Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-08-12

| as that of the party In short principle,
as avowed in support of the Lodge reser-
| vations, or of the so-called mild reserva-
! tons, has been surrendered to expediency.
Senator Harding makes this new pledge
of policy in behalf of his party:
Il promise you formal and effective
peace so quickly as a Republican Con-
gress can pass its declaration for a Re-
| publican executive to sign"
\ This means but one thng-a separate
peace with Germany!
This would be the most dsheartening
event in civilization since the Russians
made their separate peace with Germany.
| ana INFINITELY more unworthy on our
part than it was on that of the Russians
| They were threatened with starvation and
| revolution had swept their country. our
| soldiers fought side by side with the
| allies. So complete was the coalition
OF strength and purpose that General Foch
was given supreme command and every
| soldier in the allied cause, no matter
what nag he followed, recognized him as
| ms chief We fought the war together,
and now before the thing is through it is
| proposed to enter into "A separate peace
with Germany! In good faith we pledged
our strength with our associates for the
enforcement of terms upon offending
powers. and now il is suggested that this
be withdrawn. Suppose Germany recog-
| nizing the first break in the allies pro-
| poses something we cannot accept. Does
senator Harding intend to send an army
| 10 iermany TO press her to our terms?
Certainly the allied army could not be
! expected to render aid. H. on the other
| hand, Germany should accept the chance
we offered of breaking the bond it would
be for the express purpose of nsurng a
German American alliance recognizing
| that the alles-in fact. no nation in good
standing-would have anything to do
| with either of us
A SEPARATE PEACE DISHONEST
This plan would not only be a piece of
| bunglng diplomacy, but plain. unadul-
! terated dishonesty, as well.
| No less an authority than Senator
| Lodge said. before the heat Of recent
controversy. that to make peace except
in company with the allies would brand
| us everlastingly with dishonor and bring
ruin to us
And then after peace is made with
Germany, Senator Harding would he says,
| Hopefully approach the nations Of Eu-
rope and of the earth. proposing that
understanding which makes us a willing
participant in the conservation of nations
| to a new rela tionship."
| In short, America, refusing TO enter
the League of Nations NOW already
established by twenty-nine nations) and
| bearing and deserving the contempt of
the world, would submit an entirely new
| project. This act would either he regarded
| as arrant madness or attempted inter-
national bossIsm.
| The plain truth is, that the Republican
leaders. obsessed with determination to
win the presidential election, have at
tempted to satisfy too many divergent
views. Inconsistencies. inevitable under
the circumstances, rise to haunt them on
every hand, and they find themselves
| arrayed in public thought at least. against
| great principle. More than that their
| conduct Is opposed to the idealism upon
which their party prospered in other
days.
DISCUSSES THE LEAGUE
Illustrating these observations by
| concrete facts, let II be remembered
| that those now inveighing against an
interest in affairs outside of America
criticised President Wilson in un-
measured terms for not resenting the
| invasion of Belgium in 1914. They
term the League OF Nations a military
alliance. which. except for their oppo-
sition, would envelop our country,
when, as a matter of truth, the sub
| iect of a League of Nations has
claimed the best thought of America
| for years, and the League to Enforce
| Peace was presided over by so distin-
| duished a Republican as eX-President
| Taft who, before audiences in every
| section advocated the principle and
| the plan of tho present League. They
| charge experimentation, when we have
as historical pre- cehent the Monroe
Doctrine. which is the very essence of
Article of the Versailles covenant.
Skoptics viewed Monroe's mandate
| with alarm, predicting recurrent wars
in defense of Central and South
American States, whose guardians
| they alleged we need not be. And yet
not a shot has heen fired in almost one
hundred years in preserving sovereign
rights on this hemisphere. They
| hypocrtcally claim that the League
of Nations will result in our boys be-
ing drawn into military service. but
they fail to realize that every high
school younEster in the land knows
| that no treaty can override our Con-
stitution, which reserves to Congress.
and to Congress alone, the power to
declare war. They preach Americanism
with a meaning of their own invention
provincial spirit, forgetting that Lin
| coin fought a war over the purely
moral question of slavery. AND that
| Mckinley broke the letters OF our
boundary lines spoke the freedom Of
Cuba, and carried the torch Of Amer
lean idealism TO the benighted Philip
pines. They lose memory of Gar
fields prophecy that America, under
the blessings Of God-given opportun-
ity. would by her moral leadership
and cooper s~on become a Messiah
among the nations of the earth.
HORRORS OF MODERN WAR
These are fateful times. Organized gov
eminent has n definite duty all over the
world The house of civilization is to be
put in order. The supreme issue of the
| century is before us and the nation that
halts and delays is playing with fire.
| The finest impulses of humanity. rising
above national lines. merely seek to make
another horrible war impossible. Under
the old order of international anarchy
war came overnight, and the world was
on fire before we knew it. 1t sickens our
senses to think of another. We saw one
| conflict into which modern science
brought new forms of destruction in great
guns, submarines, airships, and poison
gases. 1t is no secret that our chemists
had perfected when the contest came TO
a preciptate close, gases so deadly that
whole cities could be wiped out armies
destroyed and the crews of battleships
smothered. The public prints are filled
with the opinions of military men that in
future wars the method more effective
than gases or bombs, will be the employ
ment of the germs of diseases carrying