being called upon to fire a shot or sacrifice the life of a single
soldier in its defence. Accordingly there will be less likeli-
hood of our being called upon to go to war than if we
declined the commitments of the League with a view to
avoiding war. While the United States, in entering the
League, will assume new responsibilities, it will not assume
new burdens. The League will prove to be a source of
economy rather than of new expense to us; for it should
not only enable us to escape the crushing expense of actual
warfare, but, in course of time, should likewise relieve us of
part of the present burden of armaments.

So much from the standpoint of self-interest. But,
irrespective of self-interest, the United States, having become
a powerful nation in point of numbers, talent and resources,
has a duty to perform in this respect to her sister nations.
Modern ingenuity has so multiplied the destructiveness of
war that the very preservation of the race is dependent on
adequate organization to suppress war. Such organization
cannot come about without the participation of the United
States. Unless we join, other important countries will
remain out and we will witness the world divided once more
in hostile groups. Without a League of Nations, the many
new States which have come into being, lacking experience
and the self-restraint which makes successful self-govern-
ment possible, will not only be unable to maintain their
independence but will be a source of danger to the general
peace, by reason of quarrels among themselves and quarrels
with the States of which they were formerly a part; for, on
the one hand, racial animosity and the memory of the
tyranny formerly practiced against them "will prompt them
to be impatient and headstrong" in dealing with their
former masters, while, on the other hand, the latter will

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