The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1919-06-13
ortunes of his league of nations

| fortunes OF MS league OI HdtloHS
scheme.
"The men who died in France were
not unique They were of no differ
ent breed from that of men who
fought to the last gasp behind the
battered doors of the Alamo, nor
different from the breed of men who
fought at San Juan Hill, or in the
pestilential swamps of the Philip,
pines.
"And it is false assumption that
they went to France to fight for hu-
mainly. If that had been their i'm
pelling purpose they would have gone
in 1915 to rebuke the rape of Bel
GUM, to stay the devastation Of
France, to averoe the murder of in
nocents aboard the Lusitania. Self
deception avails us naught. We en-
tered this war after receiving every
insult one nation can heap upon an
other. We entered it after Belgium,
France, England and Russia had
stood for nearly three years between
US and the ruthless hordes of the hell
ish Huns. We entered the conflict
only when it became apparent that
Prussian militarism. was about to win
and that we must help or fight the
enemv later and alone.
Wilson knows this The record
proves it. The declaration of war
corroborates it. But the fact does
not detract in the least from the he
roism, the courage, the skill and the
sacrifice of the men who rallied to
the colors and redeemed American
honor from the disgrace in which it
had been dragged by pacifist ad
ministration. The men who fought
at Chateau Thierry in the summer of
1918 would have fought as valiently
in the summer of 1915, following the
sinking of the Lusitania, if they had
been oiven the training, the arms and
the opportunity. If America did not
perform her nart in the war as
promptly and effectively as she should
no word of criticism can be directed
against the rank and file of the war
riors who later won the admiration
of the world and the gratitude of all
succeeding generations by their valor-
Gus deeds.
at is perversion of the truth to say
that those men were consciously or
unconsciously fighting for a League
of Nations. 1t is perversion of the
truth to say that they were fighting
to prevent future wars. except so far
as defeat of the wrong-doer in that
war may discourage international out
lawrv for all future time. They were
fighting to end this war and end it
on the side of right. What steps
should be taken to prevent future
wars is a question to which they have
given no thought that has found ex-
preston. No man can honestly claim
to express the thought or the feeling
of the American evolutionary forces
upon the league of snations anv
other scheme for future world ad-
iustment.
"This much and this only has been
demonstrated by the record of Amer
leans in this conflict-America pro-
duces a breed of men who put the |
honor of their country and the peace
and safety of their homes above even
life itself. and when a foreign foe as
sails our rights they stand ready to |
wage defensive or offensive war, let |
the loss be what it may. If league
Of nations held out reasonable hope |
of lessenine war without sacrificing
liberty, doubtless they would espouse |
its cause. But there is no likelihood |
that they will choose the humiliating |
and menacing terms of the league
covenant, with its unknown entang-
ling alliances and sacrifice of Ameri- |
can independence.