Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 62, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1920 — THE GREAT ISSUE [ARTICLE]

THE GREAT ISSUE

In spite of the efforts Of certain gentlemen to get away from it, the league of .nations continues to be, as it has been from the beginning of the campaign, a predominant issue. It is the one subject which the people care to hear discussed. All efforts to minimize, sidetrack or confuse it have failed. Mr. Taft and many Republicans speak of Wilsonism as paramount, but even if that be disposed of, .there still remains the league as a world call. The situation has been clear from the beginning, even to the politicians, who are usually \he most shortsighted of men. What they wanted to know above everything else was how the people felt about the league. Those who have met the issue, as well as those who have evaded it —or tried to—have alike been deeply concerned about the matter. The thing is so big that it could not be overshadowed. There is hardly a phase of the life of the people that it does' not touch. Econcmlcs, finance, z ordinary business, labor, politics, morals and religion *re all Involved. It is realized, too, that our action with reference to the league of nations. will affect , the whole World, and l>less or curse • generations yet unHorn. No one made the issue, for, like all -great Issues, It made itself. Almost two years ago former President Taft said: ’ If there Isn't a league of nations created at Paris, the . whole thing is « failure. I don’t think it will be a failure. I do think, however, that the people at Washington had better get on the bandwagon .. immediately. The men who are fighting the league—Senator Knox, for Instance,

who denounced it yesterday—are under no illusions on the subject. They know it is an issue. So, as a matter of fact, does every one else. The people who favor it believe that it will tend to cut down armaments,' reduce taxes, protect civilization, 1 mitigate if not abolish the awful curse of war, and save emillions of | Human lives. The United States j government is now building six i dreadnoughts that are to be the most powerful vessels afloat. Each will carry 12 16-inch guns, have a tonnage of 43,000, a length of 684, feet and cost in the neighborhood of $20,000,000. < We are today spending 78 cents out of, each dollar of taxes to pay for wars past and to come. Under present conditions

this is unavoidable. But the conditions that make such an expenditure necessary are themselves a scandal. The people know that the nations associated themselves together to suppress the slave trade, they see no reason why they should not co-operate for the purpose of ending war. The reconstruction of a brokendown world, the possibility of establishing European credits, the opening up of foreign markets, the stabilization of exchange, and the development of our industry and commerce, will all be set forward by our entrance into the league. Whatever the politicians may say, the people understand this. It is because they understand it .that they are so vitally interested in the

league of nations issue. In time, if not now, we shall have a league because the world needs it. Why not take the covenant already entered into by our allies, modify them if and where necessary, and set the world on its now course? —Indianapolis News (Rep.).