The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-07-11
THERE IS NO ANSWER TO
PRESIDENT WILSON'S LOGIC

There is no legitimate reason for presuming that the street
corner statesmen, who have consistently rejected the treaty of
peace and the league of nations, the work of the foremost states
men OF the five great powers victorious in the war, and the
twelve or fifteen hundred experts who have been laborng over 1t
for more than six months, will in any respect alter their attitude
and accept it upon the mere recommendation of the president
of the United States, who has returned after an absence OF seven
months and four days, broken only by a brief visit between
Feb. "a and March 5, during which time he has devoted to the
work every talent he possessed, to the end that VIC should meas
ue up to the responsibilities that have come to this great nation
that we honor, and which we would all wish to Int to yet hlghet
levels of service and achievement as he said to the senate
Thursday afternoon,
But as we see it there can be no answer to his argument
What, for example, is the answer OF the opponents OF the league
of nations to this statement:
.rr. %es s' Of @ he a; ~d s4G heat g%s} S St s$sy % SsTs TS S"s,SS e Pc P%p S'$ SsS e. ! ss
,h,, n ;et, and and armies 15 Se Which ICED '% 'S, tGsd fleets sa s1T aI ar mS%@' bsG Se 4"q m Anita me
sSeG% sSG %,G s1 sm T5%s % Rs m msP%sy 70 fore. T"e I{ndd they 'S knew ne ina, ii L G ~@sss
sas%s5asf n Syf s} . 3i @s" cost T. = inS sa :S pr 7p% .e% s$s s% $:! ssss SsS@ $$f "S s|
e. e =" ~ S EE $' M siSsy r st * IL s$ sS s" sSoRa 4 . ss aas ana SS" sSaio Si stSos
es.%Sa T x very. s yG ssss %:y q @ S51 s%G ns ss' ps SH s4 !? n ' e ms ,ss Ss5sfy q" 3 arms e4s ' s"d
s & 1'S could SSi" SSt ss rs S2e %S"'% The .1 ao ,$$ ss@''S 9 e os s% "%,%% %%% E! e. e It it. =, : s%}
oS tie %s !S@%ss nee . d as%mpnsG MsS row t$srs must l be t1 another Gd and nn a n "a
| $;%;Sy I'D ID; .! sas:' os "a @s 4 s:1 e: not St %ssy '' ~ "T til S n no hop '' I' 4" and
Can it be said that an army trained and equipped for war is
mainly bent upon. preserving the peace, or when one nation
excels in the supremacy of its navy and inspires frantic efforts
on the part of other nations to equal its strength, that this dis
play of power and ambitious enterprise are calculated to con-
tribute to the tranquility of the world?
History from the beginning OF time is replete with records
that dispute any such claim. Whenever mihtarism is in the
a~scendancy there are wars of aggression, preceded by acts OF
oppression. +
Treaties that have ended wars in the past failed to take into
account the possibility of a resumption of war. Peace usually
has endured only through the period OF weakness and unequal
strength.
The world has rever tried a plan that even remotely resem-
bhs the league of nations, We are not convinced that it will be
successful. We only know that treaties without the league have
been unsuccessful.
There is nothing in the league Of nations that will contribute
to war or precipitate war, The tendency is i'll a different drec-
ton. 1t will retard war instead Of provoking it.
Is the opposition to the league based upon the idea that we
should have no alliances with the other nations of the world!
If we have no business to go into the league then we had no
business to go into the war from which we are just emerging.
II it is reasonable to say that we should keep out of association
with other nations in the future it is evident that we were mis-
taken in going into war in the recent past. Is there one who will
say that as a self-respecting nation the United States might have
acted otherwise than it did while an arbitrary and insolent nation
repeatedly committed overt acts which might have provoked a
people less devoted to peace to have taken up arms far earlier
than we did?
The league of nations divests this country of none of its
vitality, none of its energy. 1t S in no way restricted or limited
and il surrenders none of its rights.
1t means merely that there is another force awakened in the
world that must be rcckoned with when the strong set out tc
subdue the weak a moral force which will restrain the ambitions
of designing rulers; but, failing in that, can command the armed
strength of all the nations that stand together for the triumph OF
righteousness and justice.
There is no suggestion that war will forever be banishec
from the earth, or that we shall not again see it in all its hdeous
ness. Under the Older order war was the first resort V1nde,
the new dspensation, offered in the league of nations, war is no
eliminated, but is made a last and final resort. Only those VIII,
have suffered the consequences of a war that might have beer
averted can rightly estimate such an advantage.