HOME AND EDUCATION
Follette, Belle Case La
HOME AND EDUCATION By Belle Case La Follette Near East ELSEWHERE our readers will find an editorial from Unity, by John Haynes Holmes, and an article by Dr. Graham H Stuart, professor of...
...Is the United States going to help England prevent that...
...once accepted, once published to the world, there was no escape, i So the allies, stimulated and encouraged by the entrance of the United States into the war, decided rather than accept Russia conditions of NO ANNEXATIONS, NO INDEMNITIES, to go on with the war without the help of Russia...
...Well, let us "pacifists"—that is, every one who is opposed to this huge scheme of militarism in the United States—unite in bearing down on Congress for a revision of the national defense act, and for a radical reduction in the size of all appropriations for the Pcrshing-Wadsworth War-College plan of appropriations...
...An official report dated May 23, 1921, presented to the British Parliament by an interallied commission instructed to conduct inquiries regarding excesses committed against the Turkish population by the Greeks says: "A distinct and regular method appears to have been followed in the destruction of villages, group by group...
...THE bonds of nationality and religious faiths have had no part in it...
...But the actual proofs of the nature of the agreements, afforded by secret treaties—the bribes, the coercion, the double dealing, the promises made one nation in conflict with another, were concrete object lessons as easily understood by the plain people, as by the most astute students of world politics...
...We don't want such important news to come to us as a surprise under cover of a war scare...
...Christians and Mo* hammedans both have suffered the horrors of barbarism in this gamble for spoils of war...
...But whatever our ideas of the League of Nations in general, I am not able to see how in this instance, the United States could make Great Britain, France and V +¦ * I F the United States government had not in-* tervened shortly after the Russian revolution, the allies under the circumstance...
...If it were r.ot for the tragedy of it all—the terrible sacrifice of life and indescribable suffering of the thousands of poor human beings who for the past two years have lived through the terrors of massacre, fire, starvation, deportation, separation from family and home and all the associations precious to the humblest human being—if it were not all so heartbreaking, we might see the comedy of the political game that has been played for the past two years by the allies, over the division of the SPOILS OF WAR in the Near East...
...But whether We laugh or cry, or do both, let us r.ot be indifferent to the object lesson which the Near East brings home to us as to the causes and consequences of war...
...It reads like a life of aristocrat!* leisure...
...Disarmament of nations like disarmament of individuals dispels unreasoning fears, and danger of hasty action, barbarous killing— which after all settles nothing...
...between progress and reactions...
...causes of war and to favor policies that tend to remove the most obvious and unjustifiable sources of conflict (monopoly of the seas...
...No need to delve into the study of dry books and go way back in history searching for proofs...
...The great inspiration and hope that filled my beart with gratitude for the result of the Wisconsin primary was that, the proof that the overwhelming sentiment of the people is for doing away with war...
...the twenty five million dead...
...Unless we too, are determined to play a big part in the world's imperialistic game, the people ©f the United States should insist on reducing our armaments to a pre war basis, not that thie is exactly scientific, but it is a practical standard which appeals to the good sense of the voter...
...I know that what 1 advocate might mean war, but if necessary it would be justifiable...
...The national defense is weakened, not strengthened, by this excessive drain...
...When the Russian revolutionary government appealed to the allies to answer the Russian manifesto for a PEACE WITHOUT ANNEXATIONS AND INDEMNITIES as a condition of Russia's continuing to do her part in the world war, Great Britain and France failed to respond satisfactorily...
...THROUGHOUT the year we have been pub-* lishing articles in La Follette's Magazine and writing editorials pointing out the monstrous military program which the United States Government is fostering...
...the entire population of a nation may be blockaded and starved...
...And it is all so plain and easy to understand...
...It has been pointed out that in case of such agreement, Great Britain's preponderance of votes in the League of Nations will give her control of this great natural outlet to the sea in case of war...
...Asia Minor and interposing a barrier between Russian Bolshevism and the proposed British, French, and Italian spheres of influence...
...All Europe was war weary and without the enormous resources of the United States as an ally to draw on, the ultimatum of Russia might, from very necessity, have become the basis of settlement...
...Secretary Denby availed himself of what seemed the opportune moment to announce that the scrapping of naval armaments had been halted and indefinitely postponed, for the reason that Great Britain might find it necessary to withdraw from the agreements altogether, it was stated by a high naval official...
...And so for the first time, it was disclosed to the people of the United States that, the government was still holding on to her effective ships and that only obsolete ships that had been destined for the scrap heap even before the arms conference had been destroyed...
...Disarmament i? the place to begin...
...Readers of current news will find certain editors and correspondents claiming that if the United States had joined the League of Nations and had taken the mandate fur Armenia, all this Far East trouble would have disappeared as easily as when the queen of the fairies waves her wand...
...The resolution concluded with one calling upon all citizens to stand for the national defense act and for proper appropriations 'or be considered one of those who do not stand for adequate defense of the United States of America.' The pictorial page of the Washington Star of October 7, carries the first hellish picture of a series of weekly sham battles that axe being waged in the parks ot Washington...
...At the start, Great Britain and France both supported Greece in her armed intervention of Thrace and Smyrna...
...France countercharged that Great Britain was supporting the Greeks, for the purpose of obtaining control of Dardanelles...
...Thus for a time, the Turk-Greek war became war between France and Great Britain, France sup-porting Turkey...
...If Cilicia, the outlet to the Mediterranean, was taken over by the French for the protection of the Armenians, Cilicia was betrayed, because when the French government realized that Cilicia could not be held against the Turks, a treaty was made with the Angora government for "economic cooperation...
...To say that it is done for the national defense is silly...
...As all the people, and all they hold dear become involved in war and they are compelled by their governments against their will to kill and slaughter their fellow men, the people are disillusioned...
...As for the Armenian mandate, what could better illustrate the difficulties of our undertaking it than recent events in the Near East...
...Let us by letters and telegrams and petitions express to the President and Congress our indignation that the scrapping of those ships;—the one concrete achievement of the Washington Disarmament Conference—has been "indefinitely postponed...
...the awful aftermath of starvation, disease, unemployment, bankruptcy, crime, moral degradation and chaos, could all too easily be put over on a credulous world as the inevitable consequences and sacrifices to a great cause...
...Nothing was said about the frightful consequences that might follow a single false step in case of crisis...
...The term of settlement was in accord with the SECRET TREATIES, And as the war had been exceedingly costly, exceedingly ruthless, so the DIVISION OF THE SPOILS was exceedingly selfish and merciless and the conditions of settlement more tyrannical and impossible of fulfillment, other than actual slavery, than had ever before been imposed upon a conquered people...
...With all the facts accessible it hardly seems possible that an attempt to incite the "Holy War" spirit can be made to succeed...
...XT^THILE I think it very important to work ** for a common understanding to do away with war as a means of settling disagreements, while I think it very import-ant to study the...
...the one hundred and eighty six billion of public debt...
...James Cannon, Junior Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the South, representative of American Church and Relief Organizations, gave out an interview in which he said: "If the Turks are allowed to go into Constantinople and Thrace as conquerors, you would probably see a repetition of the Smyrna horrors on a larger scale...
...The allies did not have possession of these countries...
...The commission are of the opinion that the atrocities reported against Christians on the one hand, and Moslems on the other, are unworthy of a civilized government...
...So Great Britain, France, Italy and Greece assumed the right to divide the Turkish Empire among themselves...
...So the terms of settlement were not in accord with the Russian formula...
...The Armenians wera abandoned...
...Nor were they in accord with PRESIDENT WILSON'S FOURTEEN POINTS...
...it makes no difference what leagues or associations they may found, if nations arm against each other for war—war will ensue in the end...
...Today the United States is paying three times as much for its army and navy as Germany paid for her militaristic program before 1913...
...Pointing out that Cilicia was taken over by France, Herbert Addams Gibbons says, "there is reason to believe the Armenian mandate offered United States was inspired by the hope of seeing the United States become involved in the profitless and costly task of occupying the mountainous northeastern comer of...
...between the forward looking and the backward looking...
...Then wars were for dynastic supremacy and today war has its roots in rivalry for world trade...
...BRITISH LABOUR HAS INTERPOSED ITS VETO, with British public opinion behind it...
...and popularize its militaristic plans...
...When one recalls the enthusiasm of the people everywhere over this first step toward relieving the world of its deadliest curse, recalls the assurances given by the representatives of the governments as to completing the work of the conference and then contemplates the apathy, the indifference, not to say the betrayal which has followed, it is no wonder that distrust of governments has become almost universal with the masses...
...Lloyd George and his colleagues so lightly proposed to enter a week ago...
...JkM OST wars have been imperialistic...
...All Europe was war weary and without the enormous resources of the United States as an ally to draw on, the ultimatum of Russia might, from very necessity, have become the basis of settlement...
...Nor are we adopting a policy of reduction...
...Millions of youths, the flower of all races, must be conscripted and sacrificed...
...In most civilized lands, men and women both now have the ballot The struggle is on between the old order and the new...
...All the resources of a nation must be mobilized...
...President Wilson's pronouncements and principles in their final analysis were in accord with the conditions of the Russian soviet government—NO ANNEXATIONS, NO INDEMNITIES...
...Let us work for FMippine independence for fight for disarmament...
...The New Statesman" published in London, September 23, in an editorial condemning Lloyd George's policy in the Near East says: "The only thing indeed that might make those difficulties (the neutralization of the straits) insuperable is war—the war upon which Mr...
...The burning of Smyrna is only a part of the terrible woes of this shameful war...
...When France made an alliance with the Turkish government at Angora for "Economic Cooperation" which doubtless meant military aid also, Great Britain accused France of treachery...
...This left Turkey a small agricultural state, with the Sultan at Constantinople, exercising no real power...
...They assumed or presumed to do this, in spite of the fact that the situation offered an ideal issue for the League of Nations to decide...
...To the great masses of people who believed the war was being fought for noble ends only, knowledge of the contents of the secret treaties, and observation of the consequences of their enforcement to the last pound of flesh, has been a source of enlightenment and education and a powerful aid to us in the struggle that is on between the world's militarists and the world's progressives to put an end to war...
...The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and the League of Women Voters at their national convention in Washington and Baltimore last spring endorsed a plan of outlawry of war...
...between democracy and imperialism...
...This is plain common sense that satisfies the reasoning and experience of every day people...
...The Turkish Nationalists in Asia Minor, under the leadership of Kemal, rebelled, set up a government at Angora, went to war against the occupation of Asia Minor by the allies...
...Disarm...
...They were helpless...
...The method of our army preparation is insidious...
...While it was officially announced that these ships were to take no part in any hostilities between the Turks and the allies, the newspaper correspondents seem to have gotten the impression that the presence of the American naval force at Constantinople, would serve to notify the rest of the world that the United States would be able to take care of its interests in case of trouble...
...it marked the beginning of the end of secret diplomacy...
...Afl -we read the history of the evolution of wars, we find very few have been fought fox-human liberty...
...it strengthened the demand for control of foreign policies by the people themselves— such as a constitutional amendment for referendum on war...
...When wars were fought by professional soldiers over small areas, the people involves...
...It is said France now has 100,000 troops in Syria...
...If wo had taken the Armenian mandate, would we not have been obliged to follow the example of France, or else have assumed the responsibility of a costly and endless war which might easily lead to war with Great Britain and France, as matters have developed...
...President Wilson's pronouncements and principles in their final analysis were in accord with the conditions of the Russian soviet government—NO ANNEXATIONS, NO INDEMNITIES...
...Fortunately, however, war is impossible...
...In a hearing secured by the Women's International League before the Senate Committee on appropriations last April, Harriet Connor Brown, a most accurate and reliable authority on these matters said: "The reduction in expenditures for wars for 1923 was only 4.8 per cent...
...The Russian proposal was specific and concrete...
...For one thing we know now, if we did not know it before, that inundates are not for the protection of peoples but for the protection of trade...
...But whatever oar Ideas of the League of Nations In general, I am not able to see how in this Instance, the United States could make Great Brkaia, France a&4 Italy submit the settlement of the Turkish question to the League when the League as now constituted could not do so...
...But is it not plain as a pikestaff that this result might have been achieved more surely and satisfactorily before going to war than afterwards...
...would we not have been in the minority and outvoted, just as President Wilson was outvoted at Versailles...
...once accepted, once published to the world, there was no escape...
...And the poor people have been the pawns in this game for the spoils of war play-ed by the allies...
...IF the United States government had not in-tervened shortly after the Russian revolution, the allies under the circumstances might have been obliged to agree to the Russian soviet government formula of A PEACE WITHOUT ANNEXATIONS OR INDEMNITIES...
...Then the Russian soviet government published the SECRET TREATIES...
...We need go back no further than the publication of the SECRET TREATIES by Russia to get a perfectly satisfactory background for understanding the tragedy of the Near East...
...The members of the commission consider that in the part of kazas of Yalora and Guemlek, occupied by the Greek Army, there is a systematic plan of destruction of Turkish villages and extinction of the Moslem population...
...They assumed or presumed to do this, in spite of the f«act that the situation offered an ideal issue for the League of Nations to decide...
...Graham H Stuart, professor of political science in the University of Wisconsin, on the Near East...
...Frank I. Cobb, Editor of the New York World writing on disarmament said: "The United States is spending on future wars alone more than the entire net expenses of the federal government five years ago...
...It is spending as much as the aggregate net earnings of s»il the railroads of the country in their most prosperous year...
...the burden of taxation is enormous for both victors and vanquished...
...So the allies, stimulated and encouraged by the entrance of the United States into the war, decided rather than accept Russia conditions of NO ANNEXATIONS, NO INDEMNITIES, to go on with the war without the help of Russia...
...thirty-seven billion of useful property destroyed...
...Thrace and Smyrna were given to Greece after the war...
...The secret treaties let loose a great force for counteracting war and marked a distinct epoch in history...
...the uncounted million sick...
...Let us watch the records of our senators and representatives in Congress on all these very imnortant issues...
...The revelations of the contents of secret treaties together with the subsequent effects of their enforcement as the conditions of set-tlement of the world war, did what a thousand years of abstract discussion might not have accomplished...
...might have been obliged to agree to the Russian soviet government formula of A PEACE WITHOUT ANNEXATIONS OR INDEMNITIES...
...And it would not be so much of a war...
...But the President's ideas and ideals were but "voices in the air...
...A CCORDING to the secret treaties, Russia **was to have Constantinople when the spoils of war were divided...
...Readers of current news will find certain editors and correspondents claiming that if the United States had joined the League of Nations and had taken the mandate for Armenia, all this Far East trouble would have disappeared as easily as when the queen of the fairies waves her wand...
...But the President's ideas and ideals were but "voices in the air...
...It must from the very nature of things be a long time before we get rid of all the causes of conflict between nations, just as it is to get rid of differences between individuals...
...Consequently the Ker-ensky government fell...
...Let us work for Phillipine independence for the abandonment of our imperialistic control of Cuba, Haiti and Central American States...
...But when the time of settlement arrived, Russia was outlawed...
...The Russian proposal was specific and concrete...
...You have observed the government's advertisements inducing the young men to join the Navy, offering an education, a pleasure junket...
...Keeping the Turks occupied resisting the Greek Army in that territory was very helpful to France and Great Britain in fastening their hold on Mesopotamia and Syria...
...DURING the world war, Great Britain and France had agreed between themselves that in sharing the spoils, England should bo given Mesopotamia and France, Syria...
...1 am very hopeful that when that conference meet*, it will lead to something beyond mere resolutions in favor of disarmament and will lead to an understanding and real arrangement involving the keeping of these armaments within innocuous limits...
...The whole of this slight reduction is entirely due to the decline of expenses for past wars— death of pensioners as time goes on—and in no degree to the lessening burden for "preparedness...
...between disarmament and militarism...
...Hundreds of Wafhingtonians turn out to watch the "spectacular mimic warfare" and doubtless this kind of propaganda is being carried by moving pictures throughout the country? » * IT will be a great gain if, in the proposed settlement of the Near East tragedy, "under the League of Nations, maintenance of the freedom of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora and the Bosporus, (which should mean neutralization) as well as protection of religious and racial minorities" can be really accomplished...
...doubtless suffered from the ravages of war, but they had no vote, no voice...
...From reading the facts and conclusions of these two high authorities and from following the current news and more especially from my reading of a recent book, by Herbert Addams Gibbons, entitled "World Politics," I, too, feel I must write about the Near East...
...And yet we must guard against fanaticism...
...And all these training camps are drawing our young men into the net, offering them glorious summer outings...
...unjustifiable tariffs...
...Modern war spreads over the world...
...So when the Turks became victorious, Great Britain abandoned the Greeks, and she joined in a note to the Turkish govern-ment at Angora declaring that the three allied governments view with favor the desire of Turkey to recover Thrace, and willingly support the admission of Turkey to the League of Nations...
...Commenting on Secretary Denby's statement, Senator Borah said: "Up until this time the work of the conference has been wholly without results...
...The defense act of 1920 is the result ^of long preparation and study at the War College...
...Before the world war the United States had relatively a small ai-my and navy—and yet we had maintained the Monroe doctrine, built the Panama Canal, and otherwise played our part, without any" other nation or combination of nations attacking us...
...If we had insisted that as one of the allies, who helped win the war, we should have a voice in the matter and had stood out for a just and disinterested policy in conflict with the desires and purposes of Great Britain, France, Italy and Greece, would they not have combined against us...
...ACCORDING to the secret treaties, Russia was to have Constantinople when the spoils of war were divided...
...Great Britain—Greece...
...But the British empire rules over 100,000,000 Mohammedans...
...It is hard for the layman to realize the extent of out great army...
...ament does not remove the causes of differences between nations any more than making unlawful the carrying of swords and pistols by individuals removes the causes of personal quarrels...
...VUR government was not slow in seizing and capitalizing world war excitement to .Oengthen...
...Twelve destroyers comprising two divisions wen promptly dispatched by Secretary Denby to Constantinople to supplement the Turkish division of the fleet, consisting of six ships, ¦already there...
...The term of settlement was in accord with the SECRET TREATIES, And as the war had been exceedingly costly, exceedingly ruthless, so the DIVISION OF THE SPOILS was exceedingly selfish and merciless and the conditions of settlement more tyrannical and impossible of fulfillment, other than actual slavery, than had ever before been imposed upon a conquered people...
...Let us make it understood that we want to know whether or not these ships have been scrapped...
...A correspondent to the Chicago Tribune under date of October 3rd, reports that General Pershing addressing a convention of Reserve officers, "plead again the necessity for American preparedness for war...
...Reserve officers from all parts of the country joined in the adoption of resolutions in which reference was made to the great unrest throughout the world and to the number of communists in the United States...
...race and religious prejudices) it seems to me impractical to await the mil-lenium before we make a beginning...
...it created solidarity of sentiment among the plain people—especially the Working people—against war as a method of settling international disagreements...
...So the terms of settlement were not in accord with the Russian formula...
...Other phases of the world war...
...These treaties from the Czar's archives disclosed the agreements that had been made by the allies for the DIVISION OF THE SPOILS after the war was won...
...Cilicia was restored to the Turks...
...So Great Britain, France, Italy and Greece assumed the right to divide the Turkish Empire among themselves...
...The amount of appropriation for future wars—that is, for our present National Defense has (contrary to the genera) opinion) actually been increased from 20.6 per cent to 26.4 per cent of our total appropriation...
...Individuals and societies favoring disarmament are scored, as well as propaganda from Europe which "aims to lull us to a false sense ©f security...
...The great inspiration and hope that filled my heart with gratitude for the result of the Wisconsin primary was that, the proof that the overwhelming sentiment of the people is for doing away with war...
...On Monday, July 24th last, General Pershing issued a statement whose significance a Washington newspaper summarized in these head lines: "MILLIONS AVAILABLE" "175,000 REGULARS, 500,000 GUARDS AND 600,000 RESERVES COUNTED ON" "1920 DEFENSE ACT IS EMPHASIZED" It is to arouse enthusiasm for adequate appropriations to maintain the policy of this Defense Act that General Pershing addressed a meeting of the reserve officers of the United States a few days ago at which resolutions were passed scoring "pacifists...
...But when the time of settlement arrived, Russia was outlawed...
...based on the Knox-Levison principle wbose fundamental idea is certainly sound — that the nations of the world agree that war is illegal;, when it has been agreed that war is unlawful any violation shall be tried by an international tribunal, whose decrees -hall be enforced as the decisions of the United States Supreme Court arc enforced...
...No one can afford to be indifferent when there is such an opportunity to learn...
...Be that as it may, the last two years of struggle in the Near East have demonstrated the mighty truth in Lloyd George's reply to President Harding's invitation to the Washington Disarmament Conference: "It matters not what treaties are signed, what pacts are entered into between nations, what understandings they may establish...
...Therefore no treaty is of value unless it leads to an understanding among nations that they will not utilize their resources, their wealth and their strength for the purpose of developing the mechanism of human slaughter...
...Nor were they in accord with PRESIDENT WILSON'S FOURTEEN POINTS...
...First they were for individual aggrandizement Feudal lords vied for power and made a game of war...
...Nobody has yet shown wherein there is a shadow of an excuse for this exhausting strain on the nation's economic resources, or what peril or policy of government can warrant such expenditure...
Vol. 14 • October 1922 • No. 10
