The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1920-09-09

T, Torrance Of our public duty, refused
20 participate In what we sincerely
regarded a. . betrayal Of cur own
country In the interest Of others, Is ia
discredit the intelligence and dIscrimi-
nation OF the great mass OF American
people who directly, by their vote,
put US in our positions Of trust. For
myself. I yield to no man In willing
ness, aye, In eagerness. to render the
greatest conceivable assistance to the
stricken peoples Of Europe. I include
all Of them and speak with a genu-
inely sympathetic heart, whether II is to
mention devastated France, or sorely
tried Italy or nobly struggling Poland,
or distracted and misguided Russia. or
gallant little Belgium, or pitiably de-
ceived Austria, or the ruthless invader.
Germany, which came to the supreme
tragedy through q Leadership which
brought disaster to her misguided
people.
ut was with that feeling Of sym
patty and desire to serve, that most
reluctantly and with grave misglvings,
as I announced at the time, with
reservations designed to preserve our
essential liberty of action. The record
is made, and under the same coisdi-
tons. confronted by the same alterna-
tive, l should vote now as voted
then.
But the conditions have changed.
Experience has brought enlightenment.
We know now that the league consti-
tuted Mt Versailles Is utterly impotent
as a preventive of wars. It IL 90 OBJ
vlously impotent that Il has not even
been tried The original league, mis-
taksnly conceived and unreasonably
insisted upon. has undoubtedly passed
beyond the possibility Of restoration.
The maturer judgment Of the world
will be that II deserved to pass for
the very simple. reason that, contrary
TO all Of the tendencies developed by
the civiIizing processes Of the world,
1t rested upon the power Of might, not
OF right.
"The assertion Is made frequently
that through the surrender OF our ma
ti0nallty we might have saved the life
Of the covenant-that Is to say, that,
although twenty-elght nations could
not make II function, one added to the
twenty-eight would have achieved Il
glowing success, provided, always, that
the one were America. .
This pays TO America the tribute
of exceptional influence. But I sug
gest that If the world Is dependent
upon our action to bring about the
supreme realization, then we ought
to have the say about our own free
dom in participation therein, But
let us consider what is meant by this
reliance upon America. What can
II signify IL not that 1t Is to the
United States, and to the United
States alone. that the other twenty
eight nations look for the bone and
sinew, the money, the munitions, and
the men to sustain the entire Organi-
zation, not as an agency of peace, but
as an armed force? a..
"a few days ago delegation OF
an organization. which calls itself
society for the prevention of war,
appealed to the premier OF Great
Britain to unite and use the powers
of the world in defense Of Poland,
Armenia and the Dardnnelles. The
British premier replied. according to
his remarks quoted by the newspap-
ers, to the effect that, while the
formation of an international army
would be AN ideal solution Il could
not be accomplished because the
European nations could not furnish
the troops and the United States had
withdrawn from co-operation'---a
polite and diplomatic phrase and
more exactly meaning. of course. that
the senate Of the United States had
not completed the partial obligation
assumed by the President to do that
very thing-that is. to furnish the
troops.' Could . cleaner indication
of what would have been expected
of this country as . member Of the
league be desired. Hardly. Some.
too, think or say they think. that this
extraordinary service should be rem
dered. do not agree with them.
but, assuming that they are right.
venture to note that nothing stands
in the way Of performance. The Presi-
dent has only to call upon Congress
to declare war. and to confer upon
him specific authority to raise armies
for the protection of the powers
which, though recently associated
with, are still foreign to our own re-
public.
1T Is reasonably safe to assume,
however, that the President will not
pursue this course. Fortunately, he
is under no compelling moral obliga-
ton under the league to do SO. His
recent unhappy experience. more
over, In asking Congress to send
american boys to police Armenia
would hardly encourage repetition Of
request already courteously, but
quite firmly declined by the Congress.
What then In like circumstances,
would be the answer Of the British
premier himself? In his own words,
addressing a meeting Of the coalition
Liberals on Aug. 10 last, according