Norwich bulletin., 1919-07-11

| most prODdDle successor to MT. Payne
 as general counsel of the railroad ad l miniStration.
 l feet a complete and systematic inter- 1 standardization of waterways and rail- 1 ways which were necessary to the free l economic life of more than one nation
 and to clear many of the normal chan l nelS of commerce of unfair obstruc- 1 tiOnS of law or of privilege, and the | very welcome opportunity to secure | for labor ahe. concerted protection of l definite international pledges of prin- 1 ciple and practice.
 These were not tasks which the conference looked about it to find | and went out of it's way perform. ] They were inseparable from the set | dement's of peace. They were thrust upon it by circumstances which cuu d not be overlooked The War had created them.
 In all quarters of the world old -es- | ta blished relationships had be9l dis turbed or broken and affairs were at l loose ends, needing to be mended or knitted aga in, but could not be made what they were before. They had to be set right by applying some uniform principle CT justice enlightened cx- pedlency.
 And they could not be adjusted by l merely prescribing in a treaty what should be done. New states were to be set up which could not hope to live through their first period of weak ness without assured support by the great nations that had consented to their creation and won for them their independence. IH-gOVerned colonies could not be put in the hands of gov ernments which were to act as trus- tees for their people 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 exc cution of their trust. Future interna- tional conventions with regard to the control of waterways. with regard to illicit traffic of many kinds, in arms in deadly drugs, or with regard to the adjustment of many varying interna- tlonal administrative arrangements could not be assured if the treaty were to provide no permanent common in ternationaf agency; if its execution in such matters was to be left to the slow and uncertain processes of co-opera- tion by ordinary methods of negotia- tion.
 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 locking to enforce justice and give pledges of an enduring settlement, re- gions like the Saar Basin could not be put under a temporary administrative regime which did not involve a trans fer of political sovereignty and which contemplated a final determination of
 its political connections by popular vote to be taken at a distant date; no
 
 which was under elaborate interna- tional guarantees. to accept exception al obligations with regard to the use of its port and exceptional relations with a state of which it was not to form part; properly safeguarded plebiscites could not be provided for where populations were at some fu ture date to make choice what SoVe- reignty they would live under; no cer- tain and uniform method of arbitra- tion could be secured for the settle ment of anticipated difficulties of final decision with regard to matters dealt with in the treaty itself; the long-cOn- tinued supervision fo the task of rep aration which Germany was to under take to com plete within the next gen eration might entirely break down; the reconsideration and revision of administrative arrangements and re- Sstrictions which the treaty prescribed but which were recognized, might not prove of lasting advantage, or entirely fair if too long enforcement would be impracticable. The promises govern ments were making to one another about the way in which labor was to be dealt with. by law not only but in fact as well, would remain mere humane thesis if there was to be com mon tribunal of opinion and judgment to which liberal statesmen could re- sort for the influences ~hich alone might secure their redemption.
 A league of free nations had become a practical necessity. Examine the treaty of peace and you will find that everywhere throughout it's manifold provisions it's framers have felt obliged to turn to the league of na- tions as an indispensable instrument tality for the maintenance of the new order it has been their purpose to set up in the world-the world of civilized men. One of the First Agreements Accepted
 That there should be a league of nations to steady the counsels and maintain the peaceful unders landings of the world, to make, not treaties alone, but the accepted principles of international law as well. the actual rule Of conduct among the govern ments of the world, had been one of the agreements accepted from the first 1 as the basis of peace with the central powers The statesmen of all the bel | Hgerent countries were agreed that i such a league must be created to sus- | tain the settlements that were to be | effected. But at first. I think, there ! was a feeling among some of them 1 that, while it must be attempted, the 1 formation of such a league was per | haps a counsel of perfection which ] practical men. long experienced in the | world of affairs, must agree to very i cautiously and with many misgivings. | It only the difficult work of ar l ranging an all but universal adjust ment of the worlds affairs advanced l from day to day from one state of i conference to another that 1t became 2 evident to them that what they were l seeking would be little more than ] something written upon paper. to be | interpreted and applied by such meth 1 ods as the chances of politics might 1 make available, if they did not provide l a means of common counsel which all | were obliged to accept. common au- thority whose decisions would be rec ognized as decisions which all must respect.
 And so the most practical. the most [ skeptical among them turned more | and. more to the league as the author ity through which international action