The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-10-02

The acceptance by the United States Of America of the proposed Armen- ian mandate is not a humanitarian duty only. It is the duty of America to help Armenia. to organize her gov ernment on a permanent basis be- cause it is one of our fundamental political ideals that we should contrl- { bute, whatever we reasonably can, toward the emancipation from oppres- sion and tyranny of struggling and deserving communities, provided, or course, we can do so without endang- ering our own safety, and without in terfering with the fixed and recog- nized rights and duties of other na- tions.
 The view still held by a few persons that we can and should cling 10 the outWorn policy of isolation or non entangIement in foreign affairs haS been conclusively discredited by the war that has just ended. The out standing fact which we must now rec ognize whether we like 1t or hot' IS that our will to remain "1solateo or .'disentangIed' is equally dependant upon the will of other nations II IS an obvious fact that common prudence dictates the necessity of relying upon
  force---for our own safety and for the protection of our institutions. But, far-seeing statesmanship and our re- cent international experiences tell us 4,e certain terms that, it Is by lnsurlng in so far as practicable, the safety or the rightful possessions and 1nStllu- tions of other nations and peoples which share our political and social ideas and ideals that we .can best serve ourselves. We must, to be sure rely upon our fighting men and up on our great navy for the defense or our frontiers and of our rights, but we must not fail to encourage within the limits of reason and international 1aw, of course. the growth and secur- ity of institutions like our own, which relatively serve to strengthen and ln- sure our own.
 It has also been said that we must not commit ourselves in advance to make war on the side of a certain nation, without knowing the merit of the case Under no law, divine or human, can we be forced to make war in defense of bad cause.
 The League of Nations covenant provides that the members of the League shall not be obliged to make war on a nation alleged to have com mitted an offense, unless the decree of the Council is unanimous. It simply means that the American representa- tive in the Council, who must take his orders from the Congress Of the United States, which has the power to declare war, shall not cast a vote in favor of making war, unless ne Is so directed by our Government. What we are asked to do, which we ought to. do, Is that, we must not walt uhtli the outbreak of war to make up our minds as to which side we shall take, but we must in advance reserve to ourselves the right to so adjust things as to reduce to a minimum the causes of war, which right inn poses on us, of course, a co-extenslVe duty.
 Experience has shown that interna- tionaI conventions and courts of ar bitration, excellent and necessary in strurnents and institutions as they are, cannot deter an mb1t1ous anc greedy nation from armed aggression unless it be opposed by an organized superior force. A superior force can- not be organized exactly at the time when it is needed. It must be ready for use whenever needed. What k now being attempted is, of course 8 great experiment, Slice all olhei experiments have failed. It IS ou duty to test the efficacy of this new experiment which no doubt, need: improvement, and shall be improved upon as trial and experiment sug gest.
 The following facts and reason establish, in my opinion, a clear cas- in favor of our accepting the Ar menian mandate:
 Tt is the duty of Christia, America to respond to the call o Christian Armenia---the worlds frs Christian nation.
 2-Among the sixteen or nor nations that are to be made int statehood, none has suffered as mucl as Armenia. and none has contribute more to the success of our cause thai Armenia On these grounds alone she deserves our prior sympathy an support.
 COUGHS. COLDS.