Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-07-10

Elements of peace. They were thrus.
upon 1t by circumstances which couia
not be overlooked. The wal q
created them. IN all q~uartersof the
! had been disturbed or broken and at
fairs were at loose ends, needing to pc
united against, but could not be mace
what they were before. They had 10
be set right by applying some UNIFORM
principle of justice or enlightened ex-
pediency, and they could not be ad-
justed by merely prescribing q
treaty what should be lone. New
/ states were to be set up which could
not hope to live through their first
period of weakness without assured
support by the great nations that a
consented to their creation and won
for them their independence.
t"1ll-governed colonies could not be
put in the hands of governments
i which were to act as trustees for Their
people and not as their masters II
among the nations to which they were
to be responsible in the execution OF
their trusts. Future international
conventions with regard to the control
of waterways, with regard to illicit
traffic of many kinds, in arms or IN
deadly drugs, or with regard to the
adjustment of many varying interna-
tional administrative arrangements
could not be assured if the treaty
mon international agency, if its exc
cution in such matters was to be LETT
to the slow and uncertain. processes OF
cooperation by ordinary methods OF
negotiation.
"If the peace conference itself was
to be the end of cooperative authorl-
ty and ccmmo counsel among the
governments to which the world was
looking to enforce Justice and give
regions like the Saa Basin could not
be put under a temporary administra-
tive regime which did not involve a
transfer of political sovereignty and
which contemplated a final determ1n-
alton Of its political connections by
popular vote to be taken at a distant
date; no free city like Danzig could
he.created which was under elaborate
international guarantees, to accept
exceptional obligations with regard to
the use of its port and exceptional re-
lations with a state Of which it was
not to form a part; properly safe
guarded p~lebescites could not be pro-
vided for where populations were at
some future date to make choice of
what sovereignty they would live I'M
der: no certain and uniform method
OF arbitration could be secured for the
settlement of anticipated difficulties
Of final decision with regard to many
matters dealt with in the treaty itself;
the long continued supervision of the
task of PREPARATION which Germany
was to undertake to complete within
the next generation might entirely
break down; the reconsideration and
revision of administrative arrange
nents and restrictions which the
treaty prescribed but which it wa
recognized might not prove Of lasting
advantage or entirely fair if too long
enforced would be impracticable. The
promises governments We're making
to one another about the way in
which labor was to be dealt with, by
law not only but in fact as we'll. would
remain a mere humane thesis if there
was to be no common tribunal OF
opinion and Judgment to which lib
eral statesmen could resort for the
Influences which alone might secure
nations had become a practical neces
sity. Examine the treaty Of peace
and you will find that everywhere
throughout its manifold provisions its
trainers have felt obliged to turn to
the League of Nations as an indis-
p%ensable instrumentality for the
maintenance of the new order it has
been their purpo to set up in the
wor1d-the world of civilized men.
LEAGUE NEEDED TO
STEADY COUNSELS.
That there should be a League Of
] Nations to steady the counsels anC
maintain the peaceful understanding
Ct the world, to make. not treatie
alone, hut the accepted principles o:
International law as we'll. the actua
rule of conduct among the govern
ments Of the world, had been one O.
The agreements accepted from thu
first as the basis of peace with tn
, ! certral powers. The statesmen of al
! ne heiiigeTent countries were agreed
: tlai ouch a league must be created tt
4 sustain the settlements that were IT.
i be effected. But at first I think there
was a feeling among some of then
i that. while it must be attempted, thu
formation Of such a league was per
4 l1aps a counsel of perfection which
a practical men. long experienced in tn
world of affairs, must agree to yer.
cautiously and with m%isgivings. l
was only as the difficult work of ar
ranging on m all but universal ad
4 iustrnent Of the worlds affairs ad
varced from day to day from on
stage of the conference to anothe
that it became evident to them tina
( what they were seeking would De- lit
7 tie more than something written upol
paper to he interpreted and apple,
i by such methods as the chances q
II politics might make available if the
did not provide a means of commo
counsel which all were obliged to &C
cept, a common authority whose de
clsions would be recognized as deci
sions which all must accept.
= THEY AFT. rr-DNCr
TO THE LEAGUE.
And so the most practical, tn
most skeptical, turned more and NOR
to the league as the authorit
through which international actio
was to be secured, the authority with
out which, as they had come to Sc
It, would be difficult to give assure
effect either to this treaty or to an
other international understanding ur
on which they were to depend for tn
maintenance OF peace. The fact thu
he covenant Of the league was tn
first substantive part of the treaty t
be worked out and agreed on Will
all else was in solution helped to max
n formulation of the rest easie
The conference was, after all. not t
be ephemeral. The concert of nation
was to continue under a defni,
covenant which had been agreed w
on and which. all were convinced, wa
workable. They could go Hforwar
with confidence to make arrange
ments intended to be permanent. I'll
most practical Of the ~conferees we1
at last the most ready to refer to IL
League Of Nations the superintent
ence of all interests which did not az
nit immediate determination of a
administrative problems which wei
to require a continuing ovorsiph