Wairarapa Daily Times [Established 44 Years.] TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 1919. CRITICS OF THE LEAGUE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 45, Issue 13793, 25 March 1919, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established 44 Years.] TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 1919. CRITICS OF THE LEAGUE.

The criticism which the scheme of the League of Nations is meeting from certain sections of opinion in France and America should not bs construod as opposition. It is directed to the method rather than the principle. No sane man objects.to tho idea of tbo League; even those who claim that, though theoretically desirable, its objects are impracticable, have no real alternative to offer. Theirs is the onus of proving how otherwise than by a League the world can escape the tragedy of such another war as tlu! one we have passed through; and ai'er tho experience of the last four yea/s we are in the mood to try an experiment which, at the worst, cannot bring us greater ill than we have suffered, and at the best may find us a happier issue from international passions and ambitions. But although all the Allies subscribe to the doctrines which President "Wilson has enunciated in his scheme, not all of them are yet prepared to sco eye to eye with him in questions of detail and procedure. M. Clemenceau has been characteristically plainepoken. His attitude is that of Cromwell 'a Ironsides, who, while trusting in God, were concornod to keep their powder dry. M. Clemenceau has lived many years and see nmany promisos broken, though made with every circumstance of sincerity. If he is a little cynical, who is to blame him? His position is that while he gives a cordial welcome to the League, he would be glad if France could be fortified by alliances until the League can guarantee conclusively that Franco ie not to be the vie- . tim of another unprovoked attack. Franco has a long memory; she knows Germany's power of recuperation; she knows that this war has bled her white both in population and in industrial deft.