The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-01

League of Nations nt Mass Meeting
 of Government TEnploycs, July 3O.)
 At mass meeting of Government employees hold this afternoon Frank lin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior. made an address giving what he call- ed the ordinary mans attitude toward the League of Nations. He said that 1t was now for the people to come to a Judgment as to whether this League should be adopted in the interest of America, and that "men's patriotism was not to be challenged because they hold one view or another upon this matter so long as they think above the plane of partisanship."
 The general attitude of the Ameri- can public he thought was That we wish as many obstacles as possible put fn the pathway of all other nations wishing to make war, but to be left ns free as possible to follow our own designs knowing that these do not ondanRer the peace of the world"
 Speaking of the presumptiOns in favor of the League he said that we might "presume much for Q policy which the chosen leaders of the two hundred and fifty million of the most civilized of the worlds people have endorsed. I would, too, set store by the fact that men like ex-President Taft, ex-Attorney General Wicker sham and President Lowell none of whom arc politically pradisposed in favor of any policy which the Prcst- dent might advocate. are SO strongly in favor of the League which this treaty creates."
 After reviewing those who had en- dorsed this plan, Mir. Lane said: If this body of judgment and opinion is wrong, it manifC5tly will be dif1cult 10 secure one of equal weight to off, got it For I believe 1t may be safe ly said that never before have so many of the so-called wise men of many nations and SO many of the peo- pie behind them united in favor of any one thins-never in the worlds history And they have united. I am convinced. not because any one of them believes that in each particular hs would have done what has been done. but because he thinks that he ehouid not rorudiate his agents un- less there is a clear parh of duty that has bson forsskon, and because here Is reason for the hope that what has boen done will prove to work in ~the end for the good of all peoples"
 Taking up the question of the time liness of the League, # was Mir. Lane's opinion that everyone would AaNt pTtAIETHG lfloI Lle League should have been born in a different way and at different time. But then he asked the questions-'"was that possible And were not the Ma tions committed to 1t at this time? ] remember" he went on, that Theo- dore Roosevelt after hls return from Africa and upon his receipt Of the Nobel Prise presented the world with the strongest appeal which any ma tional leader had up to that time voiced in favor Of such a League Then was the day for It's crea ton. But the world did not see the danger it was in. and Y took this war to prove the need for the League. Statesnen such as Mir. Root and the then Presi- dent. Mfr. Taft, committed them selves to It's foundation. but they were as voices crying in the wilderness Across their path stood the stern fig urs of the Kaiser backed by his stand ing army of two million men. The Car oonvoked the nations at the Hague but every step which would have converted these conferences into a cooperative effort for a surer peace was met by the refusal of Germany"
 MT. Lane alluded to Secretary Bry- ans efforts, saying that he was re- garded as "noble-minded visionary. He left ofiice boosting. properly boast ing, that thirty nations had signed the proposed pact But Germany purposeful, waiting Germany, was not one of the thirty. The Kaiser saw its drift and stepped aside. So, until the war came. all efforts failed to save thssa tentative stops"
 We were compelled to a League of Nations under the Arnlistice. Mir. Inns urged. saying, When Germany was broken. and came seeking peace. she came with those fourteen points in her hand as the ba9is upon which she would stop making war. We gave her peace upon that basis. And ons of thoso fourteen points was tha. there should he created a League O. Nations. And England. France and Italy formally agreed that this should be co. To see an arrnistice signed upon terms which we had proposed and which included tho League and chsn to have refused to offer such 2 League aS part of the peace would have required an explanation that doss not now seen altogether consis- tsut with promises of straight-for- ward dsaitns."
 A to any alternative policy Ssere- ta1y IAue said: T fancy that I ap- prshsnd the policy which some vers pafx1odo men favor and do not fu4l5 szDgeB; and 1t sasns to me far more impra6f1cable a lasting policy thaz tlaat now proposed, It might be ohaeactxTfzed as a policy of Anerf- can isolation plus American interyen- don In any war on our own terms and d our own will. The United State. under this conception of itself would be . possible party to every interna. tSonAI quarrel, a potential ally witi either party; but no one could 1earI in advance on which side its weight Svou1d be thrown because Americs wouId have 10 set, announced, formu lated and promulgated policy. There would be no Stllss to the game. Amer. fsA woald stsSd as 1t were, at th4 rtnGAds of every fight, and feel free te isaD tbS rspss and take up tho causs of s1ehSr pas<y as the light pro.