Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-06-20

q
ment of food, if examined under a
high-power lens, is likely to leave one with
little interest in drink or meat for some
time to GOMEZ the New York Evening Posi-
truly SAYS that it is through just this sort
OF microscopic scrutiny that certain Sena.
tors see in the Covenant of the League III
Nations "a thing of squirming and pestl1er-
Gus horrors.
''Its thinnest strand becomes bulk
ing serpent, it's invisible network a
monstrous snare, it's invisible air
spaces yawning 1hasms and pitfalls.
Enemies of the Covenant have gone
further. They have applied to the IN q
strument a telemicroscope which pro-
iects the dread vision into an indefinite
future and reveals the perils that may
come if they are not yet there. II this
is the kind of analysis that is to be
brought to bear on the Covenant, the
League will. stand condemned, just as
every historic document, just as every
action in history would have been
paralyzed from the beginning by the
same test"
There would have been no Magma Charta,
no Bill of Rights, no Declaration OF 1nde-
pendence, no Constitution of the United
States if the microscopes had had their
way. "In this Constitution, Sir, solemnly
acclaimed Mr.. Treadwell, of New York, a
pretentious figure in the late Seventeen
Eighties. 1--WE have departed widely from
the political principles and political faith OF
49, when the spirit of liberty ran high and
danger put a cure on ambition. In this
Constitution we have not only neglected.
we have done worse--We have openly Vio-
lated our faith" So argued the Lodges
and Borahs and Knoxes and Reeds who
were present at the Unions beginning.
They proved. to their own satisfaction. that
the Covenant then proscposed for adoption by
the States was so impracticable and peri1ous
hot oar
speedy ruin. In like spirit was the Monroe
Doctrine assaulted as an exceedingly danger
GUS innovation; and the Louisiana Pur-
chase, with its subsequent legislation ad-
hitting Louisiana State, was denounc-
ed by Josiah Quincy, then Federalist leader
in the House. as 'dissolving the bonds of
the Union
Those apprehensions and protests seem
as curiously groundless today as the voluble
fears of the opponents of a League of Ma
tons will seem to Americans of 1880
Time has INDICATED the practical wisdom
of Washington and jefferson and the other
constructive minds of that age against hair
splitting critics. And time will vindicate the
practical wisdom of Wilson, Lloyd George,
C1emenceau and the constructive statesman
ship of this day against those who are SO
absorbed in picking flaws that they have
no vision for a great principle, no heart for
humanity's tragical leeds. Of course, the
Covenant of the League Nations has Is
dubities and its defects, as all things mum
dane have. But if it offers Gas no plan
which it's critics have advanced does offer)
a reasonable hope of lessening the likeli-
hood of future wars and of drawing the
peoples of the earth into friendly co-work-
ing for the common goods it not at least
worth trying?
Men do not refuse to eat and drink be-
cause every crumb Of bread and every DROP
of water is a-squirm with a microscopic
VTo How +Io1
rather than forswear all food. We would
rather take a chance than starve to death
But this principle seems not to have oc
Cured to the Senatorial microscopes.