Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-03-05
WILSON AND TAFT
 APPEAL FOR THE
 LEAGUE OF NATIONS
(Continued From Page One.)

ton was in favor of the league of na- tions.
 Not Party Issue.
 "l am more happy because this is not party issue he said. This is not party issue, and not a party in the long run will dare oppose it."
 The president said an effective. working agreement for league of nations was sought abroad.
 "Under the covenant" he said, "it is the friendly right of every nation to call attention of other nations to anything which endangers peace. Ger many would never have gon to war if she had first discussed the situa- tion with Serbia" he declared.
 Intrigue cannot stand Publicity and if the league of nations were ;" nothing but big debating society it would kill itrigue.
 Opposition Is Selfishness. Opposition in the senate to the lea ] que, the president declared. was cased on a "docttine of care( Jul selfishi ness.'
 1 "Pve heard no constructive sug- gestion," he said. i've heard only the suggestion, would that not be dangerous fo" us'.'' f eff the Un.,eG States did not enter the league" he declared, "it would be the most contemptible of nations" 7" President Wilson said:
 My fellow citizens, accept the in- tlmation of the air just played. l will not come back till it's over, over 1 there' And yet I pray God in the interests of peace and of the world that that may be soon. 5. People Favor League. '"rhe first thing that am going to tell the people on the other side of l the water is that an overwhelming majority of the American people is in favor of the league of nations. know that that is true. have had , unmistakable intimations of it from all parts of the country and the voice rings true in every case. I count myself fortunate to speak here under the unusual circumstances of this evening. 1 am happy to associate myself with MT. Taft i'll this great 1 cause. He has displayed an elevation l of view and a devotion to public duty i which is beyond praise.
 Presents Setting.
 And having listened to so clear and admirable an exposition of many of the main features of the proposed covenant of the league of nations that it is perhaps not necessary for me to discuss in any particular way the 1 contents of the document. l will seek rather to give you it's setting. l do , not know when I have been more inn pressed than by the conferences of the commission set up by the confer ence of peace to draw up a covenant for the league of nations. The rep resentatives of IA nations sat around that board-not young men, not men inexperienced in the affairs of their country, not men inexperienced ill the politics of the world. And the in- spring influence of every meeting was the concurrence of purpose on the part of all those men to come to an agreement and an effective work ing agreement with regard to this i league of the civilized world.
 There was a conviction in the whole impulse. There was conviction that this thing ought to be done. and there was also the conviction that not a man there would venture to go home and say he bad not tried to do it. ! Taft Set Picture.
 MT. Taft has set the picture for you of what a failure of this great purpose would mean We have been hearing for all these weary months that this agony of war has lasted be- ;. cause of the sinister purposes of the central empires, and we have made maps of the course that they meant their conquests to take. Where did |; the lines of that map lie, of that cen tral line that we used to call from Bremen to Bagdad? <%+
 "They lay through these very re-
 gions to which MT, Taft has called your attention, but they Jay then through united empire, the Austro-
 Hungarian empire whose integrity
 Germany was bound to respect as her
 ally lay in the path of that line 'of conquest. The Turkish empire whose interests she professed to make her own lay in the direct path that she
 intended to tread
 Will Watch Intrigue. ~
 "And now what has happened? The Austro- Hungarian empire has gone tc
 pieces and the Turkish empire has
 disappeared and the hands that ef- fected that great result-for it it was result of liberation-ar now re-
 sponsible as the trustees of the assets
 of those great nations. You not onl,
 would have weak nations lying in thi. path, but you would have nations in s which that old poisonous seed of in trigue would be planted with the cer- tainty that the crop would be abund. ant and one of the things that thu league of nations is intended to watcf is the course, of intrigue. Intrigue cannot stand publicity and if the lea que of nations were nothing but { great debating, society it would kill intrigue. =