Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-09-13

language which would leave the Con-
gress of the United States free.
Il had finished about article x. You
will say it is ali very well, what you
say about the word of the United
States being necessary. provided the
United States is not one of the parties
to the dispute. In that case it cannot
vote. That is very true. But in tina.
case it has got the fight on it's hands
anyhow. Because if it is one of the
parties to the dispute the war belongs
to it. 1t does not have to go into it.
Therefore. it cannot be forced by the
vote into the war. The only thing the
vote can do is to force it out of the
war.
And I want to ask you to think
what it means, when it is suggested
that the United States may be a party.
A party to what? A party to seize
somebody else's property? A party
to infringe some other countrys po-
Htical independence? Is any one will
ing to stand on this platform and say
either of these things? I challenge
any man to stand before an American
audience and say that that is the
danger.
F Not One Inch of America.
."Ah, but some on may seek to seize
dependence. Well, who? Who has an
dacity great enough to try to take a
single inch of American territory
applause and cheers); or to seek to
interfere for one moment with the po-
1itical independence OF the United
States? These gentlemen are dream
ing of things. that can't happen And
I cannot bring myself to feel uneasy
about things that I know are not SO.
The great difficulty in this discussion.
as in many others, is the number OF
things that men know are not so.
Dominance of Great Britain.
There is another matter-I have
forgotten who it was that said it,
but I wouldn't mention his name if I
remembered it Oaughter), that this
covenant was an arrangement for the
dominance of Great Britain. They
base that opinion upon the fact that
in the assembly of the council six
units of the British empire were rep
resented. whereas the United States
Is represented as only one unit. Alike
in the assembly and the council, the
vote of the United States is an alb
solute vote. We can always veto, al
ways offset with one vote the British
six votes. I must say that I look
with perfect philosophy upon the diff
ference in number.
"The justification for the represent
tation of mere than sone part of the
British empire was that the British
empire is made up of semi-inde-
pendent pieces, as NO other empire in
the world is. You know how Canada,
for example,. passes her own tariff
laws. does what she pleases to incon-
venience the trade of the mother
country.
The only thing that seems to me
weak about the league is that a
unanimous vote will sometimes be
very difficult to get. And the danger
is not action, but iriaction. The danger
is not that they will do something
that we do not like, but that, upon
some critical occasion, they won't do
anything.
Read article 10 again and read
article IL.
Article II makes it the right of
any member of the league, however
weak and small, to call attention to
anything anywhere shat lis likely to
disturb the peace of the world and
draw it into debate. draw it into the
open draw it where everybody can
know the facts, and talk about it. 1t
; is the only time. my fellow country
men, in the history of the world
where the weak and oppressed and
FESTIVE peoples have been given a
hearing.