Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1919-03-07
WHAT AMERICAS FAILURE TO ENTER
lEA6UE MEANS.
Presidents Diagnosis Correct. A
Crisis at Hand.

Crisis at Hand.
Frank H. Simonds, one of'the most
intelligent American newspaper cor
respondents in Europe, sends this
letter from Paris. Every American
| citizen should read it.
1t would be difficult to exagger-
ate the success Of President Wilson's
first speech at home, so far as its
Paris audience is concerned. While it
i Is recognized on all sides that it was
but a beginning. there was feeling
| expressed everywhere by men of all
walks OF life that President Wilson
had accurately, forcefully and cour-
aGeously put bsfore the American
people the conditions in Paris, and it
vas further felt that he was fighting
In America to save all the best posi-
bll1ties OF the Paris conference. In
| day 70 day reports OF the proceedings
here. the differences o: opinion which
loom up at moment, conflicting pur-
poses, and MISUNDERSTANDING. serve
10 give an impression which, how
ever accurate, is bound to be mislead.
ing. and in no single detail is this
truer than in the case of the League
of Nations.
The simple fact is that despite Gym
icism on the part of some states
men, an apprehension on the part of
some representatives of the various
nations, there is absolutely common
recognition of the fact that the
League of Nations is the one single
guarantee, not merely against war
between nations IL the future, but
the only possible guarantee against
domestic disorders which may be
very serious in certain countries.
Mr.. Wilson is absolutely correc, in
his diagnosis that the people of the
world and Of the Allied nations de.
mand league OF nations, both as a
guarantee against repetition Of the
last war, and as evidence OF good
faith on the part OF their own rulers.
We have gone through a very curl
Gus transition in the brief period,
since Mr.. Wilson sailed to America.
Criticism Of certain failures and GER
tain mistakes Of the President which
were common at that time, hftye
given place entirely TO an almost
anxious observation Of what is now
to take place in America. Precisely
those statesmen who arc seeming
ly least enth utsiastic about the
League OF Nations proposition when
1t was matter of debate here. now
perceive most clearly and state
most frankly, that a failure OF tao
League Of Nations fight in America
will foreshadow the failure of the
conference at Paris on the larger
side. 1t is a settled doctrine here,
now, that there must be a League OF
Nations, that that League Of Nations
must possess power to protect the
small states, to guarantee the world
against new attack like the Ger
man attack. and, above all, by the
very extent Of the security it brings
save the common people of the vari.
Gus countries from additional bur-
dens incident to new armament If
Mr.. Wilson is defeated in America,
and comes beck here without the in
dorsement of the American people
for real League of Nations, with
out the consent on the part of the
American people to share costs and
responsibilities of such League of
Nations, 1t is not merely that the in
fiuence of the President or the influ-
ence of America will be lessened in
Paris. 1t is that the element Of hope
will in very large measure be taken
away from the masses of the little
people in all the countries of our
common alliance.
Americas Moral Support of Vital
Consequence.
Last summer at the critical mo-
ment of the last successful German
offensive. our American troops about
Chateau-Thierry saved Europe and
| the rest Of the world. This thing
was and is in a sense symbolical.
Precisely as the Allied armies we're
exhausted by the strain of four and
! half years of war, and needed
fresh troops still unshaken by the
privations of war to save the day, the
Allied peoples of the world now
need new American aid to preserve
the victory Of last year. wish it
were possible to make clear in
America the extent of war weari-
ness, moral as we'll as physical, in
Europe to-day, l wish it were pos
sible to make clear the growing des-
pair which results from the fact that
it is not easy or simple now to take
up the work of peace. Europe is
wrestling desperately with chaos
and with anarchy in a life and
death struggle to preserve order and
avoid Bolshevism. The noble and
splendid emotions shared by the
great nations at the outset nj the