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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



the rules of international law or those of 

 decency, moral conduct, and good form. 

 What we propose in the League is merely 

 to give a sanction to such rules of inter- 

 national law and decency and moral con- 

 duct and good form by providing machin- 

 ery of international courts of justice and 

 conciliation such as to bring needed pres- 

 sure to bear on the lawless members of 

 the community of nations, so that they 

 shall keep within the law. 



A ■ PROTECTION AGAINST THE FOOTPADS 

 AMONG NATIONS 



This is in analogy to our domestic 

 courts of justice and our instrumental- 

 ities for conciliation in domestic commu- 

 nities. It is not an impairment of sover- 

 eignty. It merely stabilizes the sover- 

 eignty of every nation by enabling the 

 great and small nations equally to enjoy 

 the benefits of international law without 

 maintaining armed forces to secure their 

 rights, to prevent murder and robbery, 

 and to drive off the footpads among the 

 nations, as travelers and householders of 

 the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 

 had to go armed always to protect them- 

 selves. 



It is to protect the sovereignty of the 

 smaller nations and to relieve the greater 

 nations from the burden of their self- 

 protection that the League of Nations is 

 to be formed. 



In the sense in which the word sover- 

 eignty is used in this objection, every 

 treaty restricts the sovereignty of a na- 

 tion. Every time it agrees to do any- 

 thing, it binds itself and its freedom of 

 action, and. in this extreme definition of 

 the word the League of Nations would 

 be a limitation upon the sovereignty of 

 the countries entering into it. 



A BUGABOO TO BE DISREGARDED BY 

 SERIOUS MEN 



But in the true, broad, and liberal 

 sense, sovereignty is a matter of degree, 

 and where a nation retains complete free- 

 dom of action within its borders and only 

 yields by its consent to regulations for 

 the maintenance of the principles of mo- 

 rality and international law to be sanc- 

 tioned by an association of nations, it 



does not yield its sovereignty at all. The 

 argument is a mere bugaboo and ought 

 not to attract the support of serious men. 



The final objection is that in entering 

 into such a treaty we would be violating 

 the traditions of Washington and Jeffer- 

 son, sacredly followed down to this war, 

 to avoid entangling alliances in Europe or 

 in Asia. 



We have been able to live until the last 

 four years and keep out of European 

 wars, but this war has developed clearly 

 that no general European war could hap- 

 pen again without involving the United 

 States. 



This country, with its enormous re- 

 sources, would be resorted to by all bel- 

 ligerents for food, ammunition, and war 

 supplies, and this participation by the 

 United States in the essential mainte- 

 nance of the war will always put her in 

 opposition to one country or the other 

 and create a friction that ultimately will 

 drive her into the contest, if it lasts long 

 enough. 



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN DOES NOT 

 SEPARATE 



The Atlantic Ocean is not a separation 

 from Europe. It is a means of communi- 

 cation and transportation. 



In Washington's and Jefferson's day 

 we were a month or six weeks from Eu- 

 rope. Now it is but a week in transpor- 

 tation and but a few minutes in point of 

 communication. 



We are the greatest nation in the world : 

 greatest in population of a high average 

 intelligence, greatest in natural resources, 

 and greatest, as we have shown in France, 

 in our potential military power. This 

 power enjoins upon us the obligation to 

 the rest of the world to do our share in 

 keeping the peace. 



It is a very narrow view of our inter- 

 national duty which would prevent our 

 keeping the rest of the world out of the 

 danger of war. 



We are no longer a small struggling 

 nation of four millions of people, as we 

 were in the early part of the last cen- 

 tury, but we are now the world's great- 

 est power, and we should not wish to 

 avoid the responsibility which that entails 

 upon us. 



