, 1919-07-17

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as the basis of peace with the central
powers.
Wa Statesmen Agreed.
The statesmen of all the belligerent
countries were agreed that such a
league must be created to sustain the
settlements that were to be effected.
But at first I think there was a feel
ing among some of them that, while
it u be attempted, the formation of
such a league was perhaps a counsel
of perfection which practical men,
long experience in the world of affairs.
must agree to very cautiously and
with many misgivings.
1t was only as the difficult work of
arranging an all but universal adjust
ment of the worlds affairs advanced
from day to day, from one stage of
conference to another, that 1t 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 meth
d as the chances of politics might
make available, if they did not provide
a means of common counsel which all
were obliged to accept, a common au-
thority whose decisions would be rec
ognized as decisions which all must
respect.
Skeptical Turn to League.
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
was to be secured, the authority with
out which, as they had come to see 1t,
1t would be difficult to give assured
effect to this treaty or to any other in
ternational understanding upon which
they were to depend for the mainte-
nance of peace.
The most practical of the con-
ferees were at last the most ready
to refer to the league of nations
the superintendent of all interests
which did not admit of immediate
determination of all administrative
problems which were to require a
continuing oversight. What had
seemed a counsel of perfection had
come to seem a plain counsel of neces-
sity. The league of nations was the
practical statesman's hope of success
in many of the most difficult things
he was attempting.
And it had validated itself in the
thought of every member of the con-
ference as something much bigger,
much greater every way than a mere
instrument for carrying out the pro
visions of a particular treaty. 1t was
universally recognized that all the
peoples of the world demanded of the
conference that it should create such
a continuing concert of free nations
as would make wars of aggression
and spoliation, such as this that has
just ended, forever impossible. A cry
had gone out from every home in
every stricken land from which sons
and brothers and fathers had gone
forth to the great sacrifice that such
a sacrifice should never again be
exacted.
1t was manifest why 1t had been
exacted. 1t had been exacted because
one nation desired dominion and other
nations had known 40 means of de-
Tense except ornaments and alliances.
Old Policy Meant Force.
War had lain at the heart of every
arrangement of Europe-of every
arrangement of the world-that pre-
coded the war. FESTIVE peoples had
been told hat fleets and armies, which
they toiled to sustain, meant peace
and they now know that they had been
lied to; that fleets and armies had
been maintained to promote national
ambitions and meant war. They knew
that no old policy meant anything else
but force. force-always force. And
they knew that 1t was intolerable,