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Show TEXT OF PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS AT BILLINGS : ON AIMS OF LEAGUE B1 ILLIXGS, Mont., Sept. 11. President "Wilson, in his address here today, spoke in part as follows: I I have come to consult with you in the light cf certain circumstances which 1 want to explain to you, circumstances which affect not only this great nation which we love and which we try to constitute con-stitute an honorable tart, but also affect the whole world. I wonder when we speak of the whole world whether we have a true conception of the fact that the human heart beats everywnere the same. Nothing impressed me so much on the other side of the water as the sort of longing for sympathy which those people exhibited. The people in France, following the misery and terror they have suffered at the hands of the enemy, are never so happy as when they realize that we across the sea at a great distance, feel with them the keen arrows of sorrow that have penetrated their hearts and they are glad our boys went over there and helped rescue them from the terror that lay upon them day and night. And what 1 have come to say to you today, my friends, is concerning the treaty of peace with Germany. Ger-many. Treaty Affects Entire World. We are making a mistake, I take the liberty of saying, debating it as if it were an ordinary treaty with some particular country; a treaty we could ourselves modify modi-fy without conflicting with the affairs of the world, whereas, as matters were, It is not really a treaty with Germany. Matters Mat-ters were drawn Into this treaty which affected the peace and happiness of the whole continent of Europe, America, and the farthermost populations in Africa, the peoples we hardly know about in the usual affairs of our country, where the influence influ-ence of German policy had existed and everywhere ev-erywhere that influence had to be guarded guard-ed against; had to be ejected; had to be altered. Consider the circumstances. For the first time in the world some twenty nations na-tions sent their men thoughtful and responsible re-sponsible men to consult together at the capital of France to effect a settlement ' of the affairs nf the world, and I want to render any testimony that these gentle- , men entered upon their deliberations with! great openness of mind. Is First Pact for Democracy. Their discussions were characterized by the utmost candor and they realized, my fellow citizens, what, as a student of his- i torj', I venture to say no similar body j ever acknowledged before that they s were nobody's masters. They did not have the right to vary a line to any nation's ' advantage In determining on the settle- ments and the basis of peace, they were . In the service of their people and the 1 service of the world. This settlement, my fellow citizens, is the first international settlement intended for the happiness and' safety of men and women throughout the world. This is indeed and In truth a people's peo-ple's treaty. It is the first people's treaty, and I venture to say that no parliament or congress will attempt to alter it. It is a people's treaty, notwithstanding friends, are you going to be narrow-minded enouga and near-sighted enough to allow al-low them to weigh that great charter of human liberty in that way? That is impossible. im-possible. Lone Hand Alternative. Now the chance is there to accept this treaty or play a lone hand. What does that mean? '1 o play a lone hand now means that we must always be ready to play by ourselves. It means that we must always he armed; that we must always be ready to mobilize, the man strength and the manufacturing resources of the country; that means that we must continue to live under not diminishing but increasing taxes and be strong enough to beat any nation in the world, and absolutely contrary to the high ideals of American' history. If you are going to play a lone hand, the hand that you play must be upon the handle of tlie sword. The lone hand must have a weapon In it, and the weapon must be the young men of the country trained to arms, and the business of the country must be prepared for making armament and arms for the men. And do you suppose, mv fellow citizens, cit-izens, that any nation is golng'to stand for that? Ye want peace better than we do war. We want ordered peace, calm peace, settled set-tled peace before other business. We have to reconstruct the measure of civilization. civ-ilization. The fact that the world is in a state of unsettled unrest is not due to the extreme conditions arising out of the war and the extraordinary circumstances. It is due to the unusual effect of the conditions con-ditions under which men live and labor which now -exist. That is the condition all over the world. There is no use In talking about a political democracy unless un-less we also have an industrial democracy. democ-racy. Majority Must Rule. There can be no democracy with the control of a few of whatever kind or class; there can be no democracy of any sort. The world is finding that out, Like what is responsible for the conditions in Russia. I find wherever I go in America, an infinite pity for that great people. Everybody who has mixed with the Russian Rus-sian people tells me they are among the most lovable people of the world. People Peo-ple who easily trust you and accept you to be trustworthy as they are, and yet this people is delivered into the hands of an intolerable tyranny. It came out of one tyranny to get into a worse. A little group qif some thirty or forty men are tho masters of that people at present. They choose themselves. They maintain their power by the sword. Have you seen these symptoms of chaos spread to other countries? If you had been across the sea with me you would know the dread in the mind of every thoughtful man in Europe is that that ( distemper will spread to their country. That poison is running through the veins of the world. There are disc. pies of , Le-nine Le-nine in our own midst. There must be no discord or disorganization. disorgan-ization. Our immediate duty, therefore, is to see that no minority, no class in special interest, no matter how respectable; respect-able; how rich or ooor. shall tret control of the affairs of the United States. Treaty Better Than None. Without organization you cannot get any help, so the only thing you can do is to dig a hole, or find a cave somewhere. some-where. Disordered is society In disloyal society. The world must be satisfied of justice. The conditions of life must be purified and protected. This is the best treaty that can possibly be gotten, and, in my judgment, it is a mighty good treaty, if it has justice or an attempt at justice, at any rate, at the heart of it. Don't you think some insurance Is bet- lug lclL LJIetL 1L IB 1U U. H CttlJ' Vim UC1 - many, and while it is a treaty with Germany Ger-many it is a treaty effecting a settlement of the affairs of the world; it is not an unjust un-just treaty, as some have characterized It. My fellow citizens, Germany tried to commit a crime against civilization and this treaty Is justified as a memorandum , to make Germany pay for the crime Up to her full capacity for payment. Some of the very gentlemen who are now characterizing this treaty as harsh are the same men who less than twelve months ago were criticising the administration adminis-tration at Washington for fear that we would compound the crime. They were pitiless then they are pitiful now. It is meet, my fellow citizens, that we should not forget what this war meant. I am amazed at the indications that we are forgetting what we went through. There are some indications that on the other side of the water they are about to forget what they went through. I venture ven-ture to say that there are thousands of parents, fathers, mothers, wives, sisters, sweethearts who are never going to forget for-get what they went through. Thousands of our gallant youth lie buried In France. Buried for what? For the protection of America? America was not directly attacked. at-tacked. For the salvation of mankind everywhere and not alone for the salvation of America. j Owe Debt to Soldiers. I appeared once In the presence of a little handful of men whom I revere who fought in the Civil war and it seems to me that they fought for the greatest principle prin-ciple in their day and we know with what reverence we look upon those men who fought for the safety of the nation. I say this although I was born below the Mason and Dixon line. We are not going to j deny those sentiments to the boys who were in this war. Don't you think that when they a; d old men a halo will seem to be about them becuse they were crusaders cru-saders for the liberty of the civilized world? One of the hardest things for me j to do among the many men of this coun- . try was merely to advise and direct and j not take a gun and go myself. j The fundamental feature of this treaty i Is the principle that had its birth and growth In this country that the countries of the world belong to the people who live in them. And thev have a right to determine deter-mine their own affairs, their own form of government, their own policy, and that no body of statesmen sitting anywhere In the world should have right to assign to any people any advantage. This is the great treaty which Is to be debated. This is the treaty which is to be examined with a microscope. My i ter than none at all, and the security obtained by this treaty at its minimum, as it is, is a great deal better than no security at all, and without it there is no security at all. The leisureliness of some of the debate creates the impression on my mind that some men think there is leisure. There is no leisure in the world, with regard to the reform of the conditions under which men live. I desire to say that, as many of .you know, I have called a conference con-ference to sit in Washington the first week of next month; a conference of men in the habit of managing business and of men engaged in manual labor; what we generally call employers and employees; i and I have called them together for the ! sake of getting their minds together, and j getting their purposes together; getting , them to look at the factor of our life. at the same time, in the same light and ; from the same angle, so they can see the things that ought to be done. Discussion Bars War. I am trying to apply there what is applied ap-plied and in a degree covered by the league of nations; if there is any trouble the thing to do is not to fight, but sit around the table and talk it over. The league of nations substitutes discussion for fighting. Without discussion there will be fighting. One of the great difficulties diffi-culties we have been through in the pa8t is getting men to understand that fundamental, funda-mental, thing. The conference is the healing influence of civilization, and the real difficulty between classes, when a country is unfortunate unfor-tunate enough to have classes, Is they do not understand one another. I, myself, think the real barriers In life are the barriers bar-riers of caste. It is the absence of the ability to get at the point of view and look through the eye of the person with whom you are not accustomed to dealing. In order, therefore, to straighten out the affairs of America; in order to calm and correct the ways of the world, the first and important requisite is peace, and it is an important requisite that cannot wait. It is not wise to wait. The only way to keep men from agitat- i ing against grievances is to remove the grievance, but as long as things are i wrong I do not intend to ask men to stop agitating. I intend to beg that they will agitate in orderly fashion. Otherwise we will have chaos. That fault is being found with the league of nations, is because apparently the gentlemen' who are discussing It unfavorably un-favorably are afraid we will be bound to do something we do not want to do. Now the only way in which you can have an impartial determination in this world is by consenting to do something you don't want to do. Must Secure Peace. I find that the two houses of congress suggested there be an international court and they put it in a place where you would not expect; they put it in the naval appropriation bill. And now they have it, they don't want it. If we are headed toward peace, then we must take the necessary steps to secure se-cure it. and we must make the sacrifices necessary to secure it and not only discuss dis-cuss it. We have served mankind and we shall continue to serve mankind, for I believe that we are the f:ower of mankind so far as civilization is concerned. I am just as sure what the verdict will be as if it was already rendered. And what has convinced me most is what plain people have said to me, particularly what the women have said to me. But when I see a woman dressed with marks of labor upon her, and she says: "God bless you. Mr. President, and God bless the league of nations." then I know the league of nations is safe. I know the league of nations is ch'-se to the hearts of th1 se people. A woman came to me the other day and took my hand and said: "God biess you. Mr. President," and turned away in tears. I asked a neighbor: neigh-bor: "What is the matter?" And he said : "She was intending to say something some-thing to you. but she lost a son In France." That woman did not take my hand with the feeling that her son should not have been sont to France. I sent her ' son to France. She took my hand and blessed it, but she could not say anything any-thing more because a whole world of spirit came up in her throat. Down deep in the heart of love for her boy she felt that we had done something so that no ether woman's son would be called upon to lay down his life for a thing like that. I anticipate your verdict to what I am pledged with deep and serious thought, to satisfy the heart of the world. |