New-York tribune., 1919-01-17
League Won't
Stop All W ars,
Lane Declares
Will Prevent Those That
Are Unnecessary, Mer-
chants Association Told
Asks Help for Wilson
James M. Beck Pays Tribute
to Theodore Roosevelt
at Monthly Luncheon

at Monthly Luncheon
That the league Of nations is not ex
pected to end all wars, but only to pre-
vent those that arc Unnecessary, wa'
one of the statements made by Secre
tary of the Interior Franklin K Lane
in an address yesterday to the New
York Merchants Association at The
Hotel Astor. The league, moreover, ac.
cording to Mr.. Lane, does not contem
plate the demobilization Of the armies
of the nations, it being possibility
that resort to force might often be nee
egsary.
Secretary Lane made it clear that he
die not pose as representing President
Wilson or the government. He said he
had no knowledge of what was going
on in Paris, but members of the as
sociatjon accepted his Interpretation OF
the leagues ideals as being those OF
the President.
Secretary Lane bespoke confidence in
President Wilson. He also urged the
members of the association to strive
TO understand and accept the idealistic
theories advanced by the nations head
The Country's Wishes
The present trip abroad of President
Wilson. the speaker said, was under
taken to add glory to the name of Amer
ica. He added that he had not gone
there of his own will, but to carry out
the wishes of the country The Sec
retary's speech, in part, follows:
"In talking upon this subject the
temptation would be to paint picture
of what Europe is, but | know that
your heartstrings have been touched
to the limit, and that it is not neces-
son why war should ,be made to cease
or why war should be made less likely
to happen.
II have known the business men Of
the United States intimately for the
twenty years of my official life.
know they sometimes like to be
thought Of as hard, aggressive, even
shrewd and cunning; but | know, too,
that business men are like the rest Of
us, deeply emotional, and that was
never better proved-it could not have
been better proved-than by the re-
sponse that you made when this war
came upon us.
"The President is in Paris, not by
your order and direction, but to carry
out your wish, for the business men of
the United States have declared them
selves as to what their desire was.
What Business Men Want
"They do not wish merely peace,
a settlement af the immediate problem,
but they wish something more lasting,
something more fundamental, some
thing that has been entitled "A League
of Nations and has borne many titles
something that really is, in essence,
nothing more than international CO.
operation. And at this time when that
man stands before the world preem-
inently as the representative of this
port of every American because he is
the President of all of us.
eve must not be moved by the phil
oosophy of doubt. That is not the
arises in every mind, Is this scheme
practicable? and there are men who
will rise here and there to say that it
cannot work. America was not made
by a philosophy Of despair; America
has been made by optimism and con-
hdence.
We have continent that we have
still got to master. We have resources
that we have still got to bring forth.
Our days of pioneering have largely
passed. They passed, I believe, with
the beginning Of this century. but now
we have come to a time of intensive
development. We want the manufac-
turer, we need the chemist, We need the
hydro electric engineer, we need the
man who can go throughout the coun-
tries of the world and sell what we pro-
duce-a greater America in its posi-
bilities to help the world, and to help
the world not merely in the things
that are produced materially. but in
the things spiritually that come from
u.s. as shown by the record that we
have made in this war itself.
New International Law
"And who are we to say that any day
when men are getting nitrogen out
of the air by electric process, in a day
when you can talk to man five thou
sand feet above you by wireless tele-
phone, who are we to say that the in
ventive mind Of man has stopped? The
Constitution of the United States it.
self was the first invention along prac-
tical lines of politics in a thousand
years. Suppose we organize two bodies.
one of them to be a council that shall
give to us body of international law.
international law is filmy, gauzy.
founded upon precedent, and without
certainty, decision or definitcness. Sup-