The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1919-04-12
Justice Howard Discusses
The League of Nations
GaeicA medca)
Gaelic America)

limbs of the black man. They are to
anew the shackles of servitude on the
be vassal peoples, under .'tutelage,"
subject to mandatory" masters, and
are forever to live as such. This is the
death stab Of "self-determination."
But who gave the Manufactures the
right Of tutelage? Lincoln once said:
mo man is good enough to govern any
other man without the others con-
sent" Will this humiliation of hun
dreds of millions of human creatures
promote the contentment of the
world? Will this secure the "Bles-
sings of Liberty" to them and to
their posterity? It was this sort of
liberty that England offered the Amer
lean Colonies in 1776; it was this sort
of liberty that was spurned and re-
jected with contempt.
While the Peace Congress has been
in session the people of Ireland have
been clamoring loudly for liberty; but,
Notwithstanding that Article Nineteen
of the League declares the communi-
ties of the Turkish Empire fit for in
dependence, not one word in any of
the twenty-six articles deigns to no.
tice the supplication of Ireland
Among all the subject peoples of the
earth, none crave liberty so ardently
as those of Ireland. None are so fit
for liberty, none so highly civilized,
none so chivalrous, none so oppressed.
But the great new Magma Charta is
silent as to them and the ages must
roll on while mandatory" England
holds the proud Celts in humiliating
"tutelage." And this, we are told, con-
duces to the contentment of the world.
In 1897, President Mckinley said:
1--WE have cherished the policy of non
interference with the affairs of foreign
Governments wisely inaugurated by
Washington, keeping ourselves free
from ENHANCEMENT, either as allies or
foes, content to leave undisturbed with
them the settlement of their own do
nestle concerns"
In all the ambiguous length of the
Constitution of the League of Nations
l can find nothing but reputation OF
this doctrine of Mckinley. 1t seems
to me that some great statesman in
the halls of Congress must rise up to
rebel against the ratification of this
un-American document.
Will nobody give heed to America
Must the tangles Of Europe absorb all
our attention? Is the United States
to become only a province Ct the
League Of Nations? Are we to sur.
render our sovereignty under Article
Eight? While the American people
are groaning under confiscatory tax.
es which stagger their credulity and
stifle their breath, are yet bigger taxes
to be laid down upon them to rehabili.
tate Europe? Are we to continue to
fight in the SHOWS of Archangel and
the deserts of Arabia to make the
world safe for democracy?" Are the
unemployed Yankee soldiers to roam
through the streets of America while
| abstract bureaus of labor are organ
lied in Europe? Are the deserted
farming districts of New York and
New England to go undeveloped while
millions are spent in exercising ou1
mandatory" functions in distant
lands? Are we to devote our energies
to a system of "tutelage' in the South
Sea islands while Bolshevism turks in
the substratums of American society
and discomfort prowls in the byways
and alleys?
It is quite possible that l am wrong
in my views Of the League of Nations
but this is the way that look at the
new Magma Charta. It is the duty Of
every citizen to study and discuss this
proposed radical change in our basic
policies of government; and if we speal
at all, we should speak out honestly