Milford chronicle., 1919-09-05
Purpose Of the League.

The chief purpose Of the League OF
Nations is to keep the world in a
STATE of peace Another way of eX
pressing It is to say that the league
is designed TO prevent wars.
We have just finished the greatest
which IS to say the most horrible, OF
all conflicts between nations. We
have won a glorious victory. But that
victory will be wasted unless this wal
has made the nations ready tC
put aside their differences and CO
operate to end war forever
Il is not enough however, to pro
vide for the prevention of wars and
the settlement Of disputes after they
have arisen. We must foresee causes
of trouble and remove them before
they have reached an acute stage
Hence there must be provision for FIRE
quent consultations Of members Of the
league for exchange Of information,
for agreement on common policies and
for the gradual formation of rules OF
international law which at present are
uncertain and incomplete.
The representatives Of the great
free nations which won the war have
met at Paris and, after long consulta-
tlon, have drawn an agreement which
they believe will accomplish these
ends. At the very least it will set in
motion great changes which will re
suit in universal benefit to all man
kind. This agreement is called the
Covenant Of the League Of Nations
and it is part of the peace treaty
There VIII be no league worth talk
ing about, however, unless the United
States is a member The decision as
10 whether the United States shall
join rests with our Senate. The Sena-
tors chosen by the people, will in the
end vote as the people desire For
this reason the people themselves will
decide whether or not the United
States will Join the league. In this
question every citizen should have a
voice. He or she can express opinion
either by writing direct to Senators,
by letters to the newspapers, by
speeches in his lodge or local union or
in conversation with friends.
Methods of Maintaining Peace.
Since the prime object of the
League Of Nations is to preserve peace
-and to reap the benefits of peace
let us see how the league will operate
to accomplish that purpose.
In the first place II will seek to re
move the main causes of war BY the
formation Of an international court It
will create a means for the peaceful
settlement Of disputes between ma
tions Then it will seek to compel the
nations to make use Of this court.
This is nothing more nor less than an
implication OF IiIe rules ana customs
governing private individuals In civil.
lied communities TO the relations be.
tween nations.
Secondly, the League viii seek 10 re-
move a great temptation to war by
the general agreement to reduce the
size OF armies and navies. This will
halt the race for military and naval
supremacy which was largely respon-
sihle for the war just ended The
amount Of armament any nation may
maintain win be strictly defined
Thus it will be impossible for one
country TO overwhelm It's nelghbOr by
unexpected attack, in the way that
Germany crushed Belgium and would
have crushed France had not the other
democratic nations gone to her aid. The
idea Is that each country may keep
an army and navy large enough to en-
able It to fulfil Its responsibilities as
q member Of the League, but no larger.
The United States, for example, prob
ably would be expected to keep a
check on Mexico and the state of con-
stant turmoil In that country would be
taken into consideration in deciding
how large an army we should need.
The third important safeguard
which the League will set up is a sys-
tenn Of penalties. This will make an
ontlaw Of any nation or group Of ma.
tions which goes to war in violation
Of the rules Of the League. The out
iawed nation will be boycotted by all
the other members Of the League and
VIII Ilnd Itself cut off from both busi-
ness and social communication with
the rest Of the world.
How II VIII Prevent Wars.
It is not claimed that the League Of
Nations win do away with war alto
gether Every possible provision that
human intelligence can devise viii be
made to settle international disputes
peaceably. But should all these meas
ures fan and two nations 90 to war,
this is what viii happen:
II both parties to the dispute have
observed the rules Of the League, the
other nations will stand back and let
them fight It out. War under such
circumstances Is difficult to imaglne.
'AA's ever. because before De- angrx n's-