Omaha daily bee., 1919-06-01
PROCLAIM
PEACE AT
NEE TING
in OMAHA
G. W. Watt|es Elected Presi.
dent of Nebraska Branch of
League; Former President
Taft Principal Speaker.

! Inc Nebraska convention OF the
League to Enforce Peace was
brought to close last night, with
6. w. Wattles presiding and fair
attendance present to hear William
Howard Taft, ex-president of the
United States; John H. Walker, re-
firing president of the Illinois State
Federation of Labor, and United
States Senator G. M. Hitchcock.
Mr.. Wattles was elected president
of the Nebraska branch of the
league, The convention adopted
resolutions which contained an ex-
preston that the senate should rati-
fy the covenant of the League of
Nations.
Bishop Homer C. Stuntz opened
the evenings program with prayer.
Notwithstanding that the former
president of the United States i'd a
frog in his throat" as he exp. ,ssed
it, he was in a happy vein and
aroused laughter frequently by his
witty punctuations. His address fol-
lowed vivo voca vote on the adop-
ton of the resolutions and when he
heard some negative votes. he re-
marked that he did not criticize in
dependent judgment on this ques-
ton.
Facing An Issue.
Zone of the charges against the
covenant" said Mr.. Taft, SIS that it
is fad. a crankism. Some of the
abolitionists of the Civil war time
s,yeIe s.denounced as being g.~cranks,
but, they stood for an idea that was
necessary to make this a really free
nation. We face today an issue
which in many respects is fai wider
than slavery i'll one country. We
face all issue wherein the people of
many nations are made slaves to
force. The question is, whether we
can lift that burden by means other
than the arbitrament of the sword.
Men have dreamed of this for many
years and they have been referred
to as cranks.
During an administration that
has long since been forgotten, we
had two treaties prepared for pre-
sentation to France and England. |
sent those treaties to that sacred
board, the United States senate, but
when they came back they were so
dishgured that even their own father
could not recognize them | put
them on the shelf and l hoped that
either the senators would change
their minds, or that the people
would change the senate, but in
stead, they changed me. That was
a complete defeat. but man in
political life learns that there are
worse things than defeat
Advantages of Defeat.
Continual successes are likely to
be Intoxicating. The advantages OF
defeat are that you know exactly
where you are"
Mr.. Taft related the history of the
organization of the. League to En-
force Peace, at Philadelphia. stating
that the originators were classed as
cranks, as propagandists.
1T is impossible to get up
league of nations out of a clear
sky in normal times of peace" he
continued 1T would not be effec-
tive under such circumstances. Cir
cumstances have arisen which now
make it possible to apply thoughts
long before expressed. This war
has made league of nations posi-
bic, it has given US the great oppor-
tunity which we should not ignore
lest we have another horrible lesson
in another horrible war.
81 agree that if the president had
sought to force down the throats of
the senate and the people two things
not normally to be united, then l
would welcome this criticism. But
l stated that it was not possible for
the peace conference at Paris to
have prepared a treaty that could be
enforced, without the league of
nations covenant as an intergral
part.
THE covenant provides for the
settlement of questions authorita-
lively with force behind to enforce
the decisions. What means would
there be to enforce the peace terms
with Germany unless there De
league of nations?
How will you stabilize the new
map of Europe as l have outlined
it to you, without a league of the
ID nations that have prepared and
signed them.
"By force of circumstances,
worked out providentially, l believe,
we can not have peace unless we
have the force behind it to maintain
it, and you can not get that force
unless you have league of the ma
tions that have won this war. The
only way to get league that will
work, is to start with the charter
members, adopt a constitution, and
then invite the outsiders in. The
possibilities of a league of nations
were not revealed to us until the
events of the war brought to us this
great opportunity.
MIR. Taft explained that referen-
Continued on Page Six. Column one)