The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 17, 1919, Page 6

7 % 2 rz///m //MI/% 7 ///// Tlonpartisan Teader Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League—Every Week . Entered as second-class matter September 8, 1915, at the postoffice at St. Paul, Minnesota, under the Act of March 38, 1879. z ... OLIVER 8. MORRIS, Editor 2 E. B. Fussell and A. B. Gilbert, Associate Editors B. O. Foss, Art Editor Advertising rates on application. Subscription, one year, in advance, $2.50; six rqonths. $1.50. lease do not make checks, drafts nor money orders. payable to indi« viduals. Address all letters and make all remittances to The Nonpartisan Leader, Box 575, St. Paul, Minn. ] - MEMBER OF AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS " THE S. C. BECKWITH SPECIAL AGENCY, Advertising Representatives, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Kansas City. & 2 A et 0, P e et P I i S P Ll T LM S O P R % L il ¢« Quack, fraudulent and irresponsible firms are not knowingly advertised, and we will take it as a fqvor if any readers will advise us promptly should they have occasion to doubt or question the reliability of any firm which patronizes our advertising columns. . GIVING THE LIE TO THEIR WORDS s HE Verseilles peace conference got a very bad start. Its I first act was to decide on secret sessions and to forbid peace delegates talking to reporters or correspondents. The French newspaper men present submitted to this without protest, but British and American correspondents vigorously objected. The result was that the conference reconsidered. The rule against peace delegates talking to reporters and correspondents was with- drawn, and it was decided to make .the sessions partially public. While some of the meetings will be open to the public, the more important policies of the conference will still be discussed and shaped in secret. “In its first act, therefore, the Versailles conference repudiated one of the chief principles of President Wilson’s war aims state- ment, which statement of war aims was accepted by all the powers opposed to Germany before the armistice, and was later incor- porated as one of the conditions of the armistice. This principle, one of the “14 points,” provides for “open covenants openly arrived at.” It was one of the things our boys were fighting for. It was -3 YoU'ree / BARRED, AT THE PEACE CONFECENCE. one of the fair promises we made to the world and to our own peo- ple to justify our participation in the war and make it really a “war to end war.’ ; The peace conference has decided on the general principle of a league of nations, and has agreed that membership in the league of nations will ‘be open to all free, civilized peoples. This means admitting Russia and Germany to the league. But the resolution of the conference proclaiming that a_league of nations will be . formed is silent on other important points regarding it. There has not yet been any assurance or promise of a leaghe that will have “self-determination” of all nations as one of its cornerstone prin- ciples. ' “Self-determination” was also one of our war aims, but it is being- shamelessly violated by the occupation of Russia with armed forces. The conference has not yet decided on that other im- portant condition for a real, effective league of nations—disarma-. ment. Disarmament of all armed forces of all powers, except forces for internal policing of nations, was also one of our war aims. It was another one of the things the boys fought for—or thought they were fighting for. The peoples of the world are anxiously watching the rulers and statesmen at Versailles. Will they make good? - BAKER SQUASHES A LIBERAL BAITER. ‘ VEN with the war over and the Germans defeated and placed E in a position where they can not renew hostilities, public: g men and the newspapers continue to pander to fanatic Hun- haters and bitter-enders, in the belief, probably, that Americans . are so mean-spirited that they can not be generous in: victory or. forget the passions and hatreds which were stirred- up during the late conflict. This pandering to the worst side of human nature takes many forms, but none more contemptible than that displayed’ by one Archibald Stevenson, said by the newspapers to be con- nected with the United States military intelligence service. _Stevenson, testifying before a congressional committee sup- _posed to be investigating German propaganda, gave out long lists 7 SFCT Y - / of men and organizations against whom a charge of pro-German- ism could not possibly be sustained. Stevenson did not directly charge these men and organizations with pro-Germanism. He merely ‘mentioned them as “pacifists” or “radicals,” but he well knew that the mere mentioning of these names in a hearing of the kind being conducted would result in the newspapers coupling them up with German propaganda. Persons like Jane Addams and Fred- eric C. Howe were mentioned, and the Nonpartisan league was re- ferred to as a “pacifist organization”! United States senators sat and listened to the reading of these lists without the slightest pro- THIS HAS GONE FAR ENOUGH (- NOW GIVE ME A ST OF 25 SURE TO INCLUDE _ALL. ) (S test. In fact, they rubbed their hands with oily satisfaction on hearing prominent liberals and radicals, whose Americanism can not be questioned, mentioned in that connection. It has remained for Secretary of War Baker to come to the rescue of the men and organizations damaged by the panderer Stevenson and by .the contemptible senators of the investigating committee who permitted this detestable game of baiting liberals and radicals. The secretary of war gave out the following state- ment, which of course wag buried in a remote corner, when not entirely suppressed by the newspapers which printed the original testimony of the alleged military attache: I am told that Stevenson and a number of associates have, throughout the war, sought to analyze books and newspaper contri- butions with a view to determining the opinions of their writers to- wards the war. I personally have no sympathy with the publication of lists of persons classified with reference to their supposed opinions and grouped as “pacifists,” which may mean any one of a. dozen things, some of them quite consistent with the finest loyalty of the country, and some of them inconsistent with such loyalty. As a mat- - ter of fact, the war department does not undertake to censor the opinions of the people of the United States. It has no authority to classify such opinions. In the particular-list accredited to Stevenson there are names of people of great distinction, exalted purity of purpose and life- long devotion to the highest interests of America and of mankind. Miss Jane Addams, for instance, lends dignity and greatness to any list i which her name appears. Secretary Baker also stated that Stevenson “had never been an officer or employe of the military intelligence service.” If that is so, why was he permitted to so represent himself, and why have newspapers been permitted to so represent him. The head of the war department could make his very telling repudiation of Steven- son more effective by seeing that he was properly punished for impersonating a war department official, and requiring newspapers to withdraw the lie they printed when they said Stevenson was something he wasn’t. J THE REFERENDUM RESULT HE result of the Nonpartisan league membership referendum on the question of sustaining the League national committee in re-electing Mr. Townley to another term as president is now known to League members and the public. It was expected, not only by Leaguers but by outsiders, that the membership would, by their votes, give a substantial majority of indorsement.to the national committee. But it was hardly expected that less 0{han 1,000 out of the over 200,000 members of the organization would be found to be dissatisfied with the organization’s acts and policies. - The vote of 98,391 to 978 in favor of sustaining Mr. Townley and the .national committee has astonished even the League’s most ardent boosters. . A What does this tremendous vote of confidence in Mr. Townley by the League membership mean? To answer that it is neces- sary to consider what issues were involved in the referendum. The members voted specifically. whether or not to approve the act of the national committee in re-electing the present president. .In . reality, however, much more than this specific question was involved. Practically the entire fight on the League has been a pe 1 : on Mr. Townley. As head and front R ona e ARy 1 ) T of the organization, he has ~ been the: chief and often the only mark for the slurs, bitteme;:;s’,i L