OCR Text |
Show CLARK SEES CALAMITY IN LEAGUE America's Sovereignty Subordinated to Alien Influences, Asserts Tabernacle Speaker. Covenant Legalizes War and Makes Participation Participa-tion by U. S. Mandatory, Manda-tory, Opponent Says. Before an audience of 10,000 persons of all shades of political opinion and sympathies, last night at the Tabernacle, Taber-nacle, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., international interna-tional lawyer and late major in the United States army, attacked the league of nations and the treaty of peaco in an address of more than two hours' duration. Interruptions for both applause of the speaker's statements and for disapproval dis-approval on the part of those who disagreed dis-agreed with him, were frequent during dur-ing the course of the speech. At the close, Brigham H. Roberts, member of the Btate board of equalization, late chaplain of the 145th Field artillery, and one of the seven presidents of the seventies of the Latter-day Saints' church, was received with much applause ap-plause when he announced that he will answer the statements made by Major Clark at another meeting to be held at the Tabernacle in the near future. The intense interest of the great throng in the subject of the league of nations was indicated by the manner in which practically every man and woman in the hall followed the speaker with closest attention. The applause and interruptions in-terruptions of disfavor came frequently, frequent-ly, but were the only breaks in the tense eagerness with which Major Clark's expressions were received. TABERNACLE IS FILLED EARLY. It was more than a city affair. There were delegations from Ogden and Logan, Lo-gan, and many from places even more distant. Long before the fixed hour of S o'clock the hall began to fill, and automobiles were parked for blocks about the gate to the temple grounds. By the time Sweeten 's band had finished fin-ished its opening number, every one of the 80O0 seats in the auditorium was filled, and another 2000 auditors were soon standing in the aisles. Even the opening of the choir loft to the visitors failed to accommodate the crowd. Major Clark approached his attack on the covenant by replying to what he called the six principal points advanced ad-vanced by the proponents of thc proposed pro-posed international pact. These points were, first, its advocacy by a Republican Repub-lican leader as a political expediene' (evidently meaning former President Taft) ; second, the faction represented by Senator McNary of Oregon, whoni Major Clark quoted as saying: "I am willing to try anything once"; third, those who urge that, as nothing can be worse than the old system, there may be good in the new, and therefore ve should try it: fourth, the contention conten-tion that we must ratify (lie treaty to iorminate hostilities; fifth, thc cry of the world for the Icairue; sixth, the plea that the treaty and the covenant will abolish Mar. MAKES ANSWER TO PROPONENTS. To thc first of these he replied that he would ' rat her a thousand tinges, if this (the covenant) is to be a political iTue. see the Republican party defeat the treaty and lose the next presidential presiden-tial election, than to see it consent to th.? ratification of the treaty and v.-in it." The second he dismissed a? fatuous: fatu-ous: the third h answered peneraliy hy the statement: "To hrand The world today a failure is to brand Christianity a fad i;: re. ' The fourth point he vent into ar considerable len:h, asserting ;ha it is not neeessary -nder the terms of the rcaee treaty f-r "e United S;a:es to sin in order to brin;? hrs.::"ii-t hrs.::"ii-t i c ? to an end. In t h : conclusion he ' 1 1 w ; I i : p. lv e b.:t '. " o ot r. --r 1, , ior.p (Continued on Page 11, Column 1.) iSciiiT III! DECLARES Mimerica Subordinated and ; War Made Certain, Speaker Asserts. -j (Continued From Page One.) gratify the treaty without the United ites to bring the end of hostilities, there are other nations much more Wous to sign than we are, for they I get something from the treaty, and will not. ' ' s?,erting that neither Eussia, France 0 "trusted the peace treaty so little it fihe made a separate agreement tli the t'nited States and England," tlv Great Britain, nor China, have ,wn any urgent demand for the guc of nations, he set the fifth point wn as being "merely' the rhetorical urish of a very great advocate." lastly, as to the plea that the cove-it cove-it and treaty would abolish war, he el: "We will do everything that hin us lies to abolish war or to ke it less likely; and yet even as re are worse things than death, so ire are worse things than war." He 1 not enlarge upon this beyond point-; point-; to the faith of the Christian fathers io laid down their lives for their be-fs, be-fs, concluding this section by saying: 3ut the covenant before us is not a igue to prevent war; it is, on the ntrary, a league to ensure war." utlines His Views. Before launching into tho specific iswers, Major Clark outlined his view 1 the operation of tho league should ! be put into effect, using Japan as is most frequent example of a danger hypothetical situations which ho said puld arise under the workings of the pgue. He emphasized the small num-r num-r of votes allotted to the Anglo-jixon Anglo-jixon race, and reiterated time and ;ain the statement that the real ronglh of tho league, as constituted, sis with the fivo principal powers lglanj, France, the United States, lly and Japan. He departed from I prepared speech to say: "If France, England and the United lies may form a union for self-de-isc, why should not Germany, Aus-a, Aus-a, Bulgaria and Turkey? And where, sli you, do you think that the Slavic plcH of the Balkans will go when i break comes? 'It would bo to deny the uniform son of history,' ho said, "to assumo it they will not follow Eussia, and liussia and Germany anoY Austria go, will go Japan in all human proba- j bility. And if this lineup and the conflict con-flict it makes certain shall be postponed for half a century, and the Japanese hold on China, formally sanctioned by us, be not disavowed and broken, China will also be with these powers. There will be 750,000,000 people against the paltry few millions which fringo the western coast of Europe. The picture, ladies and gentlemen, is not overdrawn." over-drawn." Other parts of his address were as follows: "The discussion of the treaty has ' reached a stage where it is quite impossible im-possible for anyone to discuss it in any profitable way without subjecting himself to a charge of political partisanship. par-tisanship. Indeed, it now soems the matter will be the great political issue in our next presidential campaign, whatever the disposition of the treaty may be at the hands of the senate. Condemns Peace Terms. "Out of much study there has come to me the conclusion that nothing looms before us which could be equally disastrous with its ratification by us. And this conclusion reached not alone that part which deals with the leaguo of nations, but also those parts which provide for the treatment of our crushed foe, Germany, and for the international in-ternational labor organization. "I am against the league of nations; na-tions; I am. against the treaty as a whole, not because I am a Republican, Republi-can, not because it is fathered by its distinguished proponents, but because, be-cause, as a patriotic American, I believe be-lieve the effects which would flow from its adoption would constitute the most far-reaching disaster that could by any chance come to us. "The theory of the league covenant is this: Eepresentatives of all tho nations of the world named in an annex attached -to the covenant shall meet in an assembly. In this body, each nation may have three representatives, represen-tatives, but only one vote. However, by virtue of her self-governing colonies, colo-nies, Great Britain will have six votes, while we shall have but one. In addition ad-dition to the assembly, there is a council coun-cil composed of nine representatives, one for each of nine states, each representative rep-resentative to have but one vote. , I ask you to again note that the only effective powers in the council are the five principal allied and associated powers the United States, France, Great Britain, Italy and Japan. "If Japan should insist upon the free entry of her nationals into the United States, and we contested it, it would be for the council or the league to determine whether the exclusion of undesirable aliens was a matter of international in-ternational concern. So as to our treatment and protection of aliens generally gen-erally in this country, our tariff system sys-tem and many other matters it is not necessary now to enumerate. "Of this entire league organization the council is by far the most impor-' impor-' tant body because into its jurisdiction the league covenant put in the first instance all matters of prime importance. impor-tance. In other words, while the document doc-ument purports to create :i league in which all nations are e.ual, yet as a matter of fact it entrusts lie fundamental funda-mental functions created by the covenant cove-nant to a group of nine states, five of which are the principal aLied and associated powers I have already named. In this connection, I may, in passing, remark that neither Eussia, nor Germany, nor Austria, ncr Bulgaria, Bul-garia, nor Turkey, whore combined populations, including probably half of the civilized Christian world, has been asked to join this league. Anglo-Saxons Outvoted. "Of the European powers who have been asked to join two only are republics, re-publics, all the' rest are monarchies. In this league assembly, when constituted, consti-tuted, the Anglo-Saxon race will have seven votes out of a possible thirty-two thirty-two or forty-five. In the council the Anglo-Saxon race will have two votes out of nine. "Each original member of the league of nations is also a member of the labor organization, created under the treatv, which functions first through a "general conference made up of four representatives coming from each member. Of these four representatives, represen-tatives, two are government delegates, one is an employers' or capital delegate and one is a labor delegate. You will observe that this treaty forces for the first time in our history a formal class distinction, contrary to our constitutional constitu-tional provisions, between labor on the one hand and capital on the other. The subordination of America, its government, govern-ment, its labor and its capital to alien governments and influences is far greater in tho labor organization than is American subordination in the league of nations. War Made Certain. "There is no principle in the covenant cove-nant which justifies intervention in civil wars. In certain cases it (the league) makes war legal and in other cases positive and mandatory. "By article 10 of the league covenant we guarantee the territorial status quo of the various allied and associated powers as established by the treaty. I am fullv aware of the contention put forward by proponents of the league that this is but a moral obligation; that congress, if it does not wish to go to war, may disavow this moral obligation. obliga-tion. If we are to have the league with its obligations, let us take it, and let us live up to the full measure of its obligations, whatever their, character. ' ' We who, for a century and a half, have followed the prophetic wisdom of Washington, uttered in his-farewell address, ad-dress, now find ourselves not alone in European alliances, which he condemned, con-demned, but actually co-owner of European Euro-pean territory. ' ' Has any other treaty in history ever dispossessed a nation of more territory ter-ritory than has this; and this is but the beginning. We have yet to come . to the treaty or treaties with Austria, with Hungary and with our ally, Russia. ' ' Let no one, I beseech you, lull you to sleep with paeans on peace or beatitudes beati-tudes on the righteousness of modern men and nations. Compel anyone who talks to you on this treaty to discuss its terms.' for in them is the issue, and compel him to tell you and to substantiate substan-tiate his telling with treaty provisions, how this treaty ig going to do away with war." "But, say the proponents further, Germany Ger-many has been defeated, Germany has been humbled, her spirit has been broken. But. if we may believe any of the accounts ac-counts which come to us, Germany has not been humbled. On the contrary, hostilities hos-tilities were brought to a close and the armistice signed at the moment when her humiliation was imminent, but before it ! was completed. 'If we enter the league and are called , upon to perform its obligations, we must I not besmirch our fair name, we must not disgrace the memory of our honored ancestors, an-cestors, nor ourselves, nor our posterity, by a refusal based on the plea that the obligation imposed is merely moral. "We must not become a hiss and a byword among the nations of the earth. If we are not prepared to keep every obligation obliga-tion of the treaty, we must reject it. Says War Legalized. "This league makes war legal and in other cases positive and mandatory. It we associate ourselves in this league we obligate ourselves to join in any measure deemed necessary, even measures of force 'to safeguard the peace of nations' whatever that means. If Montenegro and Serbia threaten an outbreak or should actually engage in hostilities contrary con-trary to the provisions of the league, we should be bound to furnish our proportion propor-tion of the armed forces nec2s;5ary to bring them to terms. But, say the proponents pro-ponents of the league, we should r.eed but a few men in any such case as this, a paltry 'few thousands, and this much we xnay easily do. To this I answer, Yes. That is all we shall need, but that paltry few thousands will be somebody's sons, or somebody's husband, and who ehall dare say that American i.'I'a and American freedom is not the most precious pre-cious on the earth? "I warn you that if you put in operation opera-tion this league, we shall have a permanent per-manent compulsory military system which will reach into the homes of very one of you, to take off your sons and husbands to fight in battles in which we have no concern, and which have no permanent effect upon the history of the world, and in the issues of which we cannot by any stretch of the imagination be ourselves affected. It is not customary cus-tomary to go into a street brawl and risk your life merely for the abstract idea that a fight is wrong. Why should we go into an international brawl on any such theory? Would it not be better bet-ter and wiser to save American life to protect America and her institutions? 'Again, if two nations get into a dispute and, pursuant to the terms of the treaty, they refer the matter either to arbitration arbitra-tion or to the council or to the assembly of the league itself, they may under this treaty go legally to- war after three months from the rendering of this decision, if such decision so rendered be not satisfactory satis-factory to them. What shall be the alignment of the other powers in such a war so waged is entirely unstipulated in the .treaty, and we should not know to what lengths a war so sanctioned by the treaty itself might lead us. "Further, if after the determination of such a difficulty by the council, by arbitration, arbi-tration, or by the assembly, one of the parties thereto shall fail to observe that decision, war is legalized against that party." Quotes From Lincoln. Major Clark concluded his address by a quotation from a speech given by Abraham Abra-ham Lincoln warning that the free institutions in-stitutions of tho United States were in danger. The quotation was in part as follows, and was generally taken to be directed against President Wilson : "It is to deny what the history of the world tells us is true to suppose that men of ambition and talents will not continue to spring up amongst us. And when they do, they will as naturally seek the gratification gratifi-cation of their ruling passion as others have done before them. Many great and good men, sufficiently qualified for any task they undertake, may ever be found whose ambition would aspire to nothing beyond a sent in congress, a gubernatorial or a presidential chair; but such belong not to the family of the lion, or the tribe of an eagle. What? Think you these places would satisfy an Alexander, a Caesar or a Napoleon? Never. Towering Tower-ing gonius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored. It denies de-nies it is glory enough to serve under any chief. It thirsts and burns for distinction; dis-tinction; and. if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of emancipating slaves or enslaving freemen. Is it unreasonable, un-reasonable, then, to expect that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to Its utnfost stretch, will at some time spring up among sus? And when such an one dors, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to government gov-ernment and laws, and generally intelligent, intelli-gent, to successfully frustrate his designs." de-signs." Lucy Gates Sings. One of the most interesting features of last night's Tabernacle mass meeting was the excellent musical program. As an opening number R. Owen S wee ten's . military hand played Sousa's march, I "Stars and Stripe?." followed by Suppe's 1 overture, "Tantahisqualen." The chief J musical feature, however, was the artis-I artis-I tic rendition of "America For Me," words j by Henry Van Dyke, sung by Emma t Lucy Gates. This number alone paid the , many thousands for attending. The high 1 notes of the singer were clear as a bell, ; land when she sung with ckar enuneia- : I tion the words "We love our kind for j what she is and what she is To be." the ! applause was tremendous. The soloist ; also sang "La Pcrle du Bresil." by Iavid. ; as her first number. The accompaniment . by Professor Edward P. Kimball on the i ?roat organ, added to the rendition. As ! a finale the large ;i udience of about li0'i.i joined in singing "The 8tar Snancled P.anner." led by Professor Anthony An-thony O. Lund, with the great organ and Swt'etfn's band join ing in. Even a 'novo ' the voice of the multitude Miss i. laws' ; voie could be heard with the closing strains. t Among those on the stand besides the . speaker were Gvnrnor B.uni'pior, Pisne-p Charts W. X;Xt.y, rr-ci-itni An-' th.on 1 1. T.nnd. 3'rf-t.idt-nt .'hsrk-.s W. Penrose, T resident Rudger i "".awsi-n, Pavid O. MrKav and Anthony W. p. ins, j o: the council of T:n- twt-!ve of The L. Ik ! fcv church, P.. IT. Roberts, one of th first seven presidents of s' v.-n t i-'S. p-.shon ! I -avid A. Snu::). Xenid !, Morris L-c'-r , I K Kr.-d. we.. T. Prestnn i 7;i.v.ards, .Tos. ph E. JPbinson. W.i.v-r J'. : V o. W . N . ' i i i a : n s . F Cnv As '.tor.. IP-r.ry WV.sh. J. p. C.i'V, Mrs. Jen rn A. Hvd-:. .."rs- Eliza'.-.-.;.;-. L'ris-iva.n L'ris-iva.n .u-i Mrs. A. W. M-Vi:ne. In );. r'.'O.r si".. its '-..-. of i i" o f'n ! pit former P. Piter, Judt'e Ogu'e:i 'n..e i. of 'sai: L.ike. Tee Crien ic ration in -. h;r;'-d W. IT. W.i . :i C. P.-:V!S. J. ". , Ar-t:.::r Ar-t:.::r Wr"V. , a. V. wi.ppt. Pen l:h;-e-, ' P E. Gt-"". .Tan-.-s I'oor, .J. P. r,. d-'--e-. Jr.. Mr. a:.d M;s. Gor-e ,r.t.r ber-. Pihshop W. W. K:.v.-son ar.d A. ma |