Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-07-17

anu piunuer, AT least, TO De no part OF
IT. to be ourself again, with our ideals
untarnished to be Just Americans.
We fought a righteous war and won.
with our might and our treasure we
determined to destroy a ruthless
militarism and It is done. In the peace
we would make It impossible for this
monster ever again to threaten the world
The victory for the United states
means neither territory nor reparations.
1t should mean the triumph Of our loud
trumpeted ideals for. civilization, for the
rights of small nations, for self-deter-
mination. for democracy. 1t means for
England, France, Italy and Japan huge
territories. vast numbers Of people, i'm
mense national gain. The burden must
be borne of protecting and safeguarding
these enormous allied gains. The ques-
tlon is, and the League of Nations
squarely presents it, who shall bear the
burden? Shall the burden rest upon the
gamers, those who made a mock Of self
determination Of the rights of weak
peoples. of all high-sounding idealsm. or
snail the burden at the command of one
who was party to the mockery. be thrust
upon the only non-profiting nation, the
United States? The sole reason whisper
ed in fear or ominously Kissed to create
fear in the rest of us. why the United
states should become the worlds guaran-
tor and underwrite the rape of China and
the partition of hundreds of thousands of
square miles Of territory and the transfer
Of millions of human beings to England,
France. Italy and Japan, is that by
doing so the possibility of future wars
will be minimized, and there may be a
greater sense of security in the possession
by England, France, Italy and Japan
Of their newly acquired peoples and ter
rtories.
But this argumet in the last analysis
means that United States power and
treasure and blood will do for England
France, Italy and Japan what otherwise
they would be compelled to do for them
selves. 1t means not the end of dis
content or the cessation of war, for
peoples held in cruel subsection like the
Koreans or Chinese will ever be striving
for their liberty and the self-determina =
ton for which we talked so much and did
so little 1t means that the great DEM
ocracy of the wcrld-our country-must
not only continue n party to the denial
of these peoples rights whenever they
are asserted, but to our diplomatic denial
we will add denial economically and by
force of arms, too.
AMERICAS PRESTIGE GONE
On the eleventh day Of Novenl Der
America. as no nation on earth ever had
been before. was respected, revered. and
beloved. After six months of meddine
and muddling in European and Asiatic
controversies and contests over territory.
the end Of the peace conference finds
Italy detesting us; France secretly
despising us; England using us and
Japan bluffing us.
We have been told by the President
that we must now by this League of
Nations make the supreme sacrifice and
throw our fortunes with the rest of the
world. Why? The very query evokes
from league enthusiasts immediate and
angry retort, and, while they will not
enliehten us, they hint darkly at our
motives and deny even our good faith.
Occasionally we hear that We have at
last entered upon world career that
we have become a part Of world politics
and that we cannot now either withdraw
from the course into which the war
drew us or desert the world which SO
needs us. In the language Of famous
editor of the West, "All of this is partly
true but it by no means establishes that
we must surrender our cherished position
or our loved ideals by becoming a party
to the sordid quarrels and the diploma tic
dupicity of Europe and Asia. The
United States will play her proud part in
the world in the future as she has done in
the pasta part prouder because based
upon American principles and American
ideals. 1t did not require secret treaties
and stealthy bartering of unwilling peo-
pies to make our nation play her part
in the war; it does not require the
guaranty of secret treaties and bargain
ing and bartering Of unwilling peoples to
have the nation play its world part after
the war. Throwing in our fortune with
the fortunes of the rest of the world
means, with our altruist!c brethren.
throwing in our fortune to the rest of
the world, that the rest Of the world
may do with our donation as il sees At.
Gladly Will we do what duty commands
and humanity and civilization may re-
quire. but that duty can be better done,
our obligations to humanity and civiliza
ton better fulfilled in the high position of
the worlds greatest democracy than in
the subordinate position of the least con-
sequential of a quntuple alliance or as
one of many bound irrevocably TO the
guaranty of the manys power and ter
rtories,
Senator Johnson then referred to some
of the hstory-making treaties Of the past
and criticized in detail articles 10 and q
of the proposed League Of Nations and
continued:
SHALL AMERICAN BOYS POLICE
WORLD?
OF late the advocates Of the league have
been advancing some curious reasons for
our accep tanCe of It. MANY of then, nou.
suggest that the league is so fragile, so
weak, of so little compelling force that
lit will do no harm to accept it.,
and then we can look for i'm
provement in the future. But if there are
within it the germs which will ripen into
evils, It ought not to be accepted upon
any such theory. And this document has
within it not only the germs Of world
evil, but. what is infinitely worse. pos
sibly tho germs of our own destruction.
The great fundamental question which
every American father and mother should
answer is, Shall American boys police the
world? Shall American blood uphold.
maintain. and preserve old world govern
ment and the territorial integrity of the
nations which have immensely increased
their boundaries? Once we adopt this
league we are bound Indefinitely TO send
American troops into Europe. Asia, and
Africa, to sacrifice American blood in
quarrels which never have concerned us
and never can concern us, and do all
this at the behest and command Of for
eign nations. 1t is no answer to say that
We may refuse because no honest man
will enter into an agreement with the
mental reservation that he will break
: