Show I WHY wiY SOLDIERS OPPOSE THE TaE LEAGUE J I CAPTAIN EDDIE Chapter Five What does docs the soldier think of ot his co country He thinks it is the best country on earth That is what he ho thought before he went to Europe That is what ho he thinks today Why did tho the soldier e fl fight ht with reckless courage In France Because Because Be Be- cause ho felt Buhe was fighting for th the greatest country in the world wanted to prove by y his conduct that the American American Amer Amer- ican lean people TV were ere the best people In Inthe inthe inthe the world was determined to sh show w an American soldier w was ws the quickest to defend his government of all the soldiers soldiers sol sol- diers in the world Right or wrong that is how he felt A soldiers soldier's life is as precious to him himas as any other mans man's He does not wish to lose it He risks it willingly only for a precious purpose In this case he gladly looked death in the eye eyo because the purpose was so precious the precious the defense defense defense de de- de- de of the land and he loved and revered fevered beyond any other othe Yet a soldier who thus staked all in battle comes home to find what find what That while he has been fighting victorIously victoriously vic vic- vie vic for America as First and Best of All AU it has been proposed here at home by those who never faced a foe or heard a shot to put Ameri America a Ina Ina in ina a lower place among the nations than she sho ever had before to put on her the stamp of inferiority Just as she has finished a triumphant war to make snake her merely one nation in a great assembly of thirty or forty natio nations s and to give her just one vote in nat mat assembly to I the British empires empire's I s six ix votes WON BY BLOOD The United States only sixth one-sixth as important as another in the tho government government government govern govern- ment of the world Went into the war as an equal Won in the field Came out triumphant by the blood of its solI sol- sol I Idlers Idlers' diers And then was written down as an inferior by the hands of its I statesmen That Thit is how a soldier looks at a a. covI covenant cov coy I which gives i Cs the United States i ione one vote in the tho league of nations and gives elves to the British empire the tho votes of I I the empire itself and Canada c. South Africa Australia Nev Ne' Zealand and In India In- In j I dia The United States put on a level with New Zealand after winning in a great war war Put on a level Jevel with a a. colony one half as populous as Chicago one- one quarter as populous as New York City Lowered to the Vie position of a a. land that thatIs thatis is less than the thirteen colonies before the Revolution How do you suppose this looks to a soldier who fought to keep America Fir First t How do you ou suppose it im- im Presses a soldier who loves o cs America Best Beet J S. S t ii j d S b h. h i r f A A. A soldier soldier thinks Straight When he reads the tho list of six British voters in inthe inthe inthe the covenant of tho the league of nations and the American list of at one he d does es not care to read more All the diplomatists diplomatists diplo diplo- m and philo philosophers in the world cannot re rc reconcile him to those two little figures Ho lIe IIo brought back with mth him from Europe no hatred or love for ther other nations H Ho He brought back only lovo love for hi his own Just that and nothing more When then do you imagine he thinks of at the proposal to reduce this country to the international Influence of In India India India In- In dia and the diplomatic size of South Africa Ask any fighting man these Questions questions questions ques Ques- a and in fn his you will get getan getan getan an opinion of be f the league eague of nations which nobody can fail fait to understand A soldier knows some things about aboul his country's history He learned them in high school lIe He knows that other soldiers fought to make this country free and independent dent He knows that still others fought to keep it so He fought in France for the same purpose FOUGHT FOR Foh FOI FREEDOM I I know some say the American soldier sol sol- sol sol- dior dier in Franco France fought to secure the freedom of mankind That Is wrong They do not understand the fighting man He fought to preserve the freedom freedom free free- dom dorn of his own country Any man nian of the line Une will say so A free and In Independent Independent independent In- In dependent United States that States that was what he had in mind and he was ready rendy to die for it just as others had died for it The people who never faced a bullet or heard a shot may h have ye had other ideas the soldier at the front had this i I j I his his his his' country free and Independent and all that it stood for Now what does docs the tho soldier find on hi his return from France It is something something something some some- thing incredible He finds a large number of Americans trying through the league leigue of at nations to give aw away y the very freedom and Independence which ho risked his to preserve Why do they do It If lIe He can get no answer that he understands It is proposed to put American affairs affairs af fairs In the hands of foreigners for settlement American war or peace is isto isto isto to be decided by eight foreigners andone andone and one American in a a. council miles away American Interests are to be handled in an assembly of thirty or I forty nations where America will have Just one vote and foreigners will have the rest American soldiers American sailors American workingmen are to IQ DO oo exposed exposed ex ex- posed to the tho call rc regulation and 1 interference inter Inter- ter- ter ference of a lot of ot s Europeans and Africans meeting in a d distant stant whIch most Americans AmerIcan ne never er s w anil whose la language e cn cp c th the president x t of f i 5 tf I F I k the United States cannot understand t v AMERICA WON S 'S What is the object of all aU this this' j America did not lose in th the war She won Why should she then be called on to give up the very very freedom and dependence independence for fox which her fighting men fought Why should sho she be ex expected to surrender tho very things that all the men who ever have fought for tor her have fought either to gain or or to retain The soldier hears no no plain answer to these plain questions He Ha hears some vague talk about Europe's wanting wanting- American help But she has had that help About Americas America's not deserting deserting- Europe But America did not desert Europe And what has all this to do anyhow with taking this free tree an and In Independent independent in- in dependent country and placing Its Us fate and future in the hands of ot forel foreigners ers v. v The soldier cannot tell teU and nobody seems able to tell him So he stands aghast when he sees Americans trying to away without with with-r I out reason or excuse what other other- Am Americans through ye yea years rs s have t fought to get and to keep He is Isi astounded when he reads that the R Republicans Re Re- publicans have sent out speakers speak speak- ers to persuade Americans not to hand j themselves over to foreign powers not f to surrender the United States Slates to European European Eu Eu- C i Asiatic and African rulers To the tho plain straightforward soldier d dit it all looks like a kind of madness It Itis is so strange and bewildering be cannot grasp it He only knows tha ir he ho e Is against it and that it is wr wrong n i J r |