Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1919 — The World’s Next Step [ARTICLE]

The World’s Next Step

NO. 1 Tha IxM.ru* or Nations and ths Proa reaa es Clrlllxatloa

By CLARENCE L. SPEED

(Written for and Approved by tha Illlnola Branch of Laagua to Enforca Peace.) The world’s next step Is to be the formation of a league of nations. Tentative plnns for its constitution have been approved at the peace conference. Representatives of fourteen of the greatest governments in the world have agreed on the tentative details. Reports indicate that delegates from other nations assembled at Parts to fix on the terms for ending the great war are ready to sign a treaty creating a league of nations. Even the"defeated nations approve the idea if not the details. It may be taken now as a foregone conclusion that the world as a whole has decided to act in concert, to organize to prevent wars In future, to protect the weak and prevent aggression by the strong. Since th™ dawn of history the world has been progressing logically toward this step, though falteringly and with many slips backward. From the prehistoric times when it was every man for himself, down through the ages when small tribes despoiled their neighbors, when despotisms of the ancient world struggled for mastery, when feudal lords who were little more than robbers made wars for booty, to the development of the modern nations as they stood five years ago, man had slowly been learning that he could not live for himself alone, but must depend on the cooperation of his neighbors. Slowly, very slowly, the ideas of right and justice as we now understand them grew up. Primitive man learned that td protect himself he had to live in accord with his neighbors. But his neighbors then were the few

of his fellow beings who lived in hie Immediate vicinity. They were separated from others by wide stretches of jungle, plain or swamp. As human population Increased “neighbors” came to mean all the members of great tribes, and finally all citizens qf a nation. But scientific progress outstr'pped for a time mankind’s social progress. There came the application of steam, the discovery of electricity, the telegraph, the wireless, the flying machine, which made the world a neighborhood. Trade was carried on from one end of the world to the other. No nation could live an Independent life. Failure of the cotton crop in Texas meant privation and suffering In Manchester; a change In the tariff laws of the United States might mean great distress in far distant countries. Nevertheless the nations of the earth continued to act entirely Independently, each looking for Its own selfish Interests without regard for the Interests of the remainder of the world. The Individual In every civilized country had long ago recognized the justice of the limitation of his rights. He no longer claimed the privilege of going out and killing an enemy with whom he had disagreed; of stealing his neighbor’s property just because he wanted It, of enslaving his fellows, of fighting duels, of carrying concealed weapons. He gave up all these ancient privileges and depended on his government for protection. He did so In spite of the fact that there were individuals in every land who refused to do likewise. He suffered at times from the thief, the robber, the murderer; yet as the centuries went by he took the law into his own hands less and less frequently, until before the great war broke over the world the greater part of the earth’s surface was settled, orderly, safe. Yet it never seemed to occur to these same men who had submitted to so much curtailment of their Individual privileges that there might ever be any joint exercise of power by all of the states of which they severally happened to be citizens. Nations built up huge armies and navies, glared at each other across frontiers, seized the lands of weak or undeveloped peoples, and exploited conquered territories for their own benefit. True, some countries, notably England, which held subject colonies In all parts of the earth, and the United States, which only recently had rather unwillingly accepted responsibilities in the Philippines, had reached a stage of development where they no longer considered it the proper thing mercilessly to exploit dependent peoples, yet this sentiment was far from general. Land grabbing was the accepted practice. Peaceful civilization was held back by the necessity of devoting so much of the resources of every land to preparation for a struggle that was deemed inevitable. Finally, In 1914, the storm broke. War, costing millions of lives and scores of billions of dollars, swept over the earth, Involving nation after

figUoiTln the fighting and the whole world In the misery it entailed. MaM only through the bitterest suffering US all history, at last learned that if M were to hope In future to live In P—— and enjoy prosperity he must nise that his neighborhood comprise* the whole world and act accordingly. Thus came about the proposal fW the league of nations. The world In taking the logical step. It Is fairly em Its way to a higher civilisation. There may be slips backward—probably wttt be —but time for the great experiment is here. < Further Information regarding league of nations, Including pamphlets, may bo obtained at the office of the lllinolo state branch of the League to Entered Peace, 342 Monadnock block, 111. There Is more Catarrh in thia section of the country than all other diseases put together, and for years It was supposed to ba incurable. Doctors prescribed local remedies, and by constantly falling to cure with local treatment, pronounced It Incurable. Catarrh la a local disease, greatly Influenced by constitutional conditions and therefore required contltutlonal treatment. Hall’s Catarrh Medicine, manufactured by F. J, Cheney & Co., Toledo, Ohio, Is a constitutional remedy, Is taken Internally and acts through the blood on the mucous surfaces of the system. One 'Hundred Dollars reward is offered for any case that Hall’s Catarrh Medicine fails to cure. Send for circulars and testimonials. F. J. CHENEY & CO., Toledo, O. Sold by druggists, 75c. Hall’s Family Pills for constipa<> tlon. —Advt,