Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-03-11
WHAT IS THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS?

confederation had it's beginning as early as
1891, but declarations really got their i'm
petus from the establishment of the United
States under it's present constitution N
1888. Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Vene-
Zuela are also federal unions of states.
Great Britain is the head of league of
British nations. Besides numerous colonies
of several kinds, the British Empire con-
sists of the five self-governing domiMons
of Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, New
Zealand and South Africa, and the empire
of India, which is itself league of nations.
Closer organic connection between these
and the London government is now obtained
through an Imperial War Cabinet and a
series of imperial conferences.
INTRODUCTION: Political bodies are the
fruit of the vast tree of secular life, and have
vitality only as they meet the practical needs
of life. The individual in healthy commu-
nifty must, of necessity, lead his personal life
himself, and the modern conception is that
individual freedom should be limited only
where the greater good of the whole COM
munity is concerned. The individual looks
to his government for safety of life and prop
erty, and he supports it because it guarantees
these to him in a just manner. To gain this
support any government or political instltu-
ton must either be able to operate through
many channels affecting human happiness, or
it must be closely harmonious with the ideals
and conditions of it's time-in which case it
does not have to deal much with administra-
ton, but can leave that to other political
organs.
Why Leagues Failed: Federat1ons have
usually been successful. The looser leagues of
the past have for the most part failed, when
they did fall for three reasons: 1. They did
not meet the needs of the people they pur-
ported to aid; 2. They were lacking in ele-
ments necessary to carry out their purpose;
and, 3. They were lacking in the prime requi-
site of Justice.
Failure to Aid People: Ancient leagues
failed because of what we now recognize to
have been narroW-mindedness. They were
based upon the dominance of a religion, race,
or system of culture, and that circumstance
limited their possibilities. In one way or an
other they represented only portion of the
people they controlled, and their attitude to-
ward tho great mass of their subjects, native
or conquered, was Indifferent.
The Roman republic and empire, viewed
as a league of nations, was unique in history
up to the nineteenth century. It was league
based on justice, the justice of the wonderful
code Of law which has survived to this day
under the name of Justinian. But it also
had the narrow-minded fault of other ancient
leagues, It's failure, however, was not due to
that fault, but rather to the fact that the
Roman citizen was highly privileged person
who became rich without work or lived with
out labor, thanks to tribute from the outlying
portions of the empire. The injustice OF I'M
equal rewards sealed Rome's fate.
The semblance of a league existing in Eu-
rope from 1648 to 1888 by reason of many
important treaties was doomed to collapse be-
cause its foundation was bad. Political the
DRY, in those times, took little heed Of the
welfare of the people, but laid all it's stress on
the advantages of the ruler. Consequently,
the Europe of Louis XIV, who asserted 81 am
the State, of the treaty of Utrecht, and of
the wars of the Spanish succession, was an
impossible soil for league of nations, Of
which the constant wars of the period is proof
enough. The Holy Alliance was simply the
capstone of that wrong theory, and it. too,
went it's way.
Elements That Leagues Lacked: From the
time when Pierre Dubois, in the thirteenth
century, produced a project TO insure peace,
regular conferences among the members OF
league has been one of the stipulations made
by reformers. Federations have had such an