The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1919-08-30
LEAGUE FULFILS
AMERICAN IDEAL
Herbert Hoover Says Democra-
cies Replaced Autocracies
at Our Bidding.
FOOD ADMINISTRATION CHIEF.
Urges Ratification on Ground That
Peace Treaty viii Collapse
Without League Of
Nations.

derDerI hoover is so deeply con-
cerned over the opposition t o the
League of Nations in the United
States that he has let himself be in
terviewed at length on the League sit
uation. In a talk with the New York
Times correspondent in Paris, the
Food Administration Chief asserts that
having caused the League idea to pre-
vail America cannot abandon it. We
cannot withdraw, he says, and leave
Europe to chaos. ITO abandon the
League Covenant now means that the
treaty itself will collapse"
Mr.. Hoover's wide acquaintance
with conditions both here and abroad,
his reputation as an administrator, a
man of great affairs who deals with
facts. not theories, make his state
ment n of the most important con-
tributions to the recent League discus
sions. - 80
There are one or two points In con-
~nection with the present treaty." said
Mr.. Hoover, that need careful consid-
GRAFTON by the American public. We
need to digest the fact that we have
for a century and a half been advo-
eating democracy not only as a
remedy for the internal Ills of all So
ciety, but also as the only real safe
guard against war. We have believed
and proclaimed, In season and out,
that a world In which there was a
free expression and enforcement Of
the will of the majority was the real
basis of government, was essential for
the advancement Of civilization, and
that we have proved It's enormous hu-
a benefits In Our country.
American Ideas Have Prevailed.
I'VE vent into the war to destroy
autocracy as a menace to our own and
all other d~emocracies. If we had not
come into the war every inch of Euro
pean soil today would be under auto
cratic government. We have imposed
our will on the world. Out of this
victory has come the destruction of
the four great au~tocracies In Ger
many, Russia, Turkey and Austria and
the little autocracy in Greece. New
democracies have sprung into being In
Poland, Finland, ~I.etvia, Lithuania,
Esthonia, Czechoslovakia, Greater
Serbia, Greece, Siberia, and even Ger
many and Austria have established
democratic governments. Beyond
these a host of small republics, such
as Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and
others, have sprung up. and again as
a result of this great world movement
the constitutions of Spain, Rumanis
and even England, have made a final
ascent to complete franchise and de
mocracy, although they still maintait
a symbol Of royalty.
"We have been the living spring foi
this last century and half from which
these ideas have sprung, and we have
triumphed. The world today, except
for a comparatively few reactionary
and communistic autocraeies, Is dem
~ocratic, and we did 1t.
"a man who takes a wife anC
blesses the world with several infants
cannot go away and leave them OF
the claim that there was no legal mar
riage.
These infant democracies all hav'
political, social and economic prob
lens involving their neighbors tina
are fraught with the most intens'
friction. There are no natural bound
aries in Europe. Races are not con
pact they blend at every border. The,
need railway communication and Sc,
outlets through their neighbors' terri
tory.
MANY of these states must for tn
next few years struggle almost TO
bare bones to maintain their yer.
existence. Every one of them is &c
ing to do its best to protect its ow.
interests, even to the prejudice of it
-neighbors..
Governments Lack Experience.
I'VE in America should realize tha