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Show THE CITIZEN the opinion of others. Nor would his view be fully set forth without quoting his final sentence, which was : I am not saying that I would not be delighted if the terms of the League of Nations, this covenant of peace, could be changed some; but they cannot be changed without submitting it again to Ger-many, and to my mind, that would be a calamity. President Grant, therefore, believes that the covenant is imperfect and would be delighted if it could be changed without danger of its destruction or enfeeblement. This brings us back to the great point of dispute between those who favor amendment and those who desire to accept the treaty with all its sins upon it. Those who oppose the treaty believe that its sins should be burnt and purged away before the instrument goes into, effect. They believe that the United States would be placing a blot on its escutcheon, that it would no longer hold aloft a flag without a stain if it went on record as handing over to despotic Japan 36,000,-&00- 0 people in Shantung, body and soul. that the United States should not guarantee the territory of every petty nation set up by the treaty in Europe, of every mandatory in Asia, Africa or the isles of the Pacific, because they believe that to do so would be to involve this country in constant warfare by making our soldiers policemen of the world. They believe that the covenant will have no power to prevent civil wars and cannot maintain universal peace. They believe, in fact, that because it permits war in certain instances and legalizes them in others its whole framework is militaristic and designed, not to preserve peace, but simply to give a group of powers control of the world, a control, different in avowed purpose, but not in general effect from the control which Germany sought to obtain throughout the earth. They believe that if the covenant goes into effect as at present formulated it will cause more wars and more bloodshed than ever cursed Europe in the forty-thre- e years during which Germany and France made Europe an armed camp following the Franco-Prussia- n war. Even when Europe was an armed camp it maintained general years. As at present constituted the League peace during forty-thre- e of Nations cannot maintain peace a single year. In point of fact a League of Nations, to all intents and purposes, has existed among the allied and associated powers for some years. It exists now and yet the earth is torn by more wars than ever before. Opponents of the league will not share President Grants indulgent views of the good faith of our allies. He expressed the belief that Great Britain and France were animated by the most ardent desires for liberty and justice, but evidently he has forgotten that at the very time these nations sent envoys to Washington to plead for our immediate help their pockets, to use the language of Senator and among these Johnson, were bulging with secret treaties, the one that guaranteed Shantung as a thrall of Japan. Not a word did these envoys utter about that treaty, which .enslaved 36,000,000 people. Not a word did they utter, because they knew that the compact would be unanimously condemned by the American people and they feared that it might keep us out of the war. Great Britain and France are playing the old diplomatic game in & their own way for their own advantage, and it behooves us to play the honest, upright American game in our way for our protection and for the protection of all who arc oppressed and who cry out for & . - They-believ- e freedom. THE STEEL WAR the first fervor and excitement of their strike the union men ot INthe steel industry do not realize the fatal weakness of their position. The tumult, the hurrah, the armies of idle men, the paralyzed (plants make them exult as if they were upon the eve of victory and, therefore, they are blinded to the fact that there is an element of weakness which, sooner or later, will wreck the whole machinery of the strike. It is not a physical, but a moral weakness. The union, when all camouflage is swept aside, is striking for the closed shop and the closed shop is an injustice. A revolution which is based on . ) injustice is sure to fail. At no time in many years has the public been so set against strikes, so unsympathetic with any movement designed to interrupt production. A just cause can afford to wait until production has brought relief from high prices and warded off distress and starvation in half the , world. An unjust cause could not afford to wait because' its injustice would becofne more apparent day by day. Consequently, the steel men refused to heed the appeal for delay made by the President of the United States. In defiance of popular sentiment, rebuffing the President and attempting to rule by might over right, the steel men have begun their strike for a closed shop. For several years the steel employes have been amt)ng the best-pai- d in the country. No company has accorded its workwage-earneers better conditions than has the United States Steel Corporation. The public will not fail to regard the strike as simply a battle between employes and employers for a strategic advantage. Recognition of the union is the leverage by which the union expects to get a strangle hold on, the corporation and enforce the closed shop. At no time has the closed shop appealed to the American people as just and. certainly, at this time, when the whole nation understands the necessity of increasing production, it will be anathema. If it be true, as the union men claim, that 300,000 men have quit work, they are guilty of a crime against humanity, for humanity is in want and depends upon all workers, as never before, to produce to the maximum of their power. A six months1 armistice between capital and labor would tide over the worst part of the reconstruction period. Prices would drop, the needy all over the world, would be fed and clothed and the world would once again be on the high road to prosperity and happiness. But at the moment when duty called the loudest the steel men laid down their tools and sought to paralyze all industry by wrecking a basic industry. If they have the sympathy of any great number outside their own ranks we have misunderstood the temper of the people in this crisis. rs " HUMBUGGING THE IRISH suspicion lurks in our mind that the San Francisco Labor was the victim of a political trick when it submitted certain questions to President Wilson regarding Ireland and the League of Nations. If some friend of the covenant did not frame the questions the members of the Labor Council can be declared innocent of real knowledge of the terms of the compact. They asked their questions in such a way as to permit the President to give effective, but deceptive answers. The first question was : Under the covenant does the nation obligate itself to assist any member of the league in putting down a rebellion ot its subjects or conquered people? The Presidents answer was : It does not. In our last issue we asked the question as it should have been asked if the proponents of it were trying to arrive at the truth. Our question was: Is it not true, in case of a revolt in Ireland and in case outside nations attack the British empire to aid Ireland, that the United States, if so directed by the league council, will be forced to fight the coalition attacking the British empire? The only possible answer is, Yes, under the terms of Article X of the covenant which reads: The members of the league undertake to respect and preserve AS AGAINST EXTERNAL AGGRESSION the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all members of the league. In case of such aggression or in case of any threat of such aggression, the council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled. In answer to other questions the President declared that Article XI of the covenant would provide a means by which the Irish problem I was particularly could be taken up by the league and discussed. THE |