Catoctin clarion., 1919-08-28
Purpose Of the League.

Purpose OF the League.
The chief purpose Of the League of
! Nations Is to keep the world In
safe of peace. Another way of ex.
| pressing 1t 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
| lave 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.
1t is not enough however, to pro-
vide for the prevention OF wars aud
the settlement Of disputes after they
| have arisen. We must foreSee causes
OF trouble and remove them before
tlcy have reached an acute stage
| Hence there must be provision for fire
! Il ont consultations Of members of the
league for exchange Of information,
f agreement on common policies and
for the gradual formation of rules of
ii'rrnational law which at present are
uncertain and incomplete.
|
| free nations which won the war have
met at Paris and, after long consulta
ton. have drawn an agreement which
tLry believe will accomplish these
erdS. AT tie very least II viii set in
motion gre T. chances which will re-
s d. i, M. cls,ill l. a., lit to all l...,:i
nd. Til II Ceel,,nt is called the
G., enan, # jM L.; cue OF NJ, :ons
q. n Ut of &c PEI; . t'na..
There will be no league worth talk
| il" about, however, unless the United
| $ ates is Il member The decision as
to whether the United States shall
| join rests will our Senate. The Sena-
tors. chosen by the people, will in the
erd vote us the people desire. For
tbs reason the people themselves will
decide whether or not the United
$ ates will join the league. In this
q rstion every citizen should have q
voice. He or she can express opinion
either by writing direct to Senators,
by letters 10 the newspapers, by
speeches in his lodge or local union VI
IN conversation with friends.
Methods Of Maintaining Peace.
Since the prime object OF the
League OF Nations is to preserve peace
and to renp the benefits of peace
lei us see how the league will operate
to accomplish that purpose.
In the first place il will seek to re.
move the main causes Of war BY the
formation OF an international court II
| will create II means for the peaceful
| settlement OF disputes between ma
! tions Then il will seek to compel the
| nations to make use of this court.
| THIS is nothing more nor less than all
| ap,NicatiOn of the rules and customs
governing private Individuals in civil
! iZed communities to the relations be
tween nations.
Secondly, The Leagre will seek 10 re-
| move II great temptation to war by
! tie general agreement to reduce the
| Sic of armies and navies This will
halt the race for military and naval
| suurenacy which was largely respon
! s. ic for the war just ended. The
ah:uant of armament any nation ma!
maintain will be strictly defined
! llilS ii will be impossible for one
{, untry to Overwhelm its neighbor by
unexpected attack, in the way that
| Germany crushed Belgium and woulo
have crushed France had not the other
| democratic nations gone to her aid. The
| idea is that each country may keeI
all army and navy large enough to EN-
able 1t to fulfil its responsibilities as
a member of the League, but no larger.
| Tie United States. for example, prob
ably would he expected to keep
check on Mexico and the state Of con
s.ait turmoil in that country would bs
| taken into consideration in deciding
how large an army we should need.
The third important Safeguard
which the League will set uR is a sys-
TEN OF penalties. This will make ar
outlaw of amy ration or group of ma
/ lions which goes 10 war IN viOlatiO,
| OF the rules Of th" sue, the out
| ihc oil or uemhers of the Lea ne ami
viii find itself cut off from both busl'
ness and social communication with
he re of the world.
How II viii Prevent Wars.
1t is not claimed that IN. !rague OF
| Naticns@ will do away with war arc
gelher. Every possible provision 'hat
human Intelligence can devise Will be
made to settle international disputes
peaceably But should all these meas
ures fail and two nations go to war,
this is what will happen:
If both parties to the dispute have
observed the rules Of the League. the