OCR Text |
Show League's Object to Avoid By WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT. j L What is the object of the league of nations, and what does it propose to do? The object is to avoid war as far as possible. pos-sible. It is to make, peace as permanent as it can be made. .. . . , How does it do it? It docs it by fo r great steps. The first is article Ut. the armament article. It declares it to !. in the interest of peace that there should be a reduction of all the armaments In the world as far as possible, consistent with national safety and the obligations of the league. , It directs the council to prepare a plan for that reduction and the council to take a milttarv commission to assist it. The council then takes up the matter ot receiving information which tho nations' na-tions' covenant is to give as to ai existing armaments. Then the council makes the plan, reduces the armament ,i fiv,. n,ii for each country. That their allies, Austria and Italy e If 1 turn went on in buth thsV I France and Russia were rVniv I U of Invasion, and so they y' alter year and decatle after uer I In 11U4 these armaments had r. enormous figure, far beyond am,? r contemplated. lj L That is what brought about .i iH'P The evil clfecls wore fourfold 1 the. poor people of Europe ' i-V I nfltUf whelming taxation. It tlX,k lu' life of till the youth two or thre'' -.J their producing capacity. ItK1' lei ulence. a chip-on-the-shetil,i(r' tion and temptation to war. . tendency to tho kaiser, who t strength of this military evai -,rt " so that when ho went into c . -" with other nations and came out v' 14 1 .j told his people that he won bv ' ng c Ing forth In shining armor by', i bcl his sword in its scabbard. " "lC 1 A, i,l wben 1H14 came h i.. . '.1 ,leC plan, when completed, Is submitted to all the governments. F.ach government studies with a view to Its own limitations, and its own limitations with respect to the limitations of other governments, it argues out the question, and negotiates, and finally a voluntary agreement la reached. . i'hen that voluntary agreement Is reached with a limitation to each nation proportionate to its needs, then the countries coun-tries covenant to keep within that limit for not more than ten years, there Demg a revision before the end of ten years, it during that time any contingency rc-cmires rc-cmires the Increasing the limit o any nation, tho council has authority to increase in-crease It. That is a means of meeting emergencies. On the other hand, there Is a check against disproportionate Increase, In-crease, for that council acts unanimously, and we can have a member on that council coun-cil and no limit can be increased without our consent. . . - Tf Now, what is the objection to this? It Is said that this will paralyze our arm ot defense. subject our homes the race. Russia had uot comi.l,' vr' ,- l,f strategic railways. France had r I'1 ph-ted h.-r plan of artiiieiv or p' ( wrci tion. And he said, "Now 15 tt, . , , strike. Our enemies are n (. where wo can strike them '-,a aro when the Serbian difficult v caT,H . ;" .. ty,( told Kmperor Francis Joseph, "I J'1 north on a vacation, appareutiv ,.' ' j plan vcu put in the ultimatum and ! Th' hear of it I will bo surprised , ,- lUin hurrv back," and he did. "Rut,", .' "no conferences with other initio,, "ono there was none. And war waa or, ' ' ' It brought on tho war, this r lsoop. armament. And the worst (ta, lirciu-'1' that enormous armament was the ' col ter of tho campaign that it i ,,iste about. Never in history have, , - Vi since the days of Attlla the Kir , savagery; Instruments of de lin ' were directed not against an,,;, nccr, but against old men, against wen Alio children. Explosives, dropped ir ',-nn( cljiuls, made no discrimination 1 , . 0( combatants and noncombatanu, , ' , sives from the bottom of the, , mini"1 . a lA.,anl Te,,lA rtn tl.. . honOrS sides ana iree nisun ---- and lay us naked to our enemies. That is eloquent, but there is not a stintliia of fact to sustain it, not a scintilla n is a reduction of the armament so that armament will bo defensive and not offensive, of-fensive, so it shall contain no tomptat on to war. While we may bo said to ay ourselves naked to our enemies, they lay themselves naked to us. In other words, the convention is only an ordinary agreement agree-ment as to style or latitude, in dress-war dress-war dress. That is all it is. This whole war in its character of human disastei has come from race for armament. It began away back with Bismarck in the development of Prussia Into the Gorman empire, when he said he would do it by blood and iron. , The kaiser had the dream of universal dominion. And to assist him in hat he took this wonderful military establishment establish-ment and enlarged it, and that enlargement enlarge-ment went on from year to year, conscription con-scription of two years for all the youth t tho emnire with a reBervo of those Htroycu iiu,. ,- mti,, , had a right to be there, men, oi, J ing ill children, noncombatants. All p,JH 0 of the enormous armament. 1r(rer -And then the devastation of th. i . riis tries, for It was a devastation ' pies and of countries. The nor.hiJ. -N1V: of France, its great manufacture 'ti'V ters were absolutely destroyed, a Oarrc mines have been so injured th: take fifteen years' compensation ljitio of other mines to enable Franci 1 , 0.0 herself together. 'V 60i Machinery was stolen from 0Ii order to interfere with her Into UVA , ture, so that when these naili ' conquered, not only would thri niucrite be conquered, but their comma ; Mrs premacy would be injured a , 0f th power of competition would l ira p destroyed. The destruction ol u ' ' , houses in tho country has no That is all due to the enormous the armament and the opporn t the . destruction that this armament . Ritcr trained soldiers after that service by from six or seven years in addition. Strategic railways, great manufacturers manufactur-ers of ammunition, artillery, small arms, explosives everything was done that science could suggest or experience dictate dic-tate with reference to making that military mil-itary establishment the strongest in the world. The Germans stimulated action in Is there a man or woman :niu dead to the welfare of mankitiji Irons, own people and the nations of t j,,erman who does not long for some iA m rtl, preventing a recurrence of thtl 6.j race for armament which is -M T itable alternative unless we ai', 1 means of stopping it? The leasisl ion ai tions is the remedy. lives I'nmm |