Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-07-10
WILSON PUTS HIS
;co4tmued from page threel

ference looked about it to find -,
went out Of its way to perform. The,
were inseparable from the settlement
Of peace They were thrust upon it b,
circumstances which could not be over
looked. The war had created them. Ii
all quarters Of the world old established
relationships had been disturbed OF
broken and affairs were at loose ends
aeeding 70 be mended or united again,
but could not be made what they were
Ebefore. They had TO be set right by ap.
plying some uniform principle of justice
or enlightened expedieney.
League Protects Weak.
And they could not be adjusted by
merely prescribing in Z treaty what
should be done. New states were to
be set up which could not hope to live
through their first period Of weakness
without assured support by the grea,
nations that had consented TO their ere
alton and won for them their indie
pendenee. Illgoverned colonies could
not be put in the hands of governments
which were TO act as trustees for their
people and not as their masters If there
was to be no common authority among
the nations to which they were 10 be re-.
sponsible in the execution of their trust.
Future international conventions with
regard to the control Of waterways.
with regard to illicit traffic of MANY
kinds, in arms or in deadly drugs, or
with regard to the adjustment Of many
varying international administrative ar
rangements could not be ASSURED Il the
treaty were to provide no permanent
common international agency Of its exc
ei'tion in such matters was TO be left
to the slow and uncertain processes OF
cooperation by ordinary methods of ne.
, gotiation.
League Only Hope.
If the peace conference itself was the
end Of cooperative authority and com,
mon counsel among the governments to
which the world was looking to enforce
justice and give pledges of an endur-
ing settlement, regions like the Saar
basin could not be put under a tempo
rary administrative regime which did
not involve a transfer of political con.
neetions by popular vote to be taken at
distant date; no free city like Dan.
zig could be ereatedsSFhieh was under
elaborate international guarantees, to
accept exceptional obligations with re.
gard to the use of its port and cxcep.
tional relations with a state of which
It was not to form part; pIoperly
safcguarded plebiseites could not bespsc
vided or where populations were at
some future date to make choice what
sovereignty they would live under; no
certain and uniform method of arbitrG.
tion could be secured for the settlement
Of anticipated difficulties Of final de.
eision with regard to many matters
dealt with in the treaty itself; the
long continued supervision of the task
of rcparation, which Germany was TO
undertake to complete within the next
generation might entirely break down;
the reconsideration and revision OF ad.
ministratiye arrangements and restric.
lions which the treaty prescribed but
which it was recognized might not
prove Of lasting advantage or entirely
fair If too long enforced with debate
impracticable. The promises govern
ments were making to one another
about the way in which labor was to be
dealt with, by law not only, but in fact
as well, would remain mere human.
thesis If there. was to be no common
tribunal of oninion and Judgment to
which liberal Statesmen could resort for
the influences which alone might secure
their redemption. A league of free ma.
tions had become practical necessity.
Examine the treaty of peace ana you
will find that everywhere throughout
its manifold provisions its trainers have
felt obliged to turn to the league Of
nations as an indispensable instrumen.
tality for the maintenance of the new
order 1t has been their purpose to set
up in the world--the world OF civilized
men.
Peace Leagues Aim
That there should be a League of ma
tions to steady the counsels and main.
tain the peaceful understands of the
world, to make, not treaties alone, but
the accepted principles of international
law as well, the actual rule of conduct
emong the governments of the world
had been one of the agreements accept.
ed from the first as the basis of peace
with the central powers. The statcmen
of all the belligerent countries were
agreed that such a league must be erea-
ted to sustain the settlements that were
TO be effected. But at first l think
there was q feeling among some of
them that, while it must be attempted,
the formation of such league was per.
haps counsel of perfection which
practical men, long experienced in the
world Of affairs, must agree to very
cautiously and with many misgivings.
Il was only Us the difficult work of
arranging an all but universal adjust
ment of the world affairs, advanced
from day to day from one stage Of con
ference to another, that il became evi.
dent to thelh that what they were seek.
ing would be little more than some
thing written upon paper, TO be inter
preted and applied by such methods as
the chances Of policies might make
available If they did not provide a
means Of common counsel which all
were obliged to accept, common au-