A Soldier’s View of the League of Nations. . . Sgt. Battle Writing to
Senators Simmons and Overman Says All through the War the Soldiers Have Felt
They Were Fighting Upon War and They Almost Unanimously Approve the League
Letters to North Carolina congressmen indicate plainly that
Tar Heels are for the League of Nations.
Among the communications received are
some from soldiers who support the President against the republicans and a
handful of disgruntled democrats of Congress. Sergeant Battle Williams, writing
Senator Simmons from Camp Gordon, said:
“As a soldier from North Carolina, I am prompted to write
you, and Senator Overman as well, with regards the league of nations issue now
confronting us, and I shall write from the viewpoint of the average soldier.
“All through this war there has been the feeling and
conviction that we were fighting and warring upon war, and this attitude has
been a powerful incentive in the prosecution of the war. Soldiers practically
to a man, both in the home service and from overseas, with whom I have
discussed the question express themselves as thinking it is a good thing. One
overseas soldier, a Tennessee boy wounded on the St. Quentin front and now
convalescing in the reconstruction center, this camp, writes the following in
an essay prepared for the educational service: ‘I am for the league of nations
because I believe that it is for the welfare of all Christian people, and all
right thinking nations.’
“This paragraph seems typical of the attitude taken by a
majority of the foreign service soldiers. Yesterday, on the street car in
Atlanta, I overheard a civilian asking an overseas man with the 5th
Division, trained at Camp Green, North Carolina, what the soldiers thought
about this league of nations plan. The soldier replied that there were some few
opposed to it, but that the vast majority believe it was an experiment well
worth trying.
“So as a whole I am of the opinion that the large number of
soldiers, in training camps here, and from overseas, sanction the league of
nations plan, and I hear constantly the expression of regret that 30-odd
senators have apparently voiced themselves as opposed to the proposed league.”
C.J. Cheek, a Tar Heel at Fullerton, Cal., said: “Foremost
in the reconstruction demand to meet present day problems is an endorsement of
the league of nations looking toward a just and permanent peace.”
Ray N. Moses of Ellijay writes: “The papers tell us that
there is some danger that the league of nations will be defeated in the United
States senate. We believe that the league of nations will make wars less likely
to occur. We hope you will use your influence to make the league a success.
“We do not think that the United States are endangering themselves
by any surrenders of authority they may make, so long as the other great powers
make equal surrender.” The more soldiers write to their congressmen, in support
of the league of nations, the better it will be.
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