Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 97, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 March 1919 — NO FEAR OF JAP, DECLARES TAFT [ARTICLE]

NO FEAR OF JAP, DECLARES TAFT

Former President Reiterates Statement League Will Not Promote Immigration. TAKES JAB AT CONSTITUTIUN

Says Document Drawn Up 135 Years Ago Has Been in Course' of Interpretation Ever Since—l 2 Men Still on the Job. Cincinnati, March 4. —Former President William 11. Taft, in speaking before the Cincinnati chamber of commerce reiterated his statement that) the people of the United States need have no fear of Japanese Immigration under the covenant of the league of nations. , “It would require the votes of from thirty to forty of the signers of the( covenant to overrule the wish of tha United States in this matter,” said the former president. In this connection, Professor Taftj said that it would require a unanimous! vote of the signers of the league ami that therefore the danger was so small that any actuary would guarantee that It could not take place. Referring to the covenant of tha league of nations, Professor Taft said that its main Idea was the consideration of war or peace. He cited that, this covenant presumed an organized league of nations; the elimination of secret treaties and the co-operation of nations, and keeping peace and preventing war. Professor Taft proclaimed that at this time, at the end| of hostilities, it seemed most appropriate to perpetuate the efforts already] made to make peace assured. Deciares It Is No Trap. "All wars are not wars against ter-i ritorial Integrity or political Independence,’’ continued Mr. Taft. "The Monroe doctrine does not alm at anything except these two points. “This Is no tfrap," he said. “The nai tlons are not to let somebody else actl for them. Even the boycott, which UN self-acting, mustastlll come to congress to determine whether there has been] a violation making It necessary thatj such a boycott take place. “It Is said that England may havei too much force because of her self-} governing dominions. The British empire will have but a single vote tn the! executive council. Australia and Canada may get votes in the council of delegates if the other nations so wish it. The Philippine Islands may do thel same thing. What we want Is a that binds somebody to something. Wa want to organize the world so that wa can stop Gils suicide of mankind. ' “Several distinguished senators have said that the proposition of a leagua of nations can be taken up later. They] think that on some bright summer’s day when everything else has been cleared off the board, somebody—l da not know just who —will sit down and make up the league. I am not complaining of their criticisms. Speaks Praise for Wilson. “I am glad Woodrow Wilson went to France and learned what the men of other nations think of this plan. The countries on the other side are fairly yearning for this agreement* They want to know where the shoe pinches in this country. . . . “The Constitution of the United States, drawn up 185 years ago, has 1 been in the course of interpretation! ever since, and we still maintain nine black-robed gentlemen in a mausoleum In Washington to do nothing else but Interpret it. “We do not know the trouble over there. The horrible specter of bolshevism is pushing eastward from Russia. The nations there need the steadying hand of Christian civilization. I maintain that the need of the league is sustained by the facts as they now exist. What did we fight for? We wanted to defeat militarism, and to end war. Let us do now what we started out to do. •‘There can be no league In Europe Job. Or are we to become a ’slacker* nation?” ,