The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1919-06-05
The Worlds Next Step
NO. 3
National Vanity and the League Of
Nations
d CLARENCE . SPEED

lea, nation that consistently has
shown 1t has no desire to Cypress the
weak or rob its neighbors, there should
be any opposition at all to league of
nations designed to prevent others
from doing the things which the over
whelming majority of US recognize as
wrong.
The honest, law-abiding citizen does
not object to state or national laws
against murder or theft because he
thinks that at some time he might be
sufficiently enraged or be reduced to
such poverty as to desire to commit
these crimes. Instead he lends his In
fluence toward having laws passed
which will provide restraint for the
murderer and give care to the poverty
stricken.
Yet we find people even in the
United States asking such questions
as, "Are we going to permit anybody
to war to protect our rights?" or "Are
we going to send our troops across
the ocean to die in Europe or Asia at
the behest of some power superior
to cur government
This is national vanity, pure and
simple. We are going to do just those
things whether we want to or not. We
have just got through sending our
troops to Europe to die in war that
we did not want. It was forced on us
against our will by Germany. Our men
died and our treasure was expended to
an extent wholly unnecessary just be-
,-s3
or sat around acting, as we fOndly
imagined, on our own initiative. AS
a result we went to war when our
enemy was ready and we were not,
and we sacrificed thousands of lives
and billions of dollars which might
have been saved had there been any
thing like league of nations In ex-
istence in 1914.
Let's go back to the outbreak of the
European war and study that little.
Germany was in direct alliance with
Austria and Italy. England, France
and Russia had an understanding"
Germany wanted war. She thought
the time had come when she could risk
battle with France and Russia at the
same time. She knew Austria was
with her and thought Italy was safely
on her side. Her diplomats told her
that England would not fight. She
did not dream that the struggle would
even last long enough to drag the
United States into it. Japan, Canada,
China, Australia, Greece, Brazil she
discounted. Serbia and Belgium she
ignored. 1t seemed quite certain to
hn fhn%
plish their purpose.
Now suppose there had been in ex-
istence at that time a league Of ma
tons. Assume, for the sake of argu-
ment, that Germany had corrupted
Austria to the point where she knew
that Austria would be with her. But
suppose Germany had known that
England, the United States, Italy, ia
pan, Brazil and China and all the
other nations would have taken sides
against her, not one by one but all at
once and with all their power, do you
think for a moment that Germany
would have dared to start the world
ware
And suppose again that Germany
had been insane enough to start war,
even knowing that all the world might
come in, don't you think that the
United States, If 1t had been a men,
Der of the league Of nations, and with
the approval of that body had volun-
tarily Joined in the war the day the
German troops crossed the Belgian
frontier, would have saved thousands
of American lives and billions Of
American dollars by its prompt CO.
operation?
What hope would Germany have
had If all the nations which finally
were dragged In against her one at a
time had combined on the first day
to eoerce her into behaving like civil
lied state? The war would probably
have been over in four months instead
of four years.
And though we got from this league
Of our own creation a summons to at
tack Germany the first day she mis-
behaved, and complied with it. we
would have been acting with Just as
much freedom of action as we finally
did. We had to go to war whether we
wanted to or not. We could not pro-
tect our legitimate interests nor could
we keep our self-respect and stay out.
And when that international commu-
nifty is one that we ourselves have
helped to create and that is doing our
will, why should we want to refuse
its summonsf
You will hardly find a patriotic
American citizen today who regrets
that we entered the war, in spite of
all it cost. You will find thousands
upon thousands who regret that we
did not enter sooner. And yet at the
same time you will find thousands OF
patriotic Americans-many who think
they are the most patriotic of all
who cannot abide the idea that there
should be any organization higher than
our own government, which could tell
us when we ought to go to war-as If
In these days Of the interdependence
Of the whole world, we had any choice
In the matter.
National vanity which causes oppo
sition to a league Of nations is a good
deal like individual vanity which
would make man resent the presence
Of a policeman on the street because
that policeman might prevent hin
from doing something he didn't wan