RATIFICATION URGED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17097, 28 February 1919, Page 5

RATIFICATION URGED.

MILITARISM ALTERNATIVE.

Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 5.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, Feb. 26.

Mr. Josephus Daniels, Secretary to the Navy, in a speech at Washington, in reference to the League of Nations, said the United States could not return to the world she left when she entered the war. She was now a part of the whole world. Tho alternative to the league was a burden of militarism for the rest of the world and for the United States. The United States must either join the league or create gigantic armaments sufficient to support her claims from Halifax to Terra del Fuego.

The New York newspapers, commenting on Mr. Wilson's Boston speech, point out that the President is prepared to fight against opponents of the Leagve of Nations in the Senate, and declare that he has the majority of the people of the United States supporting him. One Republican paper says that Americans should be Nationalists, not Internationalists as Mr. Wilson would have them.

A Bill has been introduced into the House of Representatives providing for a referendum of the voters of tire whole of the United States on the adoption or rejection of the constitution of the League of Nations. The Bill has been referred to the Foreign Affairs Committee.

j Country wide opinion has crystallised into general approval of Mr. Wilson's speech and of the League of Nations. It is believed that his dinner to Congressmen will have the effect of swaying opinion towards his convictions, because he will submit previously unpublished arguments and take legislators into his confidence. Mr. Wilson will " crack the whip" over his supporters, and compel legislators and the people to declare plainly whether or not they will support his policy.

It is believed that Mr. Wilson's speech explaining the League of Nations, which is awaited with the keenest interest, will convert American opinion to his view.