Evening star., 1939-12-18
Contends League
Justifies Confidence
Writer Cites Authorities
On Genevo's Utility
In Wur-Torn World

On 0eneVo UtiIIty
In Wur-Torn World
70 the Editor Of The Star:
To those members of the League Of
Nations Association who have worked
for nearly NTH Of q century for
proper understanding Of League purposes
and ideals, The Star editorial of this
afternoon entitled THE Leagues Sue
cess was most inspiring.
AS The Star so adequately puts it,
- the League can be said to have
been more effective with respect to Fin
land than in any other instance in which
it has been called upon to act. - With
this victory behind it the League can go
on to greater contributions to the worlds
welfare"
Indeed, the League not only can go on,
but is going on. Most of the more than
million people who visited the League
of Nations Pavilion at the Worlds Fair
expressed surprise to learn that there is
League of Nations working in the fields
Of health, social and economic questions,
a League which has had the support of
nearly all the nations of the world, in
Guiding the United States. AS was said
few months ago by Secretary of State
Cordell Hull, "The League, however, has
been responsible for the development of
mutual exchange and discussion of ideas
and methods to greater extent and in
more fields of humanitarian and; scien-
tific endeavor than any other organiza-
ton in history"
The Assistant Secretary of State,
Henry w. Grady, speaking on League of
Nations day at the Worlds Fair, said:
Peace is not solely political matter
If it is to be enduring it must be based
upon the prosperity and well-being Of
the peoples of the world. For this reason
We have welcomed the opportunity to
participate in the Leagues efforts to
organize cooperation in the fields of
economics, finance and health, and in
dealing with multitude of other social
and technical problems, and we have
received many benefits from our partici-
patton in the Leagues work in these
fields"
United States Surg. Gen. Parran re-
Gently called attention to the fact that
disease and epidemics, which have been
SO greatly reduced by international ef-
fort under the League of Nations, may
again, as result Of this war become
WIDELY 80
standards results from international
moral breakdowns. Disease and epi-
denies do not stop at neutral boundaries.
AS the national president of the
League of Nations Association, Dr. James
T. ShotWell. has so effectively stated:
THE world is in darkness and confusion
today because nations have lost the
vision Of moral solidarity for the pre-
vention of aggression and the promotion
Of international justice. Even neutrals
are no longer safe, however much they
may try to isolate themselves from the
tidal flood that comes from authoritarian
and militaristic states. There is no pos
sibility Of permanent peace between ma
tions except through a common sense of
moral solidarity and through strengthen
ing the institutions in which it can be
embodied.
Each succeeding breakdown of peace
full international relations, such as the
tragedy of Finland, emphasizes the fail
ure Of the United States in 1920 to ac-
cept the responsibility that goes with
power. The road back to Geneva may
be long and there may be frequent de-
tours but the world may have lasting
peace only when 1t is willing to travel
that road.
"We must remind all liberty-loving
people that the ideals for which they
stand liberty in law, freedom of speech
and assembly, and the right to select
their representatives at free elections,
cannot be maintained for long in any
country if governments continue to neg
lect the principles Of international law
and order embodied in the covenant of
the League of Nations"
1t is, Of course, a great temptation
when now observing world chaos to say,
1--WE told you So" While the position of
the majority of the Senate which be-
lieved in the League of Nations has
been tragically vindicated, and the re-
sponsibility of the seven more than one
third who attempted to destroy the
League is apparent in its awful conse-
quences, our Job now is to make good
what those who were left over there
offered their lives and their blood to
obtain"
Lord Cecil, in recent statement to
the Federation of League of Nations AS
sociations, said:
DO not let us repeat the follies of
1919. Do not let us again believe that
all we have to do is to destroy Hitler
and Hitlerism-the counterpart of the
Kaiser and Prussian militarism. The
war will have been fought in vain unless
it leads to the foundation of a new and
stable international order, the substitu-
ton of law and reason for violence and
outrage. Even now it is not too soon for
all Of us to think about what we shall
press for after the war. We want to see
a peace based on the equal rights of all
peoples; on the sanctity of international
treaties; on the reduction and limitation
Of national armaments by international
agreement; on the acceptance of the
doctrine that aggression is an interna-
tional crime and on adequate machinery