The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1920-10-28
Why
Independents Are
For Cox
EXPIRES. Eliot of Harvard
For The League

a new organization called the Pro-
League Independents, who may be
by habit Democrats, Independents or
Republicans, but are all agreed in
thinking that the great issue before
the country today is the immediate
ratification Of the treaty of Versailles
and the entrance Of the United States
into the League of Nations.
The purpose of these Pro-League
Independents is to spread among the
voters correct information about the
covenant of the League of Nations.
The covenant has been gravely mis-
represented.
Among these egregious misrep-
reservations are the following: (1)
That the league establishes a SUPER
state which would abridge the ma
tional sovereignty of every member;
(2) that the British empire would
have more votes in the assembly and
council than the United States of
America; (3) that the league could
order America to go to war against
her will; (Q that belonging to the
league might compel American SOL
diers and sailors to fight abroad in
causes which America cared moth
ing about; (5) that the league
undertakes to guarantee forever by
the use of force the national bound
aries of the new or forming states,
great or small, as determined by the
treaty.
For Enlightenment of Voters
The pro-league independents de.
sire to put into the hands of every
competent voter in the country the
means of determining for himself
that these allegations are without
foundation. These means are the
complete text of the League Of Ma
tons covenant, and a summary or
abstract of the covenant prepared by
an impartial committee, and published
by the league to Enforce Peace, which
is in no sense a political organiza-
ton These documents will convince
any competent reader in half an hour
that the covenant is only an agree
ment to promote international COOP
Grafton, and to achieve international
peace and security.
Under this agreement every single
member Of the league holds a veto
on every action by the league, for
Except where otherwise expressly
provided in this covenant or by the
terms of the present treaty, decisions
at any meeting of the assembly ,r
Of the council shall require the agree
ment of all the members of the league
represented at the meeting" Ar
ticle 5 (D. The exceptions are only
IL in number, and are unimportant.
If it be alleged that the United
States by entering the league may
come under moral obligation,
though not an actual compulsion, to
defend some other members of the
league against invasion from with
out, an obligation which Congress
would have to recognize, although
the majority of the American peo-
pie did not wish to, the right an
swer can best be put in the form Of
a question. Is IL probable or even
possible that the majority Of the
American people would be willing not
to execute a moral obligation incur
red by entering the League Of Ma
tons. which hopes and expects by
making provision for the arbitra-
tion of disputes, by abstaining from
war until after the dispute has
been submitted to arbitration
or meditation. by establishing
a court of international justice,
whose decisions can be enforced IL
necessary, by publishing early the
facts about incipient disputes between
nations, and by abolishing secret
diplomacy and militarism TO prevent
war for the future, TO
relieve all nations, including Ameri-
ca, from the terrible burdens Of COM
petitive ornaments, and to liber-
ate all the nations from dread
Of international strife, from it's in
finite horrors, agonies and miseries.
League Objects American Objects
The objects which the League of
Nations stands for are precisely those
for which the American people al
most unanimously went TO war with
Germany in 1917, threw to the winds
all national economic considerations,
and sent a million and half Of their
sons to France with the one supreme
anxiety-lest they should not get In
10 battle in time.
The Republican platform commends
the Republican Senators for their ac-
ton in defeating ratification Of the
Continued on Page Four)