Republican farmer., 1919-06-20

Replying 10 arguments of many Republican senators, he upheld the lea que as entirely consistent with the American constitution and devoid os any ability dangerously to entaugle or cUrtai1 American lntsreSts.
 Tn twenty years of service in the Senate" said the North Dakota Sen a5cr, 'I have known but one instru- meut whose terms have been so will fully misinterpreteI and SO grossly uiisrepresented as the covenant of the LeaEuc of Nations. That some of i- is vague, I know, an1 some portions objectionable from particular view po.ats.
 But. tnat it discriminates against us. is unfair in it's treatment of our coun- try or that it imposes on us any ob- ligation or burden that is not equally borne by every other nation, I most emphatically deny It is regrettable that the mighty power of eloquence is used to defame and distort the true meaning of an instrument, the most important that ever appealed to the
 heart or the soul of man.
 Suppose we now refuse to join
 with the rest of the world in some scheme to prevent war, what will
 happen? as surely as the sun shall
 rise, every great nation will proceed
 to devise means for the wholesale
 destruction of nations So desperate
 will be the next war that ali the hate
 and all the venom created by this struggle will be inflnistesimal com pared with the next. And against what race will all these weapons of
 death be used? Against the white race.''
 Johnson, Republican. of California, that America by virtue of her isola- ton does not need the European pow CTS as partners M-. McCunber said isolation had long since broken down. a. European quarrel having cost this country in the last five years 90. GOO lives and $40, 900. 900, ,0G0 There Is no moral duty incumbent upon any man in his relation to his fellow man., he continued, that is not equally incumbent upon a nation in it's relation to every other nation. What would you say of the strong, vigorous man who would stand the shore and see a woman struggling in the waves while he, folding his mus cular arms announces, Oh, that is no concern of mine, she is not my wife CT daughter
 "Oh," say opponents of the league
 of nations ''we can make up our
 minds what to do when the occasion
 arises.' What want us to do is to i be right there on che spot when the i occasion arises. Had the United
 States been right on the spot with an
 agreement signed by us and signed by | Germany that Germany would not
 make war on France or any other | country without submitting to a | league of nations the question of the righteousness of her cause, the world | would have been spared this awful confiagration.
 You talk about our entering this war for a great world principle. The
 man who makes that assertion knows | that he falsifies the record. He knows ! that we never once said to Germany ! you have no right to make war on
 France we based our right of action solely on the ground that by the acts ! of Germany she had made war on
 us. I want to put ourselves in such
 position that we shall never feet it 1 necessary to reiterate such a false | hood.
 "we knew all along just what Ger | many had in mind. We knew her | purpose of world domination. But
 we had not the right under intcrna-
 tional law or under any agreement to
 demand that she refrain from that
 hellish purpose. We do not want this | country or any other country to be
 again placed in such a position of impotency. | "of course. mot -one-oe us would