Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-16
COMPROMISE

w Gates that hat democratic tic sena-
| tors are at last coming to
their senses with respect to modi-
fication or reservations in the Peace
| Treaty and the proposed League of
Nations. Very likely they have been
| impressed with Senator Lodges
ovation at the hands of crowded
| Senate galleries the other day and
the repeated kissing which defend
ers of the League as it stands re-
| ceived at the same hands.
There is also something for them
to think about in the returns which
Colonel Harvey reports of poll in
| the central west, where nine of
every ten persons who cast a ballot
were opposed to the League in any
form. Shrewd Democrats no doubt
see that they must either accept
the compromise that Republicans
offer or see the League plan turned
down altogether.
Nobody questions that President
Wilson went to Europe with the
best of intentions. He meant to
show the people of the continent
the ideals of America and to work
them out in plan for the benefit
of all humanity. But teaching
Europeans to practice American
ideas of Government is like trying
to teach a child algebra before he
has been instructed in arithmetic.
America has fought its way to it's
present position. 1t has had moth
ing handed to it on silver platter
Full manhood suffrage and a voice
in the Government has been every
Americans heritage since his birth.
He knows nothing else. He knows
how to be temperate in his judg-
ment, and however radical his talk
the true American citizen votes as
he believes for the preservation of
American institutions and he is ever
ready to fight and die for them.
Europeans have a different view.
Freedom is for most of them an un-
known term. They talk about it
glibly enough, but they do not know
how to exercise it even when they
attain it. And there is in Europe a
governing class, which is something
we do not know in America. Here
the railroad conductor may be the
legislator of tomorrow, the printer
the mayor of his city, the clerk
of to-day may go to the State Senate
tomorrow, and man who began
life as an engine oiler sat in the
United States Senate for years,
while the rail-splitter becomes the
everlasting ideal of the Nation.
In the League of Nations, without
reservations or even under any con-
ditions, can we remain true to
Americas best interests and to
those of the world at large? That is
a question that many Americans are
answering in the negative, and con-
corning which many others are in
doubt
But let us not be deceived that we
shall have "set humanity back 400
years" if the League is rejected. In
side or outside such League
America will continue to be a potent
force in the world, if not the actual
determining factor in peace or war
at any time. We are furnishing
Europe with the things it must
have. We are financing interna-
tional business and many European
nations would find themselves hard
pressed If we pushed our claims.
We have just finished a war that
but for us would be still in progress.
We are a dominating force in the
world. Will we be the gamers or
the losers by adoption of the League
plan? AS men decide that question
the Presidents program will go
through or fail. At present it looks
as though the Senate will see to it
that the teeth in the League that
might be turned on America will be
removed or muzzled and the plan
approved with these reservations.