Milford chronicle., 1919-12-26
THE PEACE POSTPONED
1From Youth's Companlon.l

fFrom Youths Companion)
When our Senators rejected the
treaty of peace and with it the League
of Nations. they brought about one
great misfortune. They chilled the
hone of Europe and postponed the
settling of a question that greatly
needs 10 be settled. A host of simple
folk in Europe, to whom the unltea
States seems great and strong almost
beyond belief, learned with dlsmay
that we had declined to share their
burdens. That weakened their taith
in the newly established League OF
Nations and made them slower TO go
to work in content and confidence.
And it will have somewhat the same
effect here, where it will prOlong the
play of the over r-wrought feelings that
the whole perplexing question has
aroused and prevent our turning with
a free mind to the domestic problems
that need our concentrated attention.
Indeed, the whole mater has got into
a fine tangle There are those who
say that in Europe the President prom
ised more than he could perform, and
that in getting the peace treaty and
the covenant Of the League woven into
one piece he put the Senate-which,
after all, has as much to say about
treaties as he-intO a position lntOl-
erable to spirited men, who intend not
to surrender their lawful responsible
ity but to do their lawful work. On
the other hand, there are those who
see in what the Senators have done
more hurt pride than sense OF duty,
more partisanship that patriotism,
more i'll will to the President than
good will to the public. Between the
two views the Companion need not de-
eide Its readers are as competent
as it is TO impute motives-a thankless
and most uncertain task at best.
What the Companion can Gsefully
consider is where il all leaves US;
whether, after all, the matter is as
( bad as II seems. Let us analyze a
I little. What we want is a way of pre-
venting war We have seen-what
/ have we not scent And the sight has
( filled us with an unutterable loathing;
we never want to see its hOrrid like
again. That there shall be no more
modern" war-and it will still be
more modern" when it comes again
is an inspiration that is fine and noble.
1t has the logic of the heart behind it,
and that logic is absolute-within its
own domain.
From that aspiration sprang the idea
I of a league of nations as an instru-
ment by which men might bring about
a world in which peace and universal
good will should reign. But instru-
ments fashioned to bring about the
desire of the heart are properly judg-
ed, as all tools are judged, not by the
heart but by the head. There are those
who say that a league Of nations is
not a proper instrument for the task
we have in mind. Their contention is
not to be fiouted, but to be considered,
Still, the idea Uf lee lee que Of Nations
is so vague as to bear not much more
relation to an instrument than a lump
of steel bears to the well shaped tool
that undoubtedly lies within it if our
wits can fashion IT, The league, then
may be still regarded as within the
province Of the heart.
But the covenant-the actual tool
is wholly a matter for the brain. What
form il shall take is to be determined
by the men who have the greatest
knowledge OF the difficulties and the
UCkuAAhl AAANc nA AAN MOlh IL 10 " uO
, 1t must be fashioned exactly so Now
. the work Of statesmanship that it i:
to do Is the greatest and most difficult
! that the mind Of man has ever con
/ ceived Since that is so, we surely
: need not regret unduly that more tims
! is to be taken for consideration, fol
debate, for sober second thought.
, il all ends in a better covenant, W.
may well rejoice, for a plan that viii
work has worth; all other plans hav,
I none; and if by delay we get a pIaI
that will work, we need not regret tn
disappointment and the unrest tina
! seem now destined to last a littl'
longer both in Europe and at home
Hasty action would perhaps have beei
an opiate; what we want is a cure.
{ Nor need we feel ashamed that tn
reservations that have been propose,
are, as scornful men say, wholly de
2 signed to save our own skins. 1t viii
/ not do Europe any good to have u
. as members of the League if we ar,
/ unwilling and suspicious; still less,
/ we feel ourselves controlled. hamper
I ed, exploited. We are not a meek o.
h patient people; we might easil,
! break away fro mthe League and, il
breaking away, break the League. No
: if we are to be happy and useful in tn
d ne wrelation, we must feel safe.
/. league that fails will make any leagu
4 impossible for centuries, and leagu
: with which the United States, one 0
: the most powerful nations in tn
+ world, is not satisfied is a league tha
win fail
The real selfishness would be t
seek to use such a league for our owi