The Washington times., 1919-02-15


day to day. fall. whether we wish
tito. do so or not, people who go
to bed. tired and wake'up without
the stipulation of lively hope.
These people will be drawn into
the field of international consul
tation and help and will be among
the wards. of the combined gov
ernments of the world. This is. I
take leave to say a very great
step in advance in the mere con-
ception of that.
Then, as you will notice, there
is an imperative article concern
ing the publicity OF all interna-
tional agreements. Henceforth
no member of the league can
claim any agreement valid which
it has not registered with the sec
retary general, in whose office, OF
course, it will be subject to the
examination of anybody repre-
senting a member OF the league.
And the duty is laid upon the sec
retary general to publish every
document of that sort at the
earliest possible time.
All Must Be Published.
II suppose most persons who
have not been conversant with
the business of foreign affairs do
not realize how many hundreds
of these agreements are made in
a single year and how difficult 10
might be to publish the more un-
important of them Immediately,
how uninteresting il would be to
most Of the world to publish them
Cd IL al
be published just as soon as 1t is
possible for the secretary general
to publish them"
Then there is a feature about
this covenant which. to my mind,
IS one of the greatest and most
satisfactory advances that has
been made. We are done with an
neXatiOns of helpless peoples,
meant in some instances by some
powers to be used merely for eX-
ploitation. We recognize in the
most solemn manner that the
helpless and undevclOped peoples
of the world, being in that con-
dition, put an obligation upon us
20 look after their interests pFi-
marily before we used them for
our interests: and that in all
cases of this sort hereafter il
shall be the duty of the league to
sec that the nations who are as
signed as the tutors and advisers
and directors Of these peoples
shall look to their interests and
their development before they
look to the interests and desires
of the mandatory nation itself.
There has been no greater ad-
vance than this. gentlemen. II you
look back upon the history Of the
wotld you will see how helpless
peoples have too often been a prey
to powers that had no conscience
in the matter. II has been ono OF
the many distressing revelations
of recent years that the great
power which has just been, hap
PLY, defeated put intOlerablc bur
dens. and injusticCs upon tn" help
less people of some Of the colonies
which il annexed to itself. that it's
interest was rather their CNtermi-
nation than their development,
that the desire was to possess
their land for European purposes
and not to enjoy their confidence
in order that mankind might be
lifted in these places to the next
higher level.
Now the world, expressing its
conscience in law, says there is
an end of that. that our con-
sciences shall be settled to this
thing States will he picked out
which have already shown that
they can exercise a conscience in
this matter. and under their tute-
laEe the helpless peoples Of the
world will come into a new light
and into a new hope.
4 Practical Document.
$50 ! think can say 0f this
document that il is at one and
the same time "A practical doc
Ument and human document.
There is a pulse of sympathy in il.
There is CompulsiOn of con-
science throughout it. IT is prac-
tical. and yet il is intended TO
purify. to rcctify. TO elevate. And
] want TO say that so far as my
observation instTuctS me. this is
in one sense a bclatcd document.
! believe that the conscience Of
the world has long been prepared
to express itself in some such
way.
I'VE arc not just now discover
ing our sympathy for these poo