The Arvada enterprise., 1919-02-27
PEOPLE WANT A LEAGUE
OF NATIONS TO END WARS

givings, the bad dreams of men like
Poindexter and Borah and Reed, it
seems that the world, including the
United States, has with practically a
unanimity found favor in the plan
for League of Nations. President
Wilson is on his way home after hav-
ing tentative plan for the League
adopted by the peace conference at
Versailles. This movement is such
an advance on all previous theories
to prevent war that it would seem
that all people who are not in favor
of having wars in the future would
be for it, but this week has demon
srated that partisan poitics-when
we say partisan We do not necessarily
mean democratic or republican, but
paltisans of big business or reaction
airy partisans as exempified from
progressive thinking people, are de-
tcrmined to do everything they can
to discredit the President and to keep
the way open for future war. Re-
dictionaries insist that this is nothing
but idealism and cannot be carried
out, but no one has ever yet, to our
knowledge, accused former President
Taft of being purely an idtalist. He
has been a conservative; he has in
fact many times been considered re-
dictionary, very reactionary, but some
how former president Taft has a
broader vision of world affairs TAIN
men of the type of Reed and Borah
and Lodge, and on this subject of
the League of Nations President
Taft says:
ION the whole. we should thank
God that such great ad,arc', tow
ard the suppression of war and the
promotion Of permanentpeace SHOULD
he taken as in the agreement or his
constitution"
"That is reacrionnrv doctrine
that belongs to the German view of
the state. 1t leads direct to the pro-
posal tina might makes right"
Congress, under the constitution,
determines what ouA armament shall
be; and therefore, it is quite true that
even if we made an agreement, con-
gress would retain the constitutional
power Of violating that agreement
and increasing disarmament beyond
the limit set; but that does not pre-
vent the treary making power
from entering into the obligation.
ut is not transfer of sovereignty
it is only an agreement to limit
our Notifications and our means of
attack in consideration of other ma
tions doing the same thing. The
most famous agreement that We have
made on this point is the agreement
We have with Great Britain, by which
we agree not to fortify the boundary
between Canada and the United
States, or to place war vessels on the
lakes.
mo reasonable and patriotic and
properly self-respecting citizen of the |
United States can claim that our SOW
ereignty should be more than right |
to freedom of action within the limit
atoms of international law, interna-
tional morality, and due regard for
the rights Of other nations. The only |
sovereignty which we ought to claim
is sovereignty regulated by these linz
itations. o
Is A PARTNERSHIP.
"Now. the league does not propose
in any way further to restrict that
sovereignty hut only thru the joint
eompulsion of all nations to keep a
would-be outlaw nation within the
proper and existing limitation.
1.-THE league is not super-sover-
eign. It is only partnership. -
Former President Roosevelt, be-
fore his death, came out uncquivoc-
ally in favor Of the League of Nat
l