Arizona republican., 1920-10-08
An Aruumsns ef prssmsrs

That a very large majority of the people desire world alliance for tho promotion Of peace we be- uevc. though t is evident by this time that they decline to regard the League of Nations partI- san issue. It Is also evident that very large ma iorlty Of the people do not approve presidents plan which faultily it has been devised has been moro faultry presented. They to assume that whatever party may be fin power world arrange win result by which the more powerful nations be brought together for the preservation of the worlds peace.
 However free defects the covenant of tho League of Nations may have been at the time 1t vas laid before the senate; though that time the iotting of "f' or. the crossing of "t may have seemed work of supererogation, events have so moved since in Europe that now the covenant would need revamping. There has been such de- Tci6pmcnt of national selfshness among the Euro oean nations. such a disregard of the peace treaty which all of them signed such reaching out 'or territory and advantage; such foutng of the 5fiSeiplc of determination by the sgnatories. hat we would require some other basis than one apon which might have agreed when we felt that and all the nations had been purified and regen- sratcd by We would now demand guaranties which then seemed unnecessary.
 The president in tho beginning. however objec- aonablo the covenant may have seemed possessed srcat advantage those who opposed him, in that ais plan the only definite offered. It ,ould have become a basis for early covenant if ( had been wisely presented but 1t was not It offered only in spirit of high idealsm at time when the people gropiug their way back to earth again.
 They resented the declaration that they had given a pledge the world which could be redeemed only by tho accepting of the covenant That argument and stm less paipabB was the assertion that its acceptance duty owed to those who fell in France; who made the supreme sacrifice" in order clear the way for what the covenant to accomplish. Nobody could be made to believe that the youth of America who had enlisted or had been drafted went with any other purpose than to avenge the slight which had been put upon their country or to safeguard it from the which Germany offered. They went as patriots and not as internationalists humanitarians.
 ITO make the world safe for democracy was high sounding but nothing more. The phrase added nothing to the inspiration under which our soldiers fought
 But the president having sounded the keynote Inc foolish song has been taken up by bis smaller followers and we now hear it from so eminent a rcalist as Governor Cox Vho had never been sus- oectcd of idealism. In recent number of Life = generally humorous publication but a serious sup porter of President Wilson's covenant there is a double pago picture of tho crosses, row row" in France with the caption Seventy Thousand Votes; wni They be counted?"
 We have but recently from session of Inc national convention of the American Legion at which amendments 10 the constitution and tho by laws of the Legion were adopted rejected of hose concerned a removal of the restrictions now placed upon the Legion's activities in politics But in no amendment or proposed amendment was there Inc slightest alluson to "the" or "a" League o Nations. There was a violent and unanimous pro lest against the leniency which the 'invertebrata of the administration and the department haC extended to deserters and conscientious objectors Inc next breath there an equally unanimous en aorsement of a tender expression of sympathy witt he president in his physical afflicton. There no time a manifestation of partisan sentiment-neve word for or against the League of Nations thoug he privately expressed view of the Legionaries wa generally against a further entangement with ou ate associates"
 Why do the president and his followers stin fool shv invoke the voiceless seventy thousand when tn lying representatives of the three millions of whoi Inc seventy thousand formed part, are sient2 ttoebe presumed that those whose graves marke ny the little white crosses died in the hope of a ,nlance which the surviving heroes privately reie ,r which they publicly decline to endorse?
 Much better would it be for a world alliance
 hose who advocate it supported it by practical ar ,ot bv dreamy, sentimental arguments to peop
 who arc seeking for a firm foundation which
 place their feet