The Springdale news., 1919-03-28
ARTICLE K.

The high contracting parties shall undertake b re sp4ct and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of al states members of the league. h case of any such aggression n case of threat or danger of such aggression. the Executive Council shall advise fPf9 fiiis5 'n' mean. 2 @o's' s's '''z''''9 a'' =
 This is the much-discussed article \. of the proposed constitution of the League of Nations. It is claimed by the opponents of the league, and also by some who only oppose the particular phrase ology of this document, that this will obll- gate us to fly to the defense of any state member of the league that may be attack ed that 1t will involve Us in frequent wars instead of keeping Us out of war. If that were true no American could support the league, and very few in any other land; for if the world has learned any lesson at all from this war it is that war under modern conditions Is ineXpressibly hor- rible and most ealamtous in it's destruc- tiveness. The world wants no more of t, if il is possible to find way to pre- vent it's recurrence. All statesmen. ex- eept a few men like Reed and Borah, agree that there Is no way by which the danger of war can be greatly lessened save by open international agreement. Now, the chief difficulty in reaching an agreement to accomplish that end is in the natural and proper unWillingness of any nation 10 sacrifice any measure of it's sovereignty or independence Sover- eighty and independence are virtually synonymous terms although some auth critics on international law make slight distinctions. But either one signifies the supreme right of a nation over the di- rection of it's own affairs. To reconcile the theory that this right Is inviolable and llhmltable with the necessity of limita- tion of sovereignty was the problem be- fore the League Commission and the members of the commission believed they had solved it upon the principle of self restraint, the voluntary limitation which every nation applies to itself whenever it makes treaty Any sort of contract between men is to the extent of its pro- visions a limitation of independence of action, and so is any contract between na- tions
 Evidently the purpose of this article lS to pledge, first, mutual respect for the political independence of the nations en- terlng into the league. which, of course, IS pledge not to interfere in the internal affairs of any one of them; and second, 10 preserve that independence and also the territorial integrity against external aggression by any one of their own num- Der or by others. This second provision IS the one that arouSes the fears and gives ground for the most persuasive eloquence of the opponents of the league They as sume that il would instantly involve us Tn any war that might arise anywhere in the world in which a member of the league was belligerent Is there any justification for this assumption? We believe no one will deny that the purpose of the league is to prevent war. That IS the one idea that has brought the na- tons together All the machinery of the league as now proposed and all of it's terms, are aimed al the consummation of that single purpose Incidentally. it is expected to accomplish other things for human welfare, but these are only incl dental and supplementary. It seems a reasonable assumption that if these na- tions are joined together to prevent war. with such an awful lesson of the horror and fatility of aggressive war as thev have now before them, they will do all in then power to keep ou af war themselves