The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1950-04-18
TOWARDS WILSON'S PLAN

war be declared against the Imperial Ger
man Government and the United States
departed from long record of non-par-
ticipation in world affairs to throw the de-
cisive force against the Kaiser and his
cohorts.
In his message, President Wilson in
Guided the statement: "a steadfast con-
cert for peace can never be maintained ex-
cept by partnership of democratic ma
tons" He closed with the memorable
words: 1.-THE world must be made safe for
democracy" What he had in mind, in con-
nection with this statement, has been il
Illustrated by the conduct of Soviet Russia
in recent years.
The second World War, with its stu
pendous devastation and enormous cost,
all but reduced some of the nations of
Western Europe to poverty. Now without
an isolationist complex, the Congress of
the United States supports the President
of this country in a remarkable effort to
assist the democracies of the world to
maintain themselves against possible ag-
gression from totaltarian state.
The expenditures necessary under this
program are justified with the assertion
that the United States must support the
democracies or else find itself really iso-
lated in world affairs and faced by an
overwhelming concentration of power con-
trolled by the regime in the Kremlin.
Thus, we see that two wars and i'm
mense expenditures move toward the full
fillment of Wilson's assertion that "the
world must be made safe for democracy"
Under the pressure of Communistic Rus
STA, the democracies of the world under
stand that they must stand together or
face extinction, one by one
There still remains the execution of
the other quotation from President Will
son, the formation of a partnership of
democratic nations" This is what has been
proposed in a resolution now before Con-
gress, calling for convention of the dele
gates. of the nations which signed the
Atlantic Treaty.
Favorable action by the Congress will
be step toward the formation of Fed
eral union of democratic peoples which
will possess the strength necessary to
deter aggressors and would-be world-con-
qqerors, who would like to subject other
peoples to an iron-fisted regime that
would stifle liberty and destroy Western
civilization.
The proposal that the signatory ma
tons to the Atlantic Treaty get.together to
form something of union, along the lines
of the process utilized by the thirteen
American colonies, seeks to bring about
partnership of peoples who have COM
mon ideals of justice, culture and free
dom and possess the liberties that are re-
quisite to the development of democratic
processes. 1t does not include nations
whose peoples do not enjoy modern free
dom, including the control of the destiny
of their own countries.
We would like very much to see this
convention assembled. The United States
can hardly fail to cooperate with other
peoples. who are willing to adopt the ex-
ample of our nation in order to create Sc
curity and safety in the modern world.
Nevertheless, there should be, in the
constitution of the proposed union, clear
ly defined limits to the powers of the
super-government, so that the nations
participating will not find, as the Ameri-
can states discovered, that the financial
y-powerful central government is able to
encroach upon the powers reserved for
the respective peoples of the respective
nations
In our opinion, greater progress
would be made toward the formation of
this union if the peoples of the democratic
countries were invited to join on the basis
of a ten or twenty year. trial. In fact, the
right. of nation and its people to with
draw, after fulfilling their accepted COM
mitments, should be clearly recognized
and always respected Nospeople will add
strength to such asunion unless they remain
a part of it by their own consent.
Many of the difficulties that confront