Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1920-01-14
EPLAY BALL
SENATORS, IT'S
YOUR INNING
B. Richards Sup.
ports Our Position That
It's Time to Act

, The question has been asked in
ycur columns, "~hy blame the
t!ltCd States Senate for the present
lamcntlblc situation concerning The
Treaty o.! Peace" Merely because il
/. now up to the Senate to act. To
continue the figure o. speech previ-
ou'ly used, the Senate j., "at bat" BY
''thc Senate" / refer 10 all its mem
hers, and not merely those of one
party. Never has I; great problem
! involving human destiny been bung-
led and mishandlcd us the Peace
Treaty and the League of Nations.
Both president and members Of both
parties in the Senate have manifested
arrogance, personal spite and par
tisan l1ncor to an extent that is I'M
worthy of their high responsibility.
The country is tired of it all. As the
Philadelphia Public Ledger well
says: "Job was never really tested
he didn't have to wait for the latiii-
cation of a treaty Of peace" 1t is
a waste Of words to try and place
the blamc--all have been to blame.
That it is the aim of some to force
this into next falls Presidential
campaign is evident, as both sides
have proposed it. But what shall be
made the issue? Shall it be League,
or No League" Then the party that
takes the "No League" side is DOOM
| ed to utter failure, for the general
demand of the country is unquestion-
ably for some form of League.
Chambers of Commerce, all national
and state church gatherings, and Tie
press generally, call for League of
! Nations as Il substitute for militar-
! ism. The Senate itself, as shown by
an analysis of it's votes, is in favor
OF some form of League. 1T is said
that "the Senate has not wasted
time" in deciding this matter, be-
cause the adoption of the Consti-
tuition Of the United States took as
long. But the situation is entirely
different. You cannot waste time
when a fire is raging, and the world
j., now on fire. All observers report
that the political, economic, and So
: cial condition across the seas is
alarmingly critical. Peoples are
starving by the tens of thousands,
exchange has broken down, normal
trade is almost impossible, and order
, ed forms of government and society
are seriously threatened. This; is no
time for pettinesscs and craftsmanship.
As much as in actual war, it is Il
time for such agreement as shall Sc
cure prompt action and unity Of
purpose.
Frank Simonds recently wrote of the
"insulation of Washington" and
pointed out the amazing inability of
official Washington to sense the
world situation, or to know what is
going on outside the District of Col
umbia. Objection has been made
that the League of Nations is mex
tricably cntanglcd with the Treaty
OF Peace, SO that the latter cannot be
adopted without the former. But !
that was the first question settled by
the Council. They had to determine
whether to base peace on old methods
Of "balance of power" secret treat
les, preponderance Of armament,-or
upon some rational method, and they
chose the latter. In this choice they
took the greatest step in advance the
world has seen for centuries.
1t is now fourteen months since
the Armistice. All our more inn
portant Allies have signed the
Treaty, and peace with Germany
contaminated, and we are left
out. What has come over our spirit
that so soon we have changed our
sentiments towards those same AL
lies? But a few months ago we
were gratefully lauding England,
France and other nations as the
'saviours of civilization" Now some
Of us have become so suddenly sus-
picious of their motives that we read
Ill sorts of imaginary dangers in
heir every attempt to organize the
world for stable. peace. Meanwhile {
he details of the Peace Treaty are )
,eing carried out, and we, who paid
| price in men and money, have no q
,art in it. The large advantages c
which the Peace Treaty gives to the
world are ignored, and the preposter- t
JUS proposition of Separate peace l
With Germany" is even made. V
1t is said that "the League is a I
omplete departure from our previ-