Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-07-11

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concerted protection of definite inter
national pledges of principle and
practice,
These We're not tasks witch the
conference looked about il 10 find and
went out of it's way to perform. They
were inseparable from the settlements
of peace. They We're thrust upon it
by circumstances which could not be
overlooked The war hac created
them. In all quarters of the world
old established relationships mad been
disturbed or broken and affairs were
at loose ends. needing to be mended
or united again. but could not be made
what they were before They had
to be set right by applying some uni
form principle of justice or enlght-
ened eXpediency. And they could NOT
be adjusted by merely prescribing in
treaty what should be done. New
states were to be set WhiC.. could not
hope to live through their first pc
Rod of weakness without assured sup
port by the great nations that had
consented to their creation and won
for them their independence, Ill
governed colonies could not be put in
the hands of governments which weu
to act as trustees for Their PEG. le
and not as their masters, if there
was to be no common authority
among the nations to which they were
to be responsible in the execution of
their trusts. Future international
conventions with regard 20 the con
troll of waterways, with regard to Illicit
traffic of many kinds. in arms or in
deadly drugs or with regar- to the
adjustment of many varying inter
national administrative arrangements
could not be assured if the treaty were
to provide no permanent common in
ternational agency, if its execution in
such matters we're to be left to the
slow and uncertain processes OF CO.
operation by ordinary methods OF
negotiation.
Saar Basin and Danzig.
If the peace conference itself was to
be the end of cooperative authority
and common counsel among the gov
ernments to which the world was
looking to enforce justice and give
pledges of an enduring settlement, re-
gions like the Saar basin could not be
put under a temporary administra-
tive regime which did not involve a
transfer of political sovereignty and
which contemplated final determi-
nation of its political connections by
date: no free city like DanZig could
be created which was under elaborate
International guarantees 20 accept
exceptional obligations with regard to
the use of its mort and exceptional
relations with n state of which 1t was
not to form a part; properly safe
guarded plebiscites could not provide
for where populations were at some
future date to make choice what
sovereignty they would live under no
certain and uniform method of arbi-
tration could be secured for the set
tlemcnt of anticipated difficulties of
final decision with regard TO many
matters dealt with in the treaty itself;
the lOng-continued supervision of the
task Of reparation which Germany
was to undertake to complete within
the next generation might entirely
break down; the reconsideration and
revision of administrative arrange
ments and restrictions which the
treaty prescribed but which was rec-I
ognized might not prove of lasting ad-
vantage or entirely fair if 100 long en-
forced would be impracticable The
promises governments were making
to one another about the way i'm which !
labor was to be dealt with, by law
not only but in fact as well, would
remain a mere humane thesis if there !
was to be no common tribunal of
opinion and Judgment to which liberal |
statesmen could resort for the influ- |
ences which alone might secure their !
redemption. A league of free nations |
had become a practical necessity. |
Examine the treaty of peace and yos |
will find that everywhere through out |
its manifold provisions its trainers
have felt obliged to turn to the !
league Of nations as an indispensable |
instrUmantalty for the maintenance !
of the new order It has been their
purpose to set uD in the wOrld-the |
world of civilized men.
League of Nations.
That there should be a league of |
nations to steady the counseis and |
maintain the peaceful understandings |
of the world, to make not treaties |
alone, but the accepted principles of |
international law as well. the actual |
rule of conduct among tre govern !
ments of the world, had Seen one of |
the agreements accepted from the |
first as the basis of peace with the |
central powers. The statesmen Of all |
the bellgerent countries were agreed |
that such a league must be created to |
sustain the settlements that We're to |
he effected. But at first | think there |
was a feeling among some of them |
that while it must he attempted, thel
formation of such league was per |
haps a counsel of perfection which |
practical men. long experienced In |
the world of affairs, must agree to |
very cautiously and with many mis- |
givings 1t was only as the difficult |
work of arranging an all but universal
n n m ONT Of af d.
vanced from day to day, from one |
stage of conference to another. that ii
became evident to them that what |
they were seeking would be little |
more than something written upon
paper, to be interpreted and applied |
by such methods as the chances of |
politics might make available If they |
did not provide a means or common |
council which all were obliged TO ac-
cept, common authority whose de-
Cisions would be recognized as deci-
sions which all must respect. And so
the most practical, the most skeptical
among them turned more and more
to the league as the authority through |
which international action was to be |
secured, the authority without which,
as they have come to see ii, it would be |
difficult to give assured effect either
10 thlS treaty or 10 any Olner inter-
national understanding upon which |
they were to depend for the mainte
nance of peace. The fact that the
covenant Of the league was the first
substantive part of the treaty to be
worked out and agreed upon, while
all else was in solution. helped to
make the formulation of the rest
easier.
Not Ephcmeral WORK.
The conference was, after all, not
to be ephermeral The concer; of
nations was to continue, under a def
mite covenant which had heen agreed