LEAGUE ISSUE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18149, 12 August 1924, Page 9

LEAGUE ISSUE.

AMERICAN POLITICS. DEMOCRATIC PRONOUNCEMENT. (BY ' CABLE —PEXSS (ATJSTBAIJAH A5T> K.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATIO. .) (Received August 11th, i.5 p.m.) NEW YORK, August 11. In a speech at Clarksburg, West Virginia, Mr J. W. Davis, in formally accepting the Democratic nomination for the Presidency, boldly revived the League of Nations as a popular issue, declaring that it was the logical ou* come of efforts to secure disarmament, and pledged immediate adherence to the World Court. Mr Davis, referring to the League, said, "We cannot accept the dictum that we are not authorised by any expression of popular will, and that th'i League of Nations is a closed incident. We deny the right of any man thus to shut the gates of the future against us, and to write the fatal word 'Never' across the face of our foreign policy. "I do not oelieve America's entrance into the League can. occur until the common judgment of our own people is ready for the step. We awaited the ripening of his judgment before entering the war. lam content to wait until it speaks for the agencies of peace. Until then, it is the duty of the Executive to co-operate officially in all legitimate endeavours, whether from the League or other source, to promote disarmament. "Equally must we maintain an adequate national defence until reason supplants force."