New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1919-03-20
PRESIDENT LOWELL'S
BRIEF FOR LEAGUE

President Lowell spoke in part as
follows:
Before examining the nature of
the plan proposed in the Covenant of
Paris, it may be we'll to consider the
minimum essentials of an effective
League of Nations to prevent war.
Everyone will agree that such a
league must forbid a resort to arms
before submitting the question in dis
pute to public trial, arbitration or
INQUIRY of some kind; and probably
1t ought also to forbid a resort to arms
after an award which is universally
believed to be right and just Such
a delay before hostilities will not pre-
vent all wars. but it will make them
much less common, and it will
wholly prevent a nation from DELHI
eratsly planning a war, as Germany
did, and seeking the advantage of
surprise when it's victims are unpre
pared. It is generally assumed that,
If Germany had not possessed that
advantage, she would not have gone
to war. Obviously, the submission to
arbitration must be compulsory, for If
not, the condition is nowise different
from what it has been hitherto; and
the com pulsion-the sanction, as the
lawyers say-the punishment for the
offender. must be such that no nation
would venture to incur 1t; for the
more severe, the more certain, the
more immediate the penalty, the less
the chance that any bellicose nation
would run the risk. The country that
goes to war before subm itting it's case
to arbitration must be regarded as a
criminal against mankind, and treat
f1ox
mon enemy by the rest of the world,
or by those nations which bind them
selves together for the maintenance of
order For this reason, the League
to Enforce Peace has always insisted
that the penalty should not be decreed
by a council of the league, which
would involve delay, possible dis
agreement and inaction, but auto
matically; that is, the member of the
league should bind themselves Jointly
and severally to resist the aggresso1
at once. In this way the members
would stand together. and an attack
on one would be ipso facto an attack
on. all; and if the league contained
as we expect, by far the greater part
Of the world, no nation would, for q
moment, contemplate war with such
A coalition, and, therefore, wars
would not occur before arbitration.
The principle should apply MOI
only to disputes among the member
Of the league, but also to dissension:
between other nations not belonging
10 the league, because war, like fire
has a tendency to spread. and NJ
one in a community has a right tx
start a conf1gration which his neigh
bors have not a right to put out
Council Does Not Command.
Although the penalty againSt thu
aggressor is automatic in the sens
that it does not depend upon the &C
lion of an international council
nevertheless such a council for pur
poses not of command, but of con
suItation, is highly beneficial.
tends to remove friction by enabling
nations to understand one another
point OF view. and to reconcile or ad
lust differences before they reach al
acute stage. Most plans for a Leagu
of Nations have, I believe, proposes
two such bodies: one large and com
prehensive, for the discussion of gen
eral problems, with an opportunit
for the presentation Of all possibl
opinions, but too large for conflden
tial interchange OF ideas; the othe
smaller, representing mainly thos