The labor standard., 1919-09-01
Purpose of the League.

Purpose of the League.
 The chief purpose of the League of Nations is to keep the world in a state of peace. Another way of ex- pressing it is to say that the league is designed to prevent wars.
 We have just finished the greatest, which is to say the most horrible, of all conflicts between nations We have won a glorious victory. But that victory will be wasted unless this war has made the nations ready to put aside their differences and CO., operate to end war forever.
 It is not enough, however, to pro- vide for the prevention of wars and the settlement of disputes after they have arisen. We must foresee causes of trouble and. remove them before they have reached an acute stage. Hence there must be provision for fre- quent consultations of members of the league for exchange of information, for agreement on common policies and for the gradual formation of rules of international law which at present are uncertain and incomplete.
 The representatives of the great free nations which won the war have met at Paris and, after long consulta- tiOn, have drawn an agreement which they believe will accomplish these ends At the very least it will set in motion great changes which will re- suit in universal benefit to all man. kind. This agreement is called the Covenant of the League of Nations and it is part of the peace treaty.
 There will be league worth talk ing about, however, unless the United States is a member. The decision as to whether the United States shall join rests with our Senate. The Sena- tors, chosen by the people, will in the end vote as the people desire. For decide whether or not the United States will join the league. In this question every citizen should have a voice. He or she can express opinion either by writing direct to Senators, by letters to the newspapers, by speeches in his lodge or local union or in conversation with friends.
 Methods of Maintaining Peace.
 Since the prime object of the League of Nations is to preserve peace and to reap the benefits of peace let us see how the league will operate to accomplish that purpose.
 In the first place it will seek to re- move the main causes of war. By the formation of an international court it will create a means for the peaceful settlement of disputes between na- tions. Then it will seek to compel the nations to make use of this court. This is nothing more nor less than an application of the rules and customs governing private individuals in civil ized communities to the relations be- tween nations.
 Secondly, the League will seek 10 re- move a great temptation to war by the general agreement to reduce the size of armies and navies. This will halt the race for military and naval supremacy which was largely respon- sible for the war just ended. The amount of armament any nation may maintain will be strictly defined Thus it will be impossible for one country to overwhelm it's neighbor by unexpected attack, in the way that Germany crushed Belgium and would have crushed France had not the other democratic nations gone to her aid. The idea is that each country may keep an army and navy large enough to en- able it to fulfil its responsibilities as a member of the League, but no larger. The United States, for example, prob ably would be expected to keep a check on Mexico and the state of con. stant turmoil in that country would be taken into consideration in deciding how large an army we should need.
 The third important safeguard which the League will set up is a sys- tenn of penalties. This will make an outlaw of any nation or group of na- tions which goes to war in violation of the rules of the League. The out lawed nation will be boycotted by all the other members of the League and will find itself, cut off from both busi- ness and social communication with the rest of the world
 How 1t Will Prevent Wars.
 It is not claimed that the League of Nations will do away with war alto- gether. Every possible provision that