Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1919-07-09
WASHINGTON, D. C.-The peace

WASHINGTON, ID. C.-Tne peace
treaty is signed. The war Is officially
at an end. It is now a question with
us of whether the senate is going to
agree to the final document. Our
situation is peculiar in that in almost
no other important country is the ad-
ministration independent of the leg1s.
lative branch and, therefore, able to
go ahead without regard for the. law.
making body. Other peace delegates
were directly responsible to their re-
spective legislatures.
Indications seem to point to a rati-
fication Of the league Of nations as
worked out and the peace treaty by
the senate in spite of seemingly strong
opposition developed. Much of this
opposition was G. o. P. talk. More
fundamentally it was the expression
Of big interest fears that certain
groups of foreign capitalists we're get
ting an unfair chance at the spoils.
The peace conference attended to
these grievances, and now the SEN
ators, such as Knox and Lodge, and
the controlled press are gradually
shifting to a favorable position. Sen
ators who oppose the treaty on prin-
ciple are too few to carry the senate.
The league of nations goes into ef-
feet when the different states have
formally ratified it, just as our own
Constitution became the law after rat
ification by the allied states of Ameri-
ca.
WILSON APPROVES ALL
President Wilson's complete praise
of the treaty does not awaken the
trust which such a communication
from him at one time would have
done. He may be coming back with
feeling Of personal triumph, but he
does not bring with him what all the
progressjves hoped for when he set
out for Europe. He brings a peace
fashioned on the old diplomacy, and
he leaves behind at least 10 wars now
going on and more wars in the max
ing.
Peace is less possible in the CEN
trail empires, in Poland, in Russia, in
Italy and even in France than it was
at the signing Of the armist1ce. That
the inclusion of the last country is
not an exaggeration is shown by the
fact that the government is planning
to keep the soldiers In the army until
after election because their votes
would be hostile. The whole of France
is covered with strikes against con-
ditions rather than for wage changes.
In all these things there is limit
to what flesh and blood will stand.
Wilson, as representing the most
prosperous nation and the country
which could really dictate except that
our imperialists opposed, might have
called off blockades, rushed food and
supplies to Europe, and declared for
self-determination and so ended a
number Of wars. Instead he has dick
cred with others in secret diplomacy
for mere political arrangements, for
territory and for spheres of influence.
II his work pleases any in America
it will be the reactionaries. A gen.
Grafton ago his work might have
pleased many of the people, but now
the people are too serious about tho
matter of war and peace to be side
tracked. They are not delighted to
learn that the peace treaty follows
the IA points around which they were
rallied for the war in the special Will
sonian sense.
EAST WATCHES NORTH DAKOTA.
The success of the North Dakota
farmers in the referendum election
has attracted great interest. AS usual
the metropolitan press in the East
picked up the first election returns
from the cities and announced that
the farmers had lost. The truth will
probably be presented in an out of the
way corner or not at all.
At first the Nonpartisan league
movement attracted only the more
progressive labor and farmer ele-
| ments here. Now great many of
the more conservative are thoroughly
| alarmed at the growth of radical
thought in the East. They declare
that the West does not know what
radicalism is, and they look to the
League as kind of safety valve.
These people, the big interests who
contributed to beat the farmers, and
the politicians who have the scare of
their careers in the independent farm
er-labor movement, are studying the
returns in detail.
| FARMERS IN BALKANS.
Congressman M. Clyde Kelly of
western Pennsylvania, who has just
returned to this country from a three
months journey through central and
southeastern Europe, is strongly OF
the opinion that revolutionary chang
es will make small Roadway in the
Balkan countries.
The reason, according to- Mr.. Kelly
is found in the fact that the peasants
of Greece, Turkey and the territory
comprised in the new Jugo-Slav state
are for the most part themselves small
landowners, cultivating their own soil
who could gain little If anything from
any attempt to redistribute the land
on government ownership leaseholG
basis. Tenant farming appears to bt
almost nonexistent and the peasants
meeting together in the villages tt
discuss and act upon matters OF com
mon interest, have already for some
years past extracted much Of the best
of the soviet form of govern ment.
The dictatorship long exerted by the