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Show Text of President's Appeal to Nebraskans in Covenant Behalf jMAIIA, Sept. 8. In his address here, after preliminary re-" re-" marks, President Wilson said: rr, 1 didn't come here this morning no much to expound upon the treaty as to talk about these things we call reservations reserva-tions A reservation Is an assent with a out to it. "We agree, but " Now, !vWant to ca" y'Jr attention to some of these buts. I will take them as far as I 'f" ln 'he order In which they deal with the clauses of the league Itself. In the nrst article of the covenant It Is Provided that a nation can withdraw from the league on two years' notice provided tnat, at the time of this withdrawal that Is to say, at the e.xzpiration of the two t,1,1"3, " has '"'fled all its international obligations, and all It obligations under the covenant. Hut some of our friends are very uneasy aoout that. They want to sit close to the door and with their hand on the knob, and they want to say, "We are In this. thing, out we are In it with Infinite timidity and we are ln It only because you overper-suaded overper-suaded us, and wanted us to come ln, but we are going to sit here and try thlB door every once in a while and see It isn't locked, and Just as soon as we see anything any-thing we don't like we are going to scuttle." scut-tle." (Laughter and applause.) dlcations I am not Judging from official dispatches, but from the newspapers that people are not In as good a humor over in j-Yance now as they were when I was there, and It is going to be more difficult to get a new agreement from them now on than it was before, and after dealing with some of those gentlemen I found that they were as ingenious as any American Ameri-can In attaching unexpected meanings to plain words. I don't want, therefore, having hav-ing gone through the mill on the existing language, to go through it again on changed language. Refers to Perplexing Shantung Problem. But I must not turn away from this great subject without attention to the Shantung clause, the provision with regard re-gard to the transfer of certain German rights In the province of Shantung, China, to Japan. I frankly said to my Japanese colleagues at the conference therefore, I can without Impropriety say It here that I was very deeply dissatisfied with that part of the treaty. But, my fellow eltl- Asks What Enemies Are Fearful About? Now, what is the trouble? I want you to put this ,to every man you know who makes this objection. What is he afraid of? Is he afraid that when the United States wishes to withdraw it will not have fulfilled its international obligations? obliga-tions? Is he willing to bring that indictment indict-ment against this beloved country? My fellow citizens, we never did fall to fulfill any obligations we have made. (Applause.) (Ap-plause.) And, God to guide and help us, we never will. And I, for one, am not going to admit in any connection the slightest doubt that, if we ever chooBe to withdraw, we wJll then have fulfilled our obligations. obliga-tions. Because, if we make reservations, as they are called, about this, what do we do? This covenant does not set up any tribunal to Judge whether we have fulfilled our obligations at that time or not. There is only one thing to restrain us and that Is the opinion of mankind. Are these gentlemen such poor patriots that they are afraid the United States will cut a poor figure in the opinion of mankind, and do they think that they can bring this great people to withdraw from that league if at that time their withdrawal with-drawal would be condemned by the opinion opin-ion of mankind? At Pains to Earn Respect of Mankind. We have always been at pains to earn the respect of mankind and we shall always al-ways be at paints to retain it. (Applause.) (Ap-plause.) I, for one, am too proud as an American to say that no doubt will ever hang upon our right to withdraw upon the conditions of the fulfillment of our international obligations. (Applause.) I have already adverted to their difficulties diffi-culties under article X, and will not return re-turn to those. That difficulty is merely as I represented it just now; they don't want to go in as partners; they want to go in as late joiners, because they all admit ad-mit that in a war which imperils the just arrangements of mankind, America, the greatest, richest, freest people of the world, must take sides with the cause. We cannot live without taking sides. We devoted ourselves to Justice and liberty when we were born, and we are not going to get senile and forget it. (Applause.) Are there any patriotic Americans that desire the method changed? (Cries of "No!") Reservation Plan Sharply Attacked. Do they want me to ask the Germans If I may read the treaty to them expressed in the words the United States senate thinks It ought to have been written in? So. you see, the reservations come down to this, that they want to change the language lan-guage of the treaty without changing its meaning; and, let me say, there are in- zens, Japan agreed at that very time and as part of tho understanding upon which these claims were put into the treaty that she would relinquish every Item of sovereignty that Germany had en- J joyed to China, and she would retain what other nations have elsewhere in China, certain economic concessions with regard to the railways and the mines, which she was to operate under a corporation and subject to the laws of China. As I say, I wish she could have done more, but suppose, as some have suggested, that we j dissent from that clause ln the treaty. You can't sign all of a treaty but one part, my fellow citizens; It Is like the president's veto; he can't veto provisions of a bill; he has got either to sign the bill or veto It. We can't sign the treaty with the Shantung provision out of it, and. If we could, what sort of service would that be doing China? An Intolerable Stain. If I felt that I personally In any Way stood in the way of this settlement I would be glad to die that it might be consummated, con-summated, because I have a vision, my fellow citizens, that If this thing should by some mishap not be accomplished there would arise from that upon the fair name of this people a stain which never could be effaced, which would be Intolerable to every ev-ery lover of America, intolerable to every man who knew America and was ready with stout heart to uphold It. I said Just now before opening that I was happy to forget on a campaign like this what party I belong to, and I hope you will not think I am recalling what party I belong to if I say how proud. I have been to stand alongside Senator Hitchcock In this fight. I would be Just as glad to stand by Senator Norris. If he would let me. But I refer to Senator Hitchcock because I know this Is his home town, because of my personal regard for him. because I want to be the brother, the comrade and cowoker of every man who will work for this great cause. And It heartens me when I find, as I found in Des Moines, and I find here, that there are more Republicans on the committees that meet me than Democrats. His Closing Remarks. That may be ln proportion to the population popu-lation (laughter), but nevertheless I judge from what I see of these gentlemen that they are at any rate very favorable specimens speci-mens and that I can take it for granted, because of what I see ln my dealings with them, that they do represent some of the permanent and abiding Influences of, great communities like this. (Applause) Why, the heart of America beats In these great prairies and on these great hillBldes; sometimes in Washington you Heem very far away. The voices that are most audible ln Washington are not j voices that anybody cares to listen to for very long (laughter) and it is refreshing to me to get out among the great body of i my fellow citizens and feel the touch of ' the hand and contact of the shoulder and I the Impulse of mass movement which is going to make conquest, spiritual conquest, of the world. (ArplauSe.) |