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Show THE CITIZEN 4 done away with. In some way or another it will be fought out of the world as Lincoln fought slavery out of the world and peace will be maintained by law. The whole fabric of civilization is built FORCE NEEDED. . . ' . upon law and universal peace will be built upon ator is misrepresenting all the prophetic. 'words . ' that law. The sen- that haveever been The European crisis precipitated by the trouble between Italy and Greece has been the occasion of increased activity on the part of league of nations advocates in the United States. The burden of their propaganda now is to the effect that if the United States had been in the league the Italian-Grecia- n trouble would not have arisen; and if were in the league now the league would be able to make these two nations speedily come to peaceful adjustment of their differences. The test of such propaganda is a statement of facts. The kingdom of Albania was dismembered over its protest by the European powers at Paris. After the League of Nations was formed the Albanians appealed to that body to restore to them their country in its territorial integrity. The league controlled by the big powers, refused even to consider this appeal. Albania then went to war in a futile effort to regain its territorial Q integrity. I!t was defeated. Following this there was continual dispute among the nations which had dismembered Albania and divided her territory among themselves as to the boundary lines of their possessions grabbed them from this wrecked nation. To settle this dispute and fix the boundaries, a subsidiary body of the league of nations appointed an Interallied Military Commission, composed of representatives of Great Britain, France, Italy and Greece. This commission was at work on August 27 in that region where the boundary was disputed, when the Italian members of the commission were assassinated. Italy accused Greeks of the crime. The Greek government denied the charge. Italy made certain demands, upon Greece, threatening pnaltics if thy were not complied with by a certain time. Greece did not comply with the demands. Italy fulfilled her threat. Greece appealed to the League of Nations. There the matter rests. What one of the above scries of events would have not transpired had America been a member of the league of nations? Common sense answers the question. Americans membership in the league would not have prevented any of the above happenings, so that phase of the internationalist propaganda may be dismissed as too absurd for serious consideration. What of the argument that if Ajmerica were now in the league the trouble would be immeditely settled? Without going into the merits of the claims of either Greece or Italy, the fact stands that Italy has denied the jurisdiction of the League of Nations to act in this matter. Would the membership of America in the league change Italys attitude? The argument of the international propagandists in this country is that were America in the league we would make Italy climb down, acknowledge jurisdiction of the league and abide by its decision. Every league of nations paper and partisan takes this viewpoint. No one of them has more concisely stated it than the New York Times, which says, in conclusion of an editorial deploring Americas absence from the league at this critical juncture: If it (the League of Nations) is unable to coerce Italy it will be largely because of the absence of the strongest power in the . spoken or written when he makes his doleful prediction. Senator Smoot sprung nothing new in his prediction. As a student of human nature, conversant with ancient history, and as one of the men who has just lived through the greatest war in the history of the world, the senator just takes a man for what he is, and knowing man he cannot see how we are to possibly avert war. Our law while it corrects many evils and endeavors to bring about justice, cannot make a poor man rich, nor make a criminal an angel. In all our Christian communities we find jails and the larger the commundrasity the more commodious the jail. Notwithstanding the most tic laws, laws which provide certain death, they are brushed aside creeps lip behind his vicby the daring criminal who, panther-liktim and strikes him down in death for a few paltry dollars. No matter how many churches or how many ministers we may happen e, to have, we also have the criminal continually with us. As a matter of fact, if we are believers in the Bible, we learn that God taught man the art of war. We first hear of the big war in heaven when God and his loyal angels overpowered the devil and his hosts and threw them out. We then find in the beginning where there were only four people on earth Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel and yet one of them, Cain, was a murderer and killed his own brother. The Bible tells us that God lead the armies of the Israelites in victorious slaughter against their enemies, and even halted the sun in its course across the heavens that Joshua might annihilate the enemy. Now then can we look to the Christian to do away with war when he was and is the real instigator of war. The vanity and selfishness of man is ever uppermost, and nations, like unto man, constantly carries a chip on the shoulder as a defii for some one to knock off. As long as we are not content with our own property but covet our neighbors property, just so long is there danger of war, and hunjudging from present European conditions it will be several dred years more of war. Abraham Lincoln freed the negro from compulsory servitude but he never freed slavery, a great deal of which is still going on in the world. Wars at times bring about the greatest lessons from which to pattern our future civilization. War made the United States the greatest nation on earth. If all nations were like the United States, wars would be very rare. But even within our very confines we have war to a certain extent. People are lynched by mobs, which is really war, and the present trouble in Oklahoma is really war. We would all like to see war done away with, but most of us are to selfish to make a sacrifice. The aim of man is to hoard for world. old age and a rainy day and the strong rule the weak to accumulate There is the whole situation in a .nutshell. America is wealth. Law has nothing to do with war and never will have, and in the league for the purpose of coercing European powers nations will continue to make weapons of war contrary to law, although their activities may in a great measure be curtailed by into obeying the wishes of the league. To coerce a nation means to use force. You dont coerce mutual agreement. But even with friendly agreements we will have nations, just as individuals, who will scheme in dark cellars to outdo people by soft words or calm logic or resounding oratory. Coercion means the use of force brute force, physical force, armed force. others. From 1861 to 1865 the. North coerced the South into remainTry as we may do to do away with war, it appears to be tied Germany attempted to coerce Belgium and on our back and we cannot shake it off, but through able statesmen ing in the Union. France in 1914. we hope for better results for peace in the future. The success of the League of Nations depends upon military It is reported that a bill will be introduced in the next Con- and naval force to enforce its decisions. The heart of the covenant gress looking toward the protection of the whale, which is threat- is based on the use of armed force. America is wanted in the league in order to furnish the armed ened with extinction. Canada has such a law. There has also and the money to finance such been considerable agitation for a blue sky law of national scope force military or naval, or. both which will protect the sucker. .Both laws are badly needed. Of operations. That is what membership in the league of nations means to the latter, it is said that one is born every minute. - . de-sir- dd |