New-York tribune., 1919-03-07
The Two Existing Leagues


Despite the efforts of advocates of the
so-called convcnant to dodge discussion of
Its contents by rhapsodies in praise Of
peace and appeals concerning the neces-
slty of abandoning national aloofness, the
fact is reaching the public that already
league of peace exists and is function
ing, that its power ended the war. that
It's pressure is preventing new wars and
! that It's continuance seemingly offers the
only practical promise Of permanent
peace.
Beside this league of peace, sounsdlv
based on realities, there is another league
IN ful! legal existence, league not dis
similar III It's essence to the one which
would be created under the Smuts- Wilson
plan. Unrepealed is the Hague conyen-.
ton of 1907. SO far as paper apree-
ments can give vitality, it survives in full
strength. More than score of nations.
with Germany (Allcmagne) heading the
Ilst OF slgnatories, are under pledge to
resort to arbitration to settle their dis
putes, and machinery for determination
and award is provided. What the league
pretended to do is sufficiently shown bv
the preamble of the Hague convention.
as follows:
"Animated by str6ng desire to concert
for the maintenance of the general peace.
Resolved to second by their best efforts
the friendly settlement of international
disputcs
i5i, A.
the members of the society Of civilized ma
tions;
"Deslrous of extending the empire of law
and of strengthening the appreciation of
international JUSTICE
"Convinced that the permanent institu-
ton of court of arbitration, accessible
to all, in the midst of the independent
powers, will contribute effectively to this
result;
Having regard to the advantages at
tending the general and regular organza-
ton of arbitral procedure;
"Sharing the opinion of the august
lnltiator of the international peace confer
ence that 1t is eXpedient to solemny es-
tablish, by an international agreement, the
principles of equity and right on which
repose the security of states and the well
fare of peoplcs,' etc.
Reduced to simple terms, the Smuts-
Wilson proposal IS to scrap the league
which has subdued Germany and is pre-
serving such peace as now prevails, and
to substitute for it an arrangement in
essentials a rcwrite Of the Hague con-
venton, which did not and could not
maintain peace Queer, isn't it?
The Hague agreement was fatally de-
fcctive because its authors, like the
President, attacked the problem ffom the
wrong end. They did not look to the
creation of power as the first thing.
They worked on building a locomotive
without first providing a boiler. They
assumed the wheels would revolve. OF
course, they didn't. We have little right
to expect anything better from a Smuts-
Wilson locomotive which is similarly boil
erless.
A concert of power is the first requisite
to league Of peace. A coalition among
the democratic nations willing to trust
each other will furnish it. If anything
must be left to the future it should be
the complicated problem of how the
power is to be used
In his Metropolitan Opera House
speech the President said if Great Rrit-
am had accepted Sazonof's proposal for
Great Britain to make common cause
with France the war would not have
occurred. So saying, he practically ad-
mitted that an agreement among the five
nations to make common cause should
similar crisis arise would overawe dis
turbers and maintain peace.
If we are unwilling to trust good and
faithful democratic allies, surely it is
madness to expect trust to be confided in
a league containing anarchistic and i'm
perlailstlc nations, intriguing for special
advantages.