The Wanganui Herald. (Published Daily.) THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1920. THE LEAGUE AND MILITARISM.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160798, 4 November 1920, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald. (Published Daily.) THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1920. THE LEAGUE AND MILITARISM.

Further evidence of the futility of hopes' that millta.rfs'm’ may Be 1 ended Is; by tfie; lafest of ;tl)e : League of Nations 1 £of the settlemeht of the PdlishTithhanian' dis- : phte; Totally Ighbriug fhe esfis’te'nee’ of the ' the' Poles plunged* into war with Lithuania; and ; then; findfpg the Ppinioh of Efffope coltf ; towards fhe'mv they stAfftf-sfewAfetf the seizure' of Vilna and Kovno on •the'lines pursued By d’AnhunziO' at Trieste; Now'; though giving ho official' counfehahc'e to their troops in these cities; and pretending to regret the 1 seizure very niff6h fffdeied; fhß Poleh arß : , Still keeping up their military threat against Lithuania;; and,; it is to’ be ;suspected;, plhnifiTfg Stiff further ff|-‘ gfessfoh. The League of Nations did' nothing to prevent all this, probably because it could, do nothing, but it hh's’ hew fnadfe ah offer to' the tw'o Governments to hive the • quarrel settled by plebiscite' ameh'ff the peo- : pie of the ATei inVolyedv It Is doubtful if &riy thing wilf cotne of it; however.- Why does hot the League rise in _ its _Wrath and tell_ Poland and Lithuania that they .will be ; severely , punished, unless’ they- stop ffghtlng? pimply hecausie < the < League Is helpless as a ha'be. liven if it were anything more than’ its" pres'ent Skeleton 1 organisation 1 . It has' UP mpans of enforcing obedience. For a third maff to' tell two others 1 to stop fighting is of ho tfse hnlesh ;he possess other power than that of the tongue. If they persist, he must use force of Some kind or another, and' in the' event hf .moral force failing, he; mpst use physical force. Simi'raSTy with the; League! Without physical, that Is to say armed, force, it is a mere cypher. Not having it. It Is treated, as, Such. Therefore, if ft is to be effective, it have itl own military force, and Such force ihust be provided, can only be provided by levies qtl the nations which constitute thh* League. Consequently such nations, if they wish the League to endure, must give up hopes of being doile with military establfsliments. They will still, have to pay for soldlpfs and armies, the only difference her

ing th£tt they will have no control over them as . they now have! And that last consideration Is very likely to he A thorn inAheir side. .But If they 1 refuse ,to provide a League army; then tffey cap have no League,' at alj even'tS no League that is of any uSe; It is a curious situation. One purpose of the League was to abolish militarism. And apparently it Can only do tha't by setting up its ffiliitafisffi; And the world will still have to pa r y for militafls'in.