Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-04-26
The Worlds Next Step
No.
The League 81 Nations and the Prog
ress of Civilization
BY cLARENcE 1. spran

| tat'ye plans for its constitution have
been approved mt the peace conference
| Representatives of fourteen of tht
| greatest governments in the world
| have agreed on the tentative details
Reports Indicate that delegates from
other nations assembled at Paris 10 fix
on the terms for ending the great war
are ready 10 sign a treaty creating a
league of nations. Even the defeated
nations approve the idea If not the
details. II may be taken now as n
fOree0nc conclusion that the world
ms whole has decided TO act in con
cert. to organize To prevent wars in
future, TO protect the weak and pre-
vent aggression by the strong.
Since the dawn of history the world
has been progressing logically toward
this step, though falteringly and with
many slips backward. From the pre-
historic times when ii was every man
for himself down through the ages
neighbors when despotisms Of the an
Client world struggled for mastery,
when feudal lords Who were little
more than robbers made wars for
booty. to the development of the mod
crn nations as they stood five years
ago, man had slowly been learning
that he could not live for himself
alone, but must depend on the CO.
operation of his neishbors.
Slowly, very slowly. the ideas of
right and justice rs we now under
stand them grew up. Primitive man
learned that to protect himself he had
-But his ncighbors then were the few
Of his fellow beings who lived in his
immediate vicinity. They We're sepa-
rated from others by wide stretches of
jungle, plain or swamp.
AS human population increased
"neighhOrs" came to mean all the
members Of great tribes ana finally
all citizens Of nation.
But scientific progress outstripped
for a time mankind's social progress.
There came the application of steam,
the discovery of electricity, the teIe-
graph, the wireless. the flying machine,
which made the world a neighborhood.
Trade was carried on from one end
of the world to the other. No nation
could live an independent life. Failure
OF the cotton crop in Texas meant pri-
walton and suffering In Manchester; a
change in the tariff laws of the United
States might mean great distress in
far distant countries. Nevertheless
the nations Of the earth continued to
act entirely independently, each look
ing for its own selfish interests with
out regard for the interests of the
rema nder OF the world.
The Individual in every civilized
couutry had long ago recognized the
justice of the limitation of his rights.
He no longer claimed the privilege Of
going out and killing an enemy with
whom he had disagreed of stealing
his neighbours property just because
he~wanted it, of enSlaving his fellows
Of fighting duels, of carrying concealed
weapons.
He gave up all these ancient privi- |
eEcs and depended on his government
For protection. He did so in spite OF 7.
he fact that there were individuals in /
very land who refused to do likewise. /
He suffered at times from the thief, /
he robber, the murderer; yet as the /
centuries went by he took the law |
nto his own hands less and less fire. /
lucntly, until before the great war /
,rOl5e over the world the greater part .
# the earths surface was settled, or
lerly, safe.
Yet it never seemed 10 occur TO
hese same men who had submitted to
% much curtalment of their individ-
lal privileges that there might ever
10 any Joint exercise of power by all
# the states of which they sevcrally
to be citizens. Nations built
ach other across frontiers, seized the
luds of weak or undeyeloped peoples,
nd exploited conquered territories for
heir own benefit.
True, some countries, notably Eng
md. which held subject colonies in all
arts of the earth. and the United
tateS. which only recently had rather
accepted responsibilities
4 the Philippines, had reached a
tage of development where they no
)nger considered it the proper thing
lercilessly to exploit dependent peo-
les, vet this sentiment was far from
eneral. Land grabbing was the aC-
epted practice. Peaceful civilization
as held back by the necessity of de-
oting so much of the resources of
very land to preparation for a
Lruggle that was deemed inevitable
Finally, in 1914, the storm broke.
Var, costing millions of lives and
cores of billions of dollars, swept
yer the earth. involving nation after
alton in the fighting and the whole
orld in the misery ii cntailed. Man,
My through the btterest suffering in
Il history, at last learned that if he
ere to hope in future to live in peace
nd enjoy prosperity he must recog-
lie that his neighborhood comprised
lie whole world and act accordingly.
Thus came about the proposal for
Ia loo C,,o of nations Tho vprl1 il