· W ould President W ilson ’s C ovenant of the League of Nations P revent W ar ? Opinions of our Political Prophets and the Reliability of …

LEAGUE FOR THE PRESER'ATION OFAMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

Wou ld Presiden t Wi lson’

s Covenant

of the League of Nat ions

Preven t War?

Opinions of our P ol itical P rophets and the Rel iabil ity of their

Forecasts Made During the W ar

'y

W ILLIAM HER'ERT HO''SOf the Executive Committee of the Nat l ona l Security L eagueAuthor of ' The World War and Its Cons equences , Etc .

ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN

JANUAR' 9 , 1920

W ould P residentW ilson’

s Covenant of the League o f Nations

P revent W ar ?

Opinions of our Political Prophets and the Rel iabi lity of their

Forecasts Made During the War

Pres ident Wilson stands sponsor before the entire world for the

C ovenant of the L eague of Nations . Save f or an ins ignificant minority

largely made up of pac ifists and radical social ists this Covenant is not

d esired by the nations of Europe , although we have been assured that

without it the heart of the world wil l b e broken . It is now known,

furthermore , that the Covenant is not des ired by the American people

as a peopl e , although the world has b een assured that Mr . Wilson has

held their mandate f or its ratification without the cross ing of a' t' or

the dotting of an'

i .'

As the result of intrigue and of an atrocious

official propaganda to conceal the facts , the Senate of the United States

has been practical ly estopped from rej ecting the Covenant in its eu

t i r ety and has been forced to content itsel f with reservations which

wil l rob it of its more vicious provis ions .

I f the Covenant could be expected to pr event'

futur e wars , as has

been c laimed by its advocates , al l American citiz ens worthy of the

name would be its supporters , almost without regard to i ts other cond i t i on s . Its official godfather, standing in the august pres ence of the

assembled delegates of the Peace Conference at the s olemn moment of

promulgating the Treaty of Peac e with Germany, when the whol e

world stood at attention , declared in words which permitted of no

Shadow of uncertainty that this covenant is definite as a guarantee

o f peace . In a barnstorming campaign which for magnitude has no

paral l el in al l history, an army of speakers organized by theL eague to Enforce Peace have demanded ratification of the Covenantin order to prevent future wars . Should the American peop l e acceptthe judgment of this army as s ound , or should we reject the covenanta s voicing the Opinion of v i s ionari es ?

The L eague’s supporters include the Pres ident and his entire

c abinet, a Republican ex-president of the United States , the president

o f Harvard Univers ity, various ambassadors and ministers of the

Wilson regime,and profes sors and preachers almost w ithout number.

A no les s notable body of eminent men , on the contrary, holds the

belief that the Covenant is vi cious , that it wil l l ead , not to peace, butt o interminable wars , and that it wi l l moreover tend to rep lace demo

cratic by despotic forms of government. The issue is cl early joined .

By whose judgment are we to be guided ?

From the beginning this problem has been concerned primarily

with the re l iabil ity of judgment of our political prophets . In the busi

ness world an expert whos e judgment upon a matter of the first im

portance has been found to be seriously at fault , ceases to be a

reliance in future transactions . How much more important is it that

in affairs -e ffecting the very l ife of the nation we should rely upon

men of proved sanity and of sound judgment' The great crisis fromwhich we have just emerged has fortunately supplied a test of the

reliabil ity of our pol itical prophets in their reactions to PresidentWilson’s pronounced paci fism and his attempts to dictate the affairs

of the world . How did th e principal advocates of the Covenant of theL eague of Nations react to the unprovoked ass ault of Germany upon

Civilization ? How c l ear l y'

d i d they then visual iz e th e’

men ace that

hung over America, and h owclearly did they see the necess ity of our

j oining in a real and practical al l iance of freedom-loving nations— not

in a visionary league of al l nations good and bad and dominated fromEurope—to prevent the downfal l of Civilization ? How wil l ing were

they then to send armies to Europe when free to act through their

own representatives , not in a hypothetical instance when ordered to

do so by a body of nine ambassadors from al ien nations in which theywould have but a s ingl e representative . Below is the record for ten

of the advocates of the Covenant most prominently before the public .and for an equal number of thos e opposed to it . Grouped with some

regard to their pos itions and interests , they are as fol lows '

For t he W ilson LeagueWoodrow Wilson

Newton D . Baker

Will iam Jennings Bryan

Gilbert M . HitchcockJosephus Daniels

A . Lawrence L owel l

Henry Ford

Will iam Howard TaftJacob H . Schiff

Stephen S . Wise

Almost without exception the names in the first l ist are those of

men who reacted against , or at best but mildly for , assuming our r e

spon s i b i l i t i es as a nation in the per iod between August , 1 914 , andApril

, 1917 . In fact it would be strange if any pacifist were not als oan internationalist , since both propose to place their reliance fornational security on scraps of papers—what Mr . Wilson has cal led the

moral judgment of mankind . The second l ist includes the prominent

preparedness men of the recent cri sis , and as a rul e preparednes s men

are Opposing the Wilson L eague . There are, however, many excep

Against the W il son LeagueTheodore Roos evelt

L eonard Wood

El ihu R‘

oot

Henry Cabot L odgeJames M . Beck

Hiram W . Johnson

Henry A . Wise Wood

David Jayne Hil l

Otto H . Kahn

L indl ey M . Garrison

_ 5 _

tions , the most notab le being that splendid patriot, George HavenPutnam , head of the American Rights L eague .

For the League

W OODROW W ILSON, President of the United States . He keptus out of war .'—Campaign sl ogan which won Mr. Wilson his r e

el ection in 1916 .

REACTION TO PACIFISM DURING THE WAR'A war with which we have nothing to do , whose causes cannot

touch us .

' Delivered to joint ses s ion of Congress on December 8 , 1914.

'With its causes and its obj ects we are not concerned.

'Speech

o f May 27 , 1916 .

'Have you ever heard what started the present war ? I f you h aveI wish you would publ ish it , because nobody els e has , so far as I cangather . Speech of Oct . 27 , 1916.

'We shal l not alter our attitude because some among us are

nervous and exc ited . The country has been misinformed . We

have not been negligent of national defense . Mr. Wilson on Dec . 8,

1914 .

'More than a year later General Wood dec lared ' We know this ,that if a war does hit us , we have not in any particular—I make noecept i on whatever—adequate reserve materials for the first force weshould have to cal l .

There are actual ly men in America who are preaching war , whoa r e preaching the duty of the United States to do what it never wouldbefore— seek entanglement in the controversies which h ave arisen on

the other side of the water' abandon its habitual and traditional

pol icy and del iberately engage in the confl ict which is now engulfing

the rest of the world . I do not know what the standard of c itiz enship

o f thes e gentl emen may be . I only know that I , for one , cannot subs cribe to those s entiments .

' M r . Wilson’s speech at Des Moines , Feb .

1 , 1916 .

REACTION TO INTERNATIONAL ISM AT THE WAR’S CLOSE

' I t 'the Covenant'is definite as a guarantee of peace . It is definite

a s a guarantee against aggress ion . I t i s practical , and at the same

time it is designed to purify, to rectify, to el evate . At promulgation

o f the Treaty at Paris .

'

The structure of peace wi l l not b e vital without the L eague ofNations , and no man is going to bring back a cadaver with him .

'

Speech on March 5 , 1919 .

' The things that these men 's oldier dead'l eft us , though they didn ot

- i n th eir c ounsels conceive it, i s the great instrument which wehave just erected in the L eague of Nat i ons f Memorial Day address

at Su r esnes Cemetery near Paris .

Put up or shut up , you contemptib l e quitters . Referring in an

a ddress to his cri tic s in the United States Senate .

— 6

Against the League

THEODORE ROOSE'ELT, Former President Of th e United States ,and for thirty-five years an advocate of national preparedness .

Plain speech' with plain folk,

And plain words for fal se things,

Pl ain faith in plain deal ings’Twixt neighbours and kingsHe us ed and he fol lowed

However it sped

Oh , our world is none more honest

NOW Great Heart is

—Rudyard Kipl ing in poem

dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt .

REACTION TO PACIFISM DURING THE WAR

Only mischief has sprung from the activities of the professional

peace prattl ers , the ultra-pac ifists , who with the shril l clamor of

eunoch s preach the gospel of the milk and water of vi rtue and screamthat bel ief in the efii cacy of diluted moral mush is essential to sal

vation .

REACTION TO INTERNATIONAL I SM AT THE WAR’S CLOSE

The Germans seem l ikely to try to make peace and are ap

par en t ly seeking to cover their retention of some of their il l-gotten

substantial gains by nominal and theoretical support of some gl ittering proposal about a L eague of Nations to end all war . Therefore

it is wel l at this time for sober and resolute men and women to applythat excel lent variety of wisdom col loquial ly known as ‘

h or se e sen se f

to the prob l ems of nationalism and international ism . Thes e prob l ems

wil l not be solved by rhe toric . L east of al l wil l they be solved bycompetitive rhetoric . Masters of phrasemaking may win immense ,

though evanescent , applause by outvying one another in words thatgl itter, but these glittering words wil l not have one shred of lastingeffect on the outcome except in so far as they may have a very mis

ch i evi ous effect if they persuade good , ignorant peopl e to abandon th epossib le real good in the fantastic effort to achieve an imposs ib l eunreal perfection . L et honest men and women remember that thiskind of phrasemongering does not represent idealism . Nations

are made,defended and preserved , n ot by the il lus ionists , but by the

men and women who practice the homely virtues in time of peace ,

and who in time of righteous war are ready to die or to s end thos e

they l ove best to die , for a shining ideal .' From Th e'

Gr eat Adven

ture ' by Theodore Roosevelt, pub l ished in November , 1918 .

For the League

NEWTON D. 'AKER, Secretary o f War i n'

President Wi l son’s

Cabinet .’

'When P resident Wil son , a year after the s inking of th e Lusitan ia'appointed Mr . Baker Secretary o f W a r , he absolutely insured al l thetroub l e that has come from the breakdowns in our war

'

prog r am.

Theodore Roosevel t writing in November , 1918 .


After obstructing nearly every sensible war program which wasrecommended by mil itary experts , Secretary Baker , after we had been

forced to enter . th e war , expres sed pub l ic ly his del ight' and '

pride'

in th e fact that'we were not prepared .

'

REACTION To INTERNATIONAL I SM AT THE WAR’S CLOSE

' Unless such an organization 'L eague of'

-Nations' i s formed nu

der some name and under some constitution , anarchy bred by disease ,

hunger and despair wil l overwhelm the earth .

Against the League

LEONARD W OOD, Major General , U . S . A The American L ord

Rob erts , the father and the genius of the Plattsburg Camps , the manwho trained two splendid divi s ions , was wounded in France on i n spec

tion work ,

'but was barred from his command at the front by orders

from Mr . Wilson’s Secretary of W ar .

REACTION TO PACIFISM DURING THE WAR ''We know that as long as men are men wars wil l always occur .

From an address in 1912 .

'

We owe it to ourselves and to those who come after u s to take

heed , not to the idle prating of dreamers , but to the stern facts that

surround us and which lie ahead of us . What we want must not i n

fluence us too much'we must take into consideration conditions which

we must meet . We may desire world peace , and we may pray

devoutly that war wil l never come to us , but we should not forget theteachings of history or neglect the Observations and deductions of

common sens e.

'

REACTION TO INTERNATIONAL ISM AT THE WAR’S CLOSE '

Speaking to Hospital Unit No . 36 , in 1919 , with referenc e to the

c laim that any covenant wil l protect the world from _war , General

Wood declared this to be '

idl e twaddl e and a dream of mol lycoddles .

The pac i fists , moreover , tel l you lies when they say that war , as

an institution , i s dead . Don’t l is ten to the mollycoddl es . Be a citiz en

of common sense .

For the League

WILL IAM 'ENNINGS 'R'AN, Ex-Secretary ‘

of State in M r . W i l

son’s Cabinet and the world

’s champion p latform preache r of paci fism

and unpreparedness .

REACTION TO PACIFISM DURING THE WAR'We cannot poss ibly take part in this war without contracting an

enormous war debt. In the second place no man can tel l h ow

many men i t w il l cost us . The th ird objection is tha t we wouldforfeit an opportun ity that never came to any other nation befores ince time began. Spok en at L ake M ohonk Conference in 1916 .


'The L eague of Nations is the great est step towards‘ peace in a

thousand years . The idea of substituting reason for force in the

settlement of international disputes i s in itsel f an epo ch-makingadvance.'

Against the League

ELIHU ROOT, Secretary of War and later Secretary of State i n

President Roosevelt’s Cabinet, Honorary President of the National

Security L eague, and one of America’s Foremost Authorities on International L aw .

REACTION TO PACIFISM DURING THE WAR' Ordinary practical s ens e in the conduct of afia i r s demanded that

such steps should be taken that behind the peaceable assertion of ourcountry’s rights , its independence and its honor, should stand powermanifes t and avai lab le, warning the whole world that it would costtoo much to press aggress ion too far . The Democratic Government at

Washington did not see it. Others saw it and their Opinions foundvome .

'


' It is to b e Obs erved that neither the Executive Council nor thebody of delegates to whom disputes are to be submitted under Article'' of the agreement 'the Covenant'i s in any sens e whatever a judi

c i a l or an arb itral body. The honorab l e ob l igation of each memberis a political Obligation as the repres entative of a State .

'The scheme practical ly abandons al l efforts to promote or main

tain anything like a system of international law, or a system of arb it r at i on or of judicial settlement through which a nation can as sert itsl egal r ights in l ieu of war . It puts the whole subj ect of arb itration back where it was 25 years ago. Instead of perfecting and put

ting t eeth into the system of arb itration provided for by the Hagueconventions

,it throws those conventions upon the scrap heap .

For the League

GIL'ERT M. HITCHCOCK, U . S . Senator from Nebraska , and

Democratic L eader in the Senate Fight for the L eague of Nations .


In 19 14 Senator Hitchcock introduced the resolution to preventwar l oans to the Al lies , and al s o the German-insp ired bil l to preventthe shipment of arms and ammunition to the Al l ies , a bil l which ifp assed would probab ly h ave

'

caused the downfal l of C ivil ization .

R EACTION TO INTERNATIONAL ISM AT THE WAR’S CLOSE

' I t is the union of nations , and these nations intrust the real

power to an Executive Council of nine nations . Most of the powero f the L eagu e is permanently intrusted to an Executive Counci l

Against the League

HENR' CA'OT LODGE, U . S . Senator from Massachusetts and

C hairman of the Foreign Afia i r s Committee , wh o has led the fight

against the Covenant in that body. Roosevelt has testified that Sena

t or L odge was for years hi s strongest al ly in the fight for prepared

n es s legis lation . On Dec . 8 , 1914 , Senator L odge introduced in the

Senate a resolution cal l ing for investigation into the ml i i tary prepare dness of the country, and ten days later he introduced a bil l f or army

i ncrease and reserve .

R EACTION TO PACIFISM DURING THE WAR'The talk about peace just now is originated by German agents

f or the purpose of aff ecting public Opinion here and elsewhere . We

must dismiss from our minds any idea of a speedy peac e . I fGermany conquers France , England and Russia , she wil l dominate

E urope and wil l subs equently extend that domination , if Sh e can , to

t h e res t of the world . Interview Sept . 2 4 , 1914 .

REACTION TO INTERNATIONAL ISM AT THE WAR’S CLOSE '

'

The ranks of the armies and the fleets of the navy made neces

sary by such pl edges 'those in the Covenant' are to b e fi l l ed and

manned by the s ons , husbands , and brothers of the people of America .

I wish them careful ly to cons ider , whether they are wil ling to have

the youth of America ordered to war by other nations without regardto what they or their representatives des ire . I would have them de

termine after much reflection whether they are wil l ing to have the

United States forced into war by other nations against her own wil l .

They must bear in mind that we have only one vote in the Executive

Council , only one vote in the body of delegates , and a majority of the

votes rules and is decis ive .

_ _1Q

For the League

'OSEPHUS DANIELS, Secretary of the Navy in Mr . Wilson’s

Cabinet . 'Mr . Daniel s was the one man who more than any oth er h ad

stood in the way of the preparation of the American navy for war .

Henry Breckenridge , ex-assi stant secretary of war in Mr . Wil'

son’s

cab inet.

REACTION TO PACIFISM DURING THE WAR'

'We should go on just as though there were no war . Secretary

Daniels before the Congress ional Committee in considering the question of preparedness .

REACTION TO INTERNATIONAL ISM AT THE WAR’S CLOSE'When the representatives of the fourteen nations Sitting in P aris, .

embracing the most powerful victorious countries and representingtwelve hundred mil l ion people agreed upon the Covenant of Peace , itwas an event in the world’s history s econd only to the declaration of

the Shepherds’of Bethl ehem '

‘We have seen His star in the East andhave come to Worship Him .

’ Practical statesmen from Paris‘

to Tokio ,

with differing traditions and speech al l spoke and understood the

sam e language for the first time sinc e the days of Pentecost at

Jerusalem .

'

On March 15, 1919 , referring to the opposition to the L eague of

Nations , Mr . Daniel s made pub l ic this forecast 'They 'the opposition'have presented us with the Pres idency and

Congress two years from today.

'

Against the League

'AMES M. 'ECK, Ex-Assistant Attorney General of the United

States , eminent jurist, and -on e of the foremost advocates of prepared

ness . His 'Evidence in the Case' and ' The War for Humanity' passed

through many editions and probab ly did more than any other books tomould pub l ic opinion in preparation f or

'

Am’

er i can responsib i l ities inthe war .

REACTION TO PACIFISM DURING THE WAR '' Poss ib ly half of the tragedies of history are due to military un

preparedn ess and in no way has the solemn warning of Solomon beenmore strikingly i l l ust r ated z

‘Where there is no vision the peopl e

perish .

’

'The nob lest spirit of America has been dulled by too many diplomatic platitudes during the last two years , and the ris ing spirit of i n

dignation among true Americans wil l s ooner or later demand a fear

l ess appreciation of what has happened , and a resolute purpos e to

vindicate its ‘ honor .

A ‘peac e without victory’would crucify the caus e of internationaljustice afresh and put it to an open Shame .

REACTION TO INTERNATIONAL I SM AT THE WAR’S CLOSE '

'Upon the broadest g r oundS‘

of patriotism and because the Cove

nant would permanently affect the destini es of the American peopl e ,

the Republ ican Senators preferred to risk a party schism to defeat theproj ect which in entire good faith they regarded as a menace to thebest interests of the United States , and indeed , to the world , whichcould only be injured by fol lowing this wil l-of—the-wisp into themorass of disaster in which Civil ization now finds itsel f.'

They tel l you there is a profound agitation f or the L eague of

Nations 'in Great Britain from which Mr . Beck had just returned'. It,

tel l you i t is n ot s o . There may be s ome such thing among the ad

vanced soc ial ists .

For the League

A. LAWRENCE LOWELL, Pres ident of Harvard Univers ity, member of the Counci l of the L eague to Enforce Peace , and one of their

principal sp eakers on tour , a foremost authority in matters of govern

ment .

REACTION TO PACIFI SM DURING THE WAR'

President L owel l did not identify himself in any notable way with

the preparednes s movement , but was identified with various peac eas sembl ies . On June 17 , 1915, he spoke at a peace convention but on.

June 2 5th fol l owing said in graduation addres s at Harvard University '

Can we sit Sti l l and count our pence and watch bal l-games and

not turn our attention to the other s ide ? Ought we not to feel that

it imposes burdens on us ? '

REACTION TO INTERNATIONAL I SM AT THE WAR’S CLOSE '

'

I f the house is on fire and we have the alternative of throwing

the baby out of the window or l etting it burn,we do not ask the cost

of the fire escape . I f there had been no dangers to be met,there

would have been no necess ity for the Constitution and there wouldhave been no Constitution . Thus it is with the L eague Of Nations

.

Against the League

HIRAM W . 'OHNSON, U. S . Senator from California . One of the

mos t b itter opponents of the L eague inc luded among th e so—cal led'

Irreconcilables .

'

REACTION TO PACIFISM DURING THE WAR'

Democracy, to surv ive , must ever be ready to protect its own .

Every normal ly constituted man abhors war. But a nation such

12

a s ours , dependent f or its prosperity upon the Character of its c itiz enship , that dare not maintain its ideals , and wi l l not -protect the l ives

o f i ts citiz ens , sows w ithin its el f the seeds of dissolution .

'


'And long before we saw a l ine of this secret document a tre

mendous propaganda , financed with hundreds of thousands of dol lars,

obtained from clubs and organizations enthusiastic endorsements . Ourpeopl e were taught to chant ‘promote peac e and prevent war .

’ The

formula ‘promote peace and prevent war’ swept over al l the land,and

i ts necessary corol lary , before there was any league of nations at al l ,was the endorsement of the fantastic thing which feared the l ight in

i ts creation and has denied to thos e most afi ected by it the sl ightest

knowledge of the circumstances , events and details of its composition.

I r eceived , just as other Senators did , Innumerable resolutions before

a ny Of us had the s lightest conception Of what the league of nations

was , and the resolutions , in l ike tenor, have continued from that timeto the present. Before publ ication of it the various trainloads of dis

t i ngui sh ed gentlemen were going about the country holding meetingsa nd conventions in different local ities advocating an undisclosed document deal ing with the future of the Republic .

'

For the League

HENR' FORD , multimil lionaire automob i le manufacturer andu l tr apaci fist . He sent out the Oscar II l oaded down with paci fists tos ecure a peace without victory in 1914 , spent large sums to secure the

r e-election of President Wilson and was' commanded' to become can

d idate for United States Senator from Michigan .


I am against preparedness of any kind , for preparedness is surelywar Interview of Jan . 3 , 191 6 .

I do not bel ieve in the flag . It is something to ral ly around .

P atriotism is always the last resort of the scou'

ndrel .' Interview withM r . Wise Wood , May 1 6 , 1916 .


Testifying on the stand July 15 , 1919'

' I am strong for preparedness .

But in 1915 you were n ot ?'

I was not .

Why are you for it now ? '

I am for it unl ess we get a l eague Of nations .

'ou are for a great war now ? '

I want the United States to c lean it al l up .P

P

pP

P

P

_ 13 _

Against the League

HENR' A. W ISE W OOD, inventor and manufacturer, ex-memberof Naval Consulting Board , pioneer of preparedness and founder of theL eague for the Preservation of American Independence .

REACTION TO,PACIFISM DURING THE WAR

' I am no alarmist . I do not cal l for , nor do I bel ieve in , an

h ysterical rush to arms . But in this hour of confused counsel , I dofirmly bel ieve that by way of preparation our people should be taught

the truth . We are a practical p eopl e , and we are fast l earningthat this is a grimly practical age . Therefore , as practical men ,l et us reconsider our s ituation . Shal l we not deal with the times

after the fashion of the times and with dignity and thoroughness , butwithout hurry or rest , equip ours elves so effectual ly that of al l our

fears the least shall be of unpreparedness . Speech of January, 1915.


'History i s ful l of the wrecks of such projects . Ideal ism , i n

deed , has exacted and the world has paid a heavy pric e for the s ins ofits leaders , who entrusted to paper instead of to arms the safety of

their p eoples . I t is al l very wel l to dream Utop ian dreams , but it i s

unsafe to act upon Utopian principles until we know that we are inUtop ia . This truth the ideal ist has never l earned . We scrap our

traditions , strike our national tent , and rush b lindly into the untried

wi lderness of international ism , where those who have never seen itsay there l ies a warless Utopian world .

For the League

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT, ex-pres ident of the United States ,founder and pres ident of the L eague to Enforce Peace .

REACTION TO PACIFISM DURING'

THE W AR

During the early years of the war Mr . Taft’s attention was largely

taken up with peace meetings , though he became a tardy and mild

advocate of preparedness . He pub l i c ly praised the neutral ity attitudeof President Wilson , spoke against our entry into the war after the

s inki ng of the Lusitan ia, and prais ed the Wilson notes which developed from that incident . January 3 , 1916 , he put himself on record f orreasonable' preparedness .


' If the Pres ident ins ists , as I hope he wil l , that the L eague beincorporated in the Peac e Treaty and brings it back , then the r e

sponsib i l ity for postponing peace is with the body that refuses toratify it .

It wi l l be the duty of the Pres ident and his fel l ow delegates to

t h e Conference to insert such a covenant in the treaty as indispensabl e

to the peace sough t f'u

f f ‘

l

in ‘

accordance with the sense Of duty, theref ore, such a covenant embodying the substantial features of the pr o

p osed one shall be incorporated in a’

tr eaty of peace, s igned by the

representatives of the powers and brought back by the President andsubmitted by him to the Senate , the question which wil l address itselfto the proponents Of this Senate resolution 'the famous ‘round rob in’'wi l l be not whether they would prefer, to consider a L eague of Nationsa fter the Treaty of Peace, but whether they wil l feel justified in def eating or postponing a treaty because it contains a constitution of a

L eague of Nations deemed by the Pres ident necessary to the peace

which all seek .

' At Metropol itan Opera House , New 'ork, March 4 ,

1 919 . 'New 'ork Times reports that Mr. Wilson '

smil ed broadly' as

M r . Taft presented the above proposal .'

Against the League

DA'ID 'A'NE HILL, ex—United States Ambassador to Germany,p res ident throughout the war of the National Defense Society, and of

the National Association for Constitutional Government , and an au

t h or i ty on international law .

R EACTION TO PACIFISM DURING THE WAR

'Unless we conscript ourselves for the battle and lay our wealtha nd our l ives at the altar of the defense of our institutions , we wil l

fi nd our descendants in the vortex of world dominating schemes of

a utocracy.

'

R EACTION TO INTERNATIONAL ISM AT THE WAR’

S CLOSE '

The destinies of mankind cannot safely be entrusted to the action

o f a secret conclave , nor can the future of America be bound up witht h e ukase of a s ingle negotiator separated from contact with the

Ameri can people .

The contention that this Covenant creates an imper ium does notr est alone on its attitude towards states outside the L eague . Under

A rticle '' II the Counc il undertakes to govern , through its appointed

a gents , vast areas and numerous populations . It may govern well , or

i t may govern il l , but it assumes the right to govern . Imperialism

i s imperial ism , whether it be joint or s ingl e'and it is not a businessthat tends toward democracy or towards justice . Even in its purity

a nd at its best estate it is a dangerous enterpris e for a free peopl e toengage in, and it is more dangerous than ever when innocence andg ood intention become the partners of seasoned experience in th e

g ame f or power.

For the'

League

'ACO' H. SCHIFF, German—American banker and one of theheads of the banking firm of Kuhn , L oeb CO. According to Harvey

’s

Weekly M r . Schiff has dispensed the vast sums for the propaganda of

the League to Enforce Peace .


'

For many reasons my personal sympathies are with Germany.

I cannot feel convinced that she has been the real aggressor'I bel ieve

that war was forced upon her , almost as if by prearrangement amongthe nations with whom she now contends . Although I left Germany

hal f a century ago , I could think as l ittl e of arraying mysel f against

her , the country of my birth , in this the moment of her struggle for

existence , as of arraying mysel f against my parents . Communication

to the New 'ork Times , November 22 , 1914 .

REACTION TO INTERNATIONAL I SM AT THE WAR'

S CLOSE '' I bl ess the day when Presid ent Wilson set out for European

shores to make sure that we should not be cheated—and I use this

word becaus e I cannot think of a better word now— out of the sacrifices we made abroad in our endeavors to maintain our high ideals'

We are going to succeed , thanks to Woodrow Wilson, in spite of thos e

who tried to put him down .

'

Against the League

OTTO H. KAHN, German-American banker and one of the headsof the banking firm of Kuhn , L oeb Co . , who throughout the war was

ins istent in arousing his compatriots of German birth to their ful lduties as citizens .


'A century and a half ago Americans of Engl ish birth rose to freethis c ountry from the oppress ion of the rulers of England . Today

Americans of German b irth ‘

are cal l ed upon to ris e , together with their

fel l ow citizens of al l races , to free not only this country but the whole

world from the oppress ion of the rul ers of Germany, an Oppress ion farl ess capable of being endured and of far greater portent .


' Nothing that we fought for makes it incumbent upon us to r e

l inquish our fundamental national policies and traditions , and to

transform the American eagle into an international nondescript.'

'

Nothing that we fought f or makes it incumbent upon us to act

henceforth as pol icemen for Europe and Asia .

'

'

I have been at pains to read through the Peace Treaty, inc luding

the Covenant , from beginning to end . I laid it away sore at heart and

s ickened .

'

- 16

Against the League

STEPHEN S. W ISE, Jewish Rabb i of the Fr ee Synagogue and one

Of the princ ipl e sp eakers for the Covenant on the spec ial tours organi z ed by the L eague to Enforce Peace .


' I b lame secret diplomacy f or the present war. Nov. 22 , 1914.

We thank Thee, O God , f or the firmness and sagacity of our

President and his advisers , which cooled our own lust f or war. W e

beseech Thee to save our nation from being sucked into the presentflood of pas sion. May our land remain an is land of peace in this red

s ea of troubl e . Grant our peopl e a sober and neutral mind , etc .' A

prayer prepared by the pr o-German, Walter Rauschenbusch , and de

l ivered in the Free Synagogue by Rabbi Wis e on Peace Sunday, Oct .5 , 1914.


'Anyone who del iberately undermines the work of President Wil

son i n his endeavor to bring about the L eague is guilty of mora l

treason and wil l be dealt with by the American people in due time .

I f no L eague comes w ith peac e, America wi l l have to become th emost powerful mil itary and naval nation in the world .

'

Against the League

LINDLE' M. GARRISON, ex-s ecretary of war in Mr . Wilson’s

Cabinet.


Mr . Garrison was a bel iever in preparedness , but for obviousreasons was debarred from expres s ing such views whil e a member ofthe Cabinet. He left the Cab inet because he could not support the

Sham Army Bil l supported by President Wilson in defiance of the

advice of the experts . Upon his resignation he was replaced by thepacifist, Baker .

REACTION TO INTERNATIONAL I SM DURING THE WAR

' I have not heard one responsib le voice l ifted to say that the

L eague of Nations is needed for any American purpos e . No on e has

said that this nation, born i n i nd ependence , and desiring nothing of

its neighbors , needs to be directed by a council of nine or by a counci lof forty-nine because of failure on our part to l ive up to the principles

upon which we are consecrated as a nation .

'We are asked to give up , on the other hand , a policy which has

been inherent in American national l ife s ince Washington’s time , and

later reaffi rmed by the Monroe Doctrine , although throughout historywe have felt free to direct our own foreign policies by our own sense

o f duty.

'

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Documents

· W ould President W ilson ’s C ovenant of the League of Nations P revent W ar ? Opinions of our Political Prophets and the Reliability of …