crank
built scheme for assemnlibg all the
nations of the earth, black and white,
brown and yellow. pagan and Christ
ian, savage and civilized, as big as
the United States or as little as the
republic of San Salvador, not to men
ton Monaco or Andorra, at The
Hague; to fall on one another's neck
and do something which is vaguely
described as arbitrating, with a view
to the immediate establishment Of the
millennium.
Now if this sort OF folly were con-
fined to the American crank il would
not matter / know the American
crank well. He never stops writing to
me under the impression that 1 am
the worlds supercrank.
Says Cecil Talks Nonsense.
But the British official league Of
nations diplOmatist is Lord Robert
Cecil, and he talks just the same nom
sense. He also has solemnly come to
the concluion that unless all the ma
tions of the earth unite there can be
nc league of nations. Whereas, the
| obvious truth to any one who has
| given a proper qualified and fur
nished mind to the subject for ten
minutes is that the practicability and
| success Of the league Of nations de-
pends on Limitation to a carefully Sc
| lected group Of politically and psy-
! chologically homogeneous constituents.
As / write these lines the report
comes that NJ Leon Bourgeois is We
hemently Of the same opinion as the
French point of view.
No autocracy is eligible for such
combination. because autOcrats die,
go mad, take to drink, can be bribed,
and cannot possibly govern their
countries except by delegating their
power to hundreds OF petty autocrats,
in no real organic relation TO one an
other, and all subject to the vicissi-
tudes that threaten the chief auto
CTat
When an American President, who
! theoretically has no power to pledge
l
all. gives an undertaking that the
United States will observe such ana
such covenants for the next twenty
years. no one hesitates to stake all his
! capital on the certainty that the un-
dertaking will be carried out.
League Depends on Pledges.
! When some Oriental czar. who has
absolute power to pledge his coun-
Il try. gives a similar understanding, 1t
is not valid for five months or fve
\ minutes: consequently no one in
his senses will stake SO on its be-
being carried out.
Now the solidity Of the league Of
nations depends on the constituent ma
tions being in a position to give
pledges that command practically alb
soIute confidence; in technical terms,
having a responsible government
An autoGracy cannot deliver the
goods; and that settles the question
OF its eligibility for a league OF ma
tions. and settles il emphatically iii
the negative.
Even an alliance. as the breakdown
OF the Russian alliance has just
proved, T. not safe with an aUtocracy.
q Star COD1Dauv.l