Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-09-18
COMPROMISES

COMPROMISES
The League of Nations has been hercey denounced
because it the result of compromise. The man who OBJ.
jects to the League on that ground must be prepared tt
oppose every plan for a world league that may be pro-
posed, now or hereafter. Moreover, to be consistent. II
would, be necessary for him to oppose every important
act that has been proposed by any group of men in the
past; for no important decision has ever been reached BY
any large body without compromise. "
We Of the United States have adopted Magma Charts
as a most important part of our charter of liberty. and
some of its most important provisions have been incor-
pcrated in the fundamental law Of the United States and
of each state. Americans in revolutionary times thought
it worth while to fight in defense of rights guaranteed to
them in this great document. There exists no steno-
graphic report of the proceedings at which Magma Charta
was formulated, but we do know that the men who
framed it we're very human individuals. each with no
lions and ambitions of his own, and it is highly improb-
able that the Great Charter was written exactly as any
one of the English barons of King Johns time would
have worded it if he had been doing it all alone.
In connection with the framing of our own federal
constitution we know that every important step was
marked by compromise. One school stood for a strong
central government, to which the state governments
should be subordinate in all particulars. Another stood
for a loose confederation based on the theory of a pure
democracy. Each side receded from it's position and
conceded something to the Otner, so nat n CONSTITUTION
which we have, represents the views of neither side, al
though those views were held tenaciously and supported
vigorously.
Because of local interests the representatives of the
larger states Insisted that representation in the legislative
body of the nation should be on the basis of population
alone. while the men from the smaller states demanded
that each state should have equal representation with all
the others. regardless of size or population. Neither view
prevailed. All the states were given equal representation
In the. senate, and representation by population in the
House of Representatives. Each side yielded. Each side
failed to have included in full the principle for which it
had contended.
Because the industries of the two sections differed in
character, the southern colonies were large employers of
slave labor. while those of the north were not. The south
demanded the indefinite perpetuation of the African slave
trade. The North demanded it's abolition at once. The
North conceded and the South accepted recognition of
the slave trade for a limited number OF years.
So it went, all the way through. Compromise fol-
lowed compromise. We are not to assume that the men
who framed the constitution were insincere in their ad-
vocary of principles on which, ultimately, they did not
insist in full, or that because they waived certain inter-
ests' peculiar to their sections they considered these
things of little Importance. But they were men who. in
spite of the differences which existed among them, were
sincerely committed to a great purpose. the creation of
a nation. To achieve that they were willing, when nee
essary, to waive many details-even very important de-
tails-trusting that after the nation had got on its feet,
the features which they regarded as defective might be
amended.
If there is to be a League of Nations. now or in the
future, which will be of benefit to the world, we must ac-
cept two things as essential to it. First, there must be
among the major nations of the earth a sincere desire
for the maintenance of peace through right and justice.
Second. the compact by virtue of which that League is to
exist must provide a reasonable working basis. If the
first condition it not met, If the nations. after all, do not
really desire peace with justice, and are merely trying to
throw sand in each others eyes, we may as we'll abandon
at once all plans for International agreement, accept the
him who can seize and hold them, arm ourselves to the
teeth, and be ready to spring upon the first neighbor who
sives us an opening. We do not believe that that is the
temper in which the world is today. AS to the proposed
constitution. it will work if the nations desire to work it.