Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1919-09-17

lawed nation will be boycotted by all
the other members of the League and
ness and social communication with
the rest of the world.
How 1t viii Prevent Wars.
1t is not claimed that the League Of
Nations will do away with war alto
gether. Every possible provision that
human intelligence can devise will be
made to settle international disputes
peaceably. But should all these meas
ures fail and two nations go to war,
this is what will happen:
If both parties to the dispute have
observed the rules of the League, the
other nations will stand back and let
them fight IL out. War under such
circumstances is difficult to imagine
however, because before the angry ma
tons will be allowed to fight In &C.
cordance with the rules of the League,
so much time must elapse that in all
probability their anger will cool and
they will reach an amicable under
standing.
What we have to fear is that some
nation will 60 to war in defiance Of
the League, and every precaution has
been taken to suppress such nation
by the immediate use of the united
power of the other nations. If inter-
national boycott failed to bring her
TO terms she would have to face
combined international army and
navy. The founders of the League be-
lieve that the mere possibility of such
a situation will prevent any nation
from violating its agreement Does
anyone think that Germany would
have begun war five years ago If she
had known that nearly all the other
great powers would combine against
her?
Doing the Worlds Work.
In addition to settling international
disputes peaceably the League of
Nations will provide means for doing
much of the worlds work more sys-
tematically and effectively than can
be done now when each nation is
working only for itself. The people
you know best and like best are those
who work with you on the same job.
1t will be the same way with the
nations Of the future The more they
work together, the sooner they will
come to understand and like each
other.
For example, the League will estab-
lish an international organization for
the lettering of labor conditions in
different countries, for the protection
Of women and children and the native
inhabitants of civilized and semi-civil-
lied countries. One of Germanys
greatest crimes has been her barba-
rous treatment Of the helpless people
in some of her colonies. One of the
chief tasks of the League will be to
look after peoples that are not strong
enough to protect themselves.
The League will appoint commits
sions to take charge of various inter-
national undertakings so that they
may be carried on, not for the benefit
of any one nation, but for the benefit
of the whole world. Provision will be
made for promotion Of fair and equal
trade conditions.
These are only few Of the benefits
the world will derive from the League.
AS time goes on we shall find more
and more tasks at which the nations
can work in common and greater
number of opportunities to remove
causes which stir up jealousies and
animosities between races and peoples.
Objections Answered.
OF course we cannot hope to make
the great changes such as the League
of Nations will bring about without
opposition. Fortunately the war has
taught us the great advantages of
international cooperation. 1t was
only by good team work that the free
liberty loving nations were able to
whip Germany.
The treaty which the United States
Senate is debating obligates the men,
bers of the proposed League to pro-
tect one another against attack from
enemies outside their own boundaries
bent upon conquest. Although this
agreement (Article X of the Cove
nanD is vital to any arrangement
which seeks to prevent war, it has
been attacked on the ground that it
would draw the United States into
wars in various parts of the world and
force US to send our boys to fight in
quarrels which did not concern us.
We should remember, however, that
the main purpose of Article Y is to
brighten nations tempted TO wars of
conquest from yielding to the tempta-
ton, by the certainty that they will be
crushed if they begin such a war by
universal boycott and a union of
forces of the world against them. Ii
big war breaks out again, the United
States will be forced to take part in
it whether we have a League of
Nations or not. We tried hard enough
to keep out of the war with Germany
but found we couldn't.
A little war contrary to the League
rules could be handled by the powers