The Monmouth inquirer., 1923-04-19
HOOVER FOR
WORLD COURT
Urges Before Women at Des
Moines Harding Proposal as
Essential Peace Step.
NO ANATHEMA IN LEAGUE
Should Enter World Court to Save
MISUNDERSTANDING Hoover In
Speech to Women Voters Puts
Adherence as High Duty.

Des Moines, LA solemn, fervent
plea to the people OF the United States
to adhere to the Permanent Court OF
International Justice as a move to-
ward enduring world peace was sound
ed here before the opening session Of
the National League Of Women Voters
convention by Secretary of Commerce
Hoover.
1t was in no sense politics, however,
Secretary Hoover said, which prompt
ed his appeal. He was indignant on
his arrival here, in the midst of his
home State, to learn that word was
popularity going forth that this speech
of his was to be the opening gun Of
the Harding 1924 campaign"
Il was invited here weeks ago." he
said. IF | had had any idea my
speech was to be interpreted as poll
tics, l would not have come within a
thousand miles"
The score on which he asked for
American adherence to the interna-
tional court was squarely and I'M
~equivocally that Of the maintenance
of civilization.
1.-THE delicate machinery of social
organization, of production and COM
merce, upon which our civilization is
founded" he said, referring to the last
war, cannot stand such a shock
again. There can be no confidence in
the continuity of our civilization itself
unless we can build up preventive
safeguards"
The Court of International Justice,
Mr.. Hoover averred, represented a
firm bulwark in the establishment of
such safeguards. He analysed its ma
ture in minute detail. He answered
seriatim the criticisms of the various
groups opposing American adherence
to the organization. In particular he
answered the objections of Senator
Borah.
He did not question the beauty or
nobility of Senator Borah's interna-
tional ideal. But he did dismiss it's
p~racticability in the present stage of
national temper.
Wisdom" said he, docs not so
much consist in knowledge of the ul-
innate: it consists in knowing what to
do next. Frequently those who con
tribute most to destroy good cause
are those who refuse to work day by
day within the field of practical &C
complishment and would oppose all
progress unless their own particular
ideas be adopted in full"
With great explicitness Mr.. Hoover
showed how adherence to the court
would not constitute membership in
the League of Nations, how it would
not bind this nation to fight in for
eign wars, or even to submit disputed
questions to the court if it did not so
desire. Answering, on the other side,
the faction which mintains that the
court lacks teeth" he said:
Those who condemn the proposal
because it is merely method are the
one who would have complained on
the Wednesday night of Genesis and
would have gone to bed with a crouch
6CduSS tu6 NISdlOI Adu AOL YET mdQ0
a finished job of the sun and the moon
and would have called a mass meet
ing on Thursday morning to demand
more forward-looking action"
Secretary Hoover shared the plat
form with Miss Ruth Morgan, of New
York, president of the Colony Club
and chairman of the League of
Women Voters committee on internal
cooperation to prevent war, and
Judge Florence Allen, of the Ohio
Supreme Court. He was met on his
arrival in Des Moines by a committee
of the Greater Des Moines Club,
which included j. Darling, the New
York Tribune's ~cartoonist, who makes
his home here.
On the platform Judge Allen fol-
lowed Mr.. Hoover, demanding that
war itself be outlawed by a confer
ence of nations and that a court be
then organized to deal with warning
nations as with criminals.