A permanent league of nations

Contents

I. WORLD POLICY

II. THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

An Address given on behalf of the League of Nations Society in April 1918. (Revised.)

II

The formation of a League of Nations does not seem to be any longer in doubt.^ It is true that the aims of the League as at present constituted are limited, nevertheless they are widening with the development of the situation. Already the members of the League consist of most of the nations of the world. The nations that have not yet joined the League are the enemy nations, the small neutral states in close proximity to the enemy countries, and one or two other minor states. It is true that Russia has for the moment been forced out of the League by the pressure of hunger, but the Russian people still hold to the principles for which the League is fighting, and are likely to re-enter the League whenever circum-

April 1918.

stances permit. Nor is it in doubt that most of the neutral nations would join the League were it not for their proximity to the enemy countries. The only abstentions on principle are the enemy nations.

The immediate purpose of the League is to prevent the Prussian militarists from realizing their ambitious designs. How soon this purpose will be attained a mere civilian cannot venture to predict. As far as it is possible for one to judge, however, this purpose will be accomplished very soon. Inasmuch as the great armies of the enemy did not succeed in dividing the forces of the League north of Amiens from those south of that city, in the recent battle when the conditions were so extraordinarily favourable to them, their hope of success seems to be greatly reduced, and is being steadily destroyed by the resistance which the armies of the League are now making to their further advance, and by the reserves which General Foch has assembled.

It is true that the enemy have gained a larger measure of success than they were expected to gain, but they have gained far less than they themselves hoped, and infinitely less than they needed to gain in order to carry out their ambitious designs. Every one knew that if they cared to pay the price the enemy could push back the armies of the League from the line they previously held, by bringing into action the armies together with the guns that were set free by the Russian peace. Nevertheless, the enemy have merely succeeded in pushing back the armies of the League farther and in capturing more guns and more material than anticipated, and the armies of the League still present an unbroken line to the enemy which is now very much stronger both in men and in material than it has ever been before. Moreover, the necessities of the situation have welded the allied armies of many nationalities into one homogeneous army under one commander appointed by and responsible to the War Council of the League of Nations. With such a situation and with the zealous co-operation of every member of the League, the issue is not in doubt. Notwithstanding the measure of military success gained by the enemy armies, Prussian militarism is already defeated.

It is essential to recollect that the enemy, to attain their object, need complete success. It is not sufficient for them to push back the armies of the League a few miles — they must destroy those armies. It is not enough that their armies should get within shelling range of provincial towns like Rheims and Amiens — they must capture Paris and the seaports of France, drive out or capture the British and American armies, compel France and Italy to make peace, starve the British people, destroy the British Navy, compel Britain to make peace, and having done all this, they must be prepared to continue the fight with the members of the League in other continents, including the great American people who are only now beginning to place at the service of the League and of humanity their vast reserves of man power and of financial and economic strength. With the German and Austrian peoples already suffering most severely from food shortage, with the financial economic and military strain on all the enemy nations growing almost beyond their powers of endurance, with the man power of the enemy countries already so greatly reduced, with the rapidly increasing military strength of the American people, and with the homogeneity of the armies of the League of Nations, it is obvious that the Prussian militarists already realize that they cannot hope to accomplish their plans of world domination.

Of course it is never wise to shout until one is out of a wood, but as far as it is possible for a mere civilian to form an opinion upon both the military and the economic situation, the Prussian militarists are not only beaten in so far as they have been, and will be, prevented from accomplishing their purpose, but they know that they are beaten.

After the League has accomplished its primary purpose, .and I venture to think that that purpose will soon be accomplished in such a way that no one will have any doubt about it, the second phase of the struggle will begin. Not only has the League to prevent the Prussian militarists from carrying out their plans of world domination, but the existing and future necessities of the situation demand that it shall destroy militarism so completely that the world will not be exposed again to the calamity from which it now suffers, and that all danger of the supremacy of might over right shall be finally and completely dispelled. To destroy the principle of militarism and to introduce the principle of international right will be no easy task, and may be even more difficult than the work of preventing the Prussian militarists from carrying out their plans. A constructive policy usually requires a much greater amount of thought and of work than a policy of negation.

It is not enough that the League of Nations shall merely protect humanity by destroying the plans of Prussian militarists, it must devise and introduce a new polity for the future government of the world. The world must not only be safeguarded from a greater measure of militarism, it must be set free from the existing militarism.

The domination of might in the relations of nations must be replaced by the supremacy of right. Prussian militarism is the extreme exponent of the principle of might which so largely governs the attitude of nations one towards the other, and the German and Austrian nations are founded on this principle.

The substitution of the principle of right for that of might will necessitate the creation of a new Germany and a new Austria. Indeed, it is evident that the recognition of the new principle will involve a very great change in the structure of Europe.

And to destroy militarism and to introduce the principles which must in future govern both national and international relations, will call for all the men the League can put into the fighting line, for the most able generalship that can be discovered anywhere in the world, for farsighted and wise statesmanship, and^ for an enthusiasm in and willingness to bear hardship by the world’s democracies infinitely greater than they have ever hitherto displayed. The battle for freedom and for right will have to be tenaciously fought not only in France, Italy, and Belgium, and on the high seas, but in the homes of the people in every country of the world.

Undoubtedly the military rulers of Germany and of Austria will put forth the most strenuous efforts to prevent the acceptance of this policy by the entire world, and when the enemy governments order their armies to act on the defensive in the hope of gaining by famine what they cannot gain on the field of battle, their power to protract the war will be very great, that is provided they continue to receive the support of the German and Austrian peoples, and the latter are willing to submit indefinitely to famine conditions.

The end of the struggle is not in doubt, but its length and severity after the present push is definitely stopped will probably be governed less by military than by economic conditions, and less by economic conditions than by statesmanship. It is evident that the armies both of the European members of the League and of the enemy countries are prepared to fight on, and unless peace comes in some other manner, until the reserves of man power from the United States prove to be the deciding factor. It is equally evident that the civilian populations on both sides are prepared to bear whatever burdens and privations they may be called upon to bear in order that their armies may fight on, and in order to avert the dangers to which they would be exposed were their armies defeated. The greater economic resources of the peoples which now form the League of Nations should, however, enable them to hold out much longer than the peoples of the enemy countries. Eventually, however, peace may be brought about neither by military nor by economic exhaustion, but by the common sense of the democracies and the wisdom of statesmen.

Whenever the peoples of the enemy countries are prepared to adopt the principles for which the League is fighting as stated by President Wilson, and all the members of the League are prepared to make peace on these conditions, then militarism will be destroyed and the supremacy of right assured.

I cannot think that the German and Austrian peoples will consent to be destroyed by their military rulers through famine and disease as well as by war if they can obtain peace on the terms suggested by President Wilson, that is, by becoming free democracies, and by standing for the principle of right in place of might both in their national and in their international relations.

Now that the League has nearly accomplished its first purpose of preventing the success and extension of militarism, the time seems to have come to formulate a campaign for carrying out its second object — ^the destruction of militarism and the adoption by the entire world, the enemy countries included, of the principle of right as between nations.

In this campaign I attach very great importance — indeed, I attach supreme weight — ^to the formulation of the war aims of the League, or, as one might also express the matter, to the formulation of the terms of peace which the democracies of the League are prepared to offer to the democracies of the enemy countries, but not to their military rulers. Very great care must be exercised in drafting these terms in order that they shall not infringe the principles for which the League stands.

Every member of the League of Nations should be given to understand that the democracies are fighting against the old principle of militarism and for the introduction of the new principle of right, and that they, the democracies, will not be prepared to submit to the sacrifices and privations which this struggle will entail, if the struggle ceases to be one of principle.

The principle of right must be accepted as the basis of future international relations, and must be impartially applied to all countries. Only by so doing will it be possible for the nations to destroy militarism and to lay the foundations for a just and therefore for a durable peace.

To attain the war and peace aims of the League after they are fully stated, the first thing essential is that the armies of the League should be rendered so powerful that no doubt can exist of their ultimate ability to drive the armies of Germany and of Austria out of France, Belgium, Italy and Servia.

The second thing essential is to conserve the economic and financial strength of every member of the League. If it be true that Argentina has decided to join the League, then the League contains every country that produces a surplus of food for export. It is of very great importance that every member of the League should forthwith agree to pool its supplies of food and of raw material, in order that any shortage that may arise in any country may be distributed equally over all the members of the League. That the supply of food and raw material available for the members of the League will be much less than they consumed prior to the war cannot be doubted, but if all the food available is carefully apportioned between the various countries, and each country is rationed, then every one will have a sufficiency, notwithstanding the absence of supplies from Russia and Roumania, and the great reduction in the food output of France and of Italy. The German and Austrian peoples are already suffering severely from food shortage, and even with the help of any food they can extract from Russia, the Ukraine and Roumania, will continue to suffer. Moreover, having regard to the great disorganization of Russia, that country is not likely to have any appreciable surplus for export for several years. Therefore on the economic side the members of the League should not only be able to outstay the enemy countries, but should be able to demonstrate to the latter that they can outstay them.

A comprehensive survey of the economic situation clearly reveals that the members of the League will be able to obtain sufficient food and raw material provided they carefully husband and distribute their productions, whilst the peoples of Germany and of Austria cannot obtain enough to keep them healthy, and that the longer the war lasts the greater will be their sufferings.

The third step essential is to announce to the world that the League which has come into existence to oppose and to destroy militarism will be made permanent in order to defend its members from aggression, to maintain the principle of international right for every nation small and great alike, to secure the observance of international law, and to promote the well-being of the entire race by a policy of mutual assistance and of co-operation— military, naval, economic and financial.

Such a declaration is of supreme importance in the drafting of war aims and the conditions of peace. For instance, without a permanent and a powerful League of Nations, the question of strategic territory instantly arises, a question that accounts in part for the oppression of the smaller and weaker nationalities by the greater and stronger, and the forcible inclusion of alien races in peoples with which they have no natural connection and have no desire to remain connected.

Hitherto this oppression of the smaller nations has been regarded as a necessary and an unavoidable evil incidental to the duty of each nation to look after itself, and by every means in its power to become strong enough to protect and to promote its own interests whatever the future might hold. But with an all-powerful League of Nations such considerations cease to have weight, and what is now recognized as the primary duty of a state to look after its own interests at the expense of the well-being of other nations and of other peoples will be so recognized no longer, for it will not be necessary.

Hence, if this great war is not to end after the manner of other wars, in demands for new territory or the retention of old territory for no other than strategical reasons, then new world conditions must be introduced which will render such demands completely unnecessary. And a League of Nations so powerful from every point of view that no individual nation or group of nations could either withstand its power or even hope to withstand its power, will provide the new conditions essential to that security and welfare of its members which would enable them to relinquish and to abandon their demands for strategic territory and to co-operate for mutual protection, for the defence of international right, and for the preservation of national freedom.

At the end of the present war the League of Nations that will then exist will possess that acknowledged reputation and power which will leave no one in doubt as to its capacity to protect its members from aggression, to maintain the principle of international right against any nation or group of nations, or to insist upon the observance, not only of the existing international laws, but of the additional laws that will doubtless be universally approved after the experience of this war.

And if, when the war is over, the enemy nations have accepted the terms of peace formulated by the League of Nations, have become democracies, have abandoned their militarism, and have given convincing proof of their acceptance of, and determination to maintain, the principles of international right, for which the League will stand, and have consequently been admitted to membership of the League, it will be still stronger.

One of the difficult and dangerous questions which threaten to cause this war to be prolonged indefinitely is that of strategic territory, and the fear that the loss of such territory or failure to gain such territory would render the nation that surrenders it, or fails to gain what it desires, vulnerable to attack.

A very great change will, however, come over the whole face of international affairs when the existing members of the League of Nations definitely announce their intention to make the present League permanent, that they are prepared to admit the rest of the world to membership, that they are definitely pledged to defend each other from aggressive action by any Power, whether a member of the League or not, and that they intend to co-operate one with the other for the purpose of promoting the welfare of every member of the -League.

In such circumstances the need of strategic territory would finally disappear, and the removal of the need should cause the demand for such territory also to cease, thus greatly facilitating the conclusion of peace.

The permanent application of the power of combination to the protection of individual states from injustice at the hands of other states could not fail to have the most beneficent influence, both in preventing war in future, and in giving the security that makes both for national and for universal well-being. The power of combination has in one form or another been universally adopted for the protection of individuals from injustice and oppression, and the time has come to adopt it for the protection of nations.

In announcing the war aims of the United States, President Wilson has already proclaimed the willingness of the American people to create a permanent League of Nations, in order to destroy militarism effectually, to ensure the permanent supremacy of right over might, and to obtain the freedom of democracy.

Mr. Lloyd George and Mr. Asquith have stated the policy of this nation in similar terms. And Mr. Henderson and the Labour Party have been equally explicit.

Where the British people stand in this matter is not in doubt.

That continental nations should show some hesitation in subscribing to a permanent League of Nations is not a matter of surprise, having regard to their past history and their past experience. Nevertheless I do not for one moment doubt that the necessities of the situation will ultimately cause all the continental nations not only to subscribe to the principles of the League, but to give it their most strenuous and loyal support. They above all nations would derive the greatest good from it.

The longer the war lasts, the more essential will be the maintenance of the League and the pursuit of the policy for which it stands, to the welfare of continental Powers.

Already the continental nations are greatly impoverished, and the loss of life to which they have been subjected will render their recovery very slow and very diffieult unless they are assisted to recover by all the other nations of the world. Indeed, if the world reverts to its old policy of self-interest and each nation simply looks after its own necessities and its own comfort, nothing can save the continental nations from an appalling measure of suffering. Already the food production of continental countries has been reduced by something like 2,000,000,000 bushels, or by nearly 40 per cent, since war was begun, and if the war continues indefinitely, the loss of production will be still greater. Every continental nation will seriously suffer after the war from food shortage unless the League of Nations is maintained and all its members consent to share the shortage in order to avert disastrous consequences from every nation.

Again, the impoverishment of continental countries and their financial distress will render insupportable even the pre-war burden of armaments. Their diminished populations, the heavy toll paid by their men in the full vigour of their manhood, and the reduction in their productive power demand reduced armaments, not the further increase that will be necessary if there is a return to the old conditions of each nation trusting to its own strength, to the skill of its diplomacy, and to its power to subordinate weaker nations to its will. In fact, every consideration that exists or that is likely to exist urges continental nations to decide to make permanent the League of Nations, and to cause and to induce the enemy nations to adopt democratic principles of government, to destroy militarism, and to stand for international right, thus rendering possible at the earliest possible moment a democratic and a clean peace which all the world through their membership of the League of Nations would be pledged to defend.

Powerful as are the reasons for the existing League of Nations, the reasons for its continuance will become increasingly powerful the longer the war lasts, and after the war is over they will be no less powerful. Indeed, the question of the continuance of the League will completely govern the question of whether or not Europe will survive the ordeal to which it is being subjected and will continue to be subjected long after the war comes to an end. By maintaining the League and by the enthusiastic co-operation of the democracies of the world which its maintenance will ensure, a most difficult and dangerous situation would be averted.

In brief, a very powerful League of Nations is now in being of which each member is rendering the assistance it is within its power to render, in defeating the aggressive designs of a great military power, and of which each member is determined to destroy militarism and to maintain the principle of right between nations as between individuals. And just as the necessities of the situation brought the existing League gradually into being, so the necessities of the situation, which are becoming greater the longer the war goes on, will keep the League in being and will compel it to become permanent.

The recognition of the need of permanence and the issue of an authoritative statement that the League is to be permanent will greatly contribute to the attainment of the objects of the League — the freedom of the world from militarism and the final supremacy of the principle of right in international relations.

Ill

THE ECONOMIC INTER- DEPENDENCE OF NATIONS

The outbreak of war was undoubtedly accelerated by the knowledge of the German Government that delay would imperil its plans of conquest by reason of the growing dependence of Germany upon the rest of the world for supplies of food, and materials of all kinds. And it is obvious that the present attempt of Germany to extend her dominions by conquest will even now be effectually defeated by the sufferings of the German people, consequent upon their inability to obtain abroad the supplies of food and raw material they so urgently need.

Prior to the war the Central Powers made a great effort to render themselves self-contained, during a great struggle, in the matter of food, and they calculated

they could attain their purpose with the aid of Roumania. But their experience has belied their calculations. The drain of men from the land into the army and into the munition factories, and the lack of fertilizers, have seriously curtailed the harvests in all the enemy countries, and this situation threatens disaster to the German and Austrian peoples.

Inasmuch as Germany and Austria can now ^ obtain very little food from Hungary, Bulgaria and Roumania, they are doubly affected, first, by greatly reduced imports, and second, by so great a contraction in their harvests that the masses have begun to demand peace rather than submit quietly to starvation. The available evidence indicates that the food production in Germany has declined about 40 per cent. If this be true, and taking into account that before the war Germany needed to import about 16 per cent, of her grain supplies, then it is obvious that the supply of cereal food available for the German people is only about one-half the amount they consumed prior to the war.

^ February 1918.

And the experience of Germany is repeated in Austria. Before the war Aus--- tria needed to import about 22 per cent, of her grain supplies. During the war her imports and her production have declined severely, and the town populations of Austria are now very near to famine.

Germany and Austria are now seeking to escape from the very serious economic situation in which their military policy has placed them, by endeavouring to supplement their supplies by imports from Russia, and are desirous of concluding peace with Russia with this end in view. Whether or not they will gain their object cannot yet be discovered, but as far as it is possible to determine the facts of the situation, Germany will not succeed in obtaining much, if any, food from Russia. It is true that in normal times Russia produces a very large food surplus for export, a surplus that on the average represented 14 per cent, of her crops; but during the war Russia’s productions have shown great decline by reason of the immense number of men called to the colours, the great demand for labour for war work, and the Revolution in the early part of last year. As far as the evidence is available, Russia at the present time possesses no more food than her own vast populations need to see them through until the next harvest is garnered in the autumn of this year. Indeed it is doubtful if there is, or will be for several years, sufficient food in Russia to give the Russian people anything like their normal quantities, that is if Northern Russia is supplied with food by Southern Russia. Of course if Northern Russia is permitted to starve, then substantial quantities of Russian grain might be available for export. One cannot, however, imagine that Northern Russia will permit this to occur.

But whether Germany and Austria do or do not succeed in obtaining food from Russia, as they are so anxious to do, it is obvious that the German and Austrian peoples now depend, and will always depend, upon other nations for large supplies of food and raw material.

The future of the German and Austrian peoples will be governed not merely by the willingness and ability of other nations again to permit them access to the world’s supplies of food and of material, but upon whether or not the peoples of other nations will be prepared to purchase German and Austrian goods in exchange. If Germany and Austria cannot sell their goods abroad they cannot purchase foreign supplies of food or of raw material.

After the war is over, the attitude of the democracies of the world towards the German and Austrian peoples will be a matter of life and death to the latter.

It is clear that when the war comes to an end, the supplies of the necessaries of life, not only in Germany and Austria, but in all the world, will be none too plentiful, and in so far as the peoples of Germany and of Austria are permitted to supplement their own deficient supplies of the necessaries of life by purchases from other countries, the other peoples will have to reduce their own consumption still further. For the latter to adopt any such course, it is obvious that the German and Austrian peoples must now not only render powerful assistance in the work of destroying militarism, but must stand for the new order in international affairs that will effectually prevent its revival.

This is not the time to discuss how far Russia has been, and will be, dependent upon other nations for her well-being.

When a great nation is passing through a crisis such as the existing one is in Russia, it is well that her friends should stand by with feelings of sympathy, and with the desire to render all the help that is within their power to render. Moreover, in a crisis of this magnitude one must recollect the essential honesty and simplicity of the Russian people, remembering that the most important matter affecting the future of a nation is its character. Having regard to the character of the Russian people, one cannot doubt that they will eventually overcome the unprecedented difficulties by which they are now almost overwhelmed— the enemy at the gate, civil war and famine over a large part of the country.

The economic condition of Russia is a matter of very great importance ■ to the rest of the world, as it seems to be evident that the vast quantities of food supplied by Russia to Western Europe prior to the war will not again be available for a considerable period. In years prior to the war the exports of cereal food from Russia, on balance, amounted to about one -third of all the cereal food imported by the foodimporting countries.