Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1920 — THE LEAGUE AVERTS WAR [ARTICLE]

THE LEAGUE AVERTS WAR

It is out of such controversies as exist between Sweden and Finland, between Poland and Lithuania that great wars grow. The sparks get beyond control, and the conflagration follows. In the past sparks have got beyond control because there' existed no effective apparatus for extinguishing them. Mischief makers were allowed to blow them into flames. Clivlilization was aroused to its dangers when the fire had spread too far to be restricted easily or to be put out with small loss and labor. From the tragic experience of the recent years the world learned a lesson which led its great nations to organize a league for dedfring with the sparks before they were fanned into holocausts. The league —the league of nations —is at work today. Sweden and Finland have submitted to its setlement a controversy which had all the possibilities of serious trouble; Poland and Lithuania have checked a war already begun in .order that the league may have' opportunity to tramp out the sparks. - | In one case the danger of war is to be averted; in the other hostil ities already in progress are to be ended; in both the way of reason and abitration is to be followed rather than that of strife and bloodshed. [ While, opponents of the league of nations are declaring in one breathy that it is dead, and in the next that it is a menace to the world’s । concord, dramatic answer comes to both charges in the fact that the league of nations, operating as a living organiatton, is preventing war and restoring peace. It is to be noted that it is not some vague “association of nations," nebulously nascent in the minds of certain gentlemen, but the league of nations, -created at Versailles and'

' operating under the much-abused I covenant which commands the con* I fidence of Sweden, Finland, Poland and Lithuania, and acts now as the world’s defense against new strifes. The case of Poland and Lithuania is of particular Interest. Lithuania is not a member of the league. She has agreed to the submission of the case in recognition of the moral authority of a body in which she lias no place. She accepts the principle 'settlement because it । has been given definite form and means for functioning In the league. While it remained an abstraction it could be ignored. But embodied In an organization which represents the reason and good will of mankind It can not be ignored. Thus a great principle obtains compelling moral authority through a mechanism designed for its application, calls a halt to marching armies, silences guns and summons nations In controversy to the arbitrament of reason and Justice. The best answer to the league’s opponents is the league Itself. It moves with wise deliberation to the doing of Its appointed tasks. Quitely it has been charting out the field of work while men have jeered and maligned and misrepresented. In spite of all efforts to weaken and belittle it, we see the nations turning to it for help and guidance. Hiram Johnson scoffs at It, but Sweden and Finland trust it; Borah proclaims It a maker of wars, but Poland and Lithuania lay down their arms and agree to follow it path of peace. America can not afford to stand aloof from the league of nations. Whatever its defects, it is Justifying Itself. By its service it is claiming America’s co-operation in making it stronger, wiser, fitter for the guarding of the world’s welfare. —Chicago Evening Post.