Kirby Page Quotes

In spite of vast numbers of people and the different races involved and the great distances separating the various parts, the British Commonwealth is functioning sufficiently well to offer hope for effective international agencies.

If various races and nationalities can live together peaceably in the United States, why is it not within the bounds of possibility that they can learn to live this way throughout the earth?

In the early days of our Federal Government, skeptics concerning its usefulness were found in high places.

Predictions of failure have been made every time an extension of governmental jurisdiction has been suggested.

Plato and Aristotle were both convinced that democratic government could not function successfully in an area larger than a city-state.

Surely, with so much at stake for the entire human race, the only place for the United States is in the vanguard of the movement to substitute international law for international violence, international agencies of justice for international anarchy.

If we insist upon being a law unto ourselves, we make it easier for other nations to do likewise.

For a powerful nation like the United States to continue its insistence upon absolute sovereignty and to refuse to cooperate in creating effective international agencies of justice, is to obstruct the pathway that leads away from international chaos and destruction.

The foreign policy of the United States in the decades ahead may prove to be the deciding factor in determining whether or not militant nationalism, aggressive imperialism and international anarchy, are to lead to further wars, or whether an era of international peace shall be ushered in by outlawing war and by creating effective social machinery through which a new and higher conception of nationalism may find expression.

We would enter the League not because we believe in a perfect instrument—on the contrary, its weakness and grave imperfections are fully recognized—but because the place for a powerful nation like the United States is on the inside, where it may aid in determining the character of its activities and the scope of its jurisdiction, rather than on the outside, indulging in harshest criticism.

Then came the political campaign of 1920 with its bitter personal feuds, as a result of which the real underlying issues were obscured by passion, misrepresentation and downright falsehood.

The ideals and aspirations of the American people with regard to world peace can never be fully realized until the United States is a full-fledged member of the League.

If an international treaty outlawing war is negotiated, there is every reason to believe that the United States would join the League of Nations without further delay.

Prominent American jurists have long advocated the granting of compulsory jurisdiction over justiciable questions to an international court.

Supporters of the American plan of outlawry and advocates of the League are alike agreed... that new international law should be enacted and that a constantly recurring series of international conferences will be required if codification is to be kept up to date.