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Show SENATORS LISTEN TO WILSON'S PLEA FOR WORLD LEAGUE Are Told That Covenant Is Absolutely Abso-lutely Necessary for Maintenance Main-tenance of Peace. MEANS THE SOLUTION OF PRESSING WORLD PROBLEMS Chief Executive Confident That Adoption Adop-tion of the Treaty Would Go Far Toward Putting an End to All War Conferees Confident Work Will Be Permanent. Washington, July 10. President! Wilson, in presenting the peace treaty and the League of nations to the-sen-ate today, spoke as follows: Gentlemen of the Senate: The treaty of peace with Germany was signed at Versailles on the 2Sth of June. I avail myself of the earliest opportunity to lay the treaty before you for ratification and to inform you with regard to the work of the conference confer-ence by which that treaty was formulated. formu-lated. The treaty constitutes nothing less than a world settlement. It would not be possible for me even to summarize of to construe its manifold provisions in an address which must of necessity be something less than a treatise. My services and all the information I possess pos-sess will be at your disposal and at the disposal of your committee on foreign relations at any time, either Informally or in session, as you may prefer; and I hope that you will not hesitate to make use of them. I shall at this time, prior to your own study of the document, attempt only a general characterization of its scope and purpose. Cognizant of Paris Moves. In one sense, no doubt, there is no need that I should report to you what was attempted and done at Paris. You ' have been daily cognizant of what was going on there of the problems with which the peace conference had to deal and of the difficulty of laying down straight lines of settlement anywhere on a field on which the old lines of International In-ternational relationship, and the new alike, followed so intricate a pattern and were for the most part cut so deep by historical circumstances which dominated action where it would have been bast to Ignore or reverse them. The cross currents of politics and of interest must have been evident to you. It would be presuming in me to attempt to explain the questions which arose or the many diverse elements that entered into them. I shall attempt something less ambitious than that and more clearly suggested by my duty to report to the congress the part it seemed necessary for my colleagues and me to play as the representatives of the government of the United States. . That part was dictated by the role America has played in the war and by the expectations that had been created in the minds of the peoples with whom we had associated ourselves in that great struggle. Reason for Entering War. The United States entered the war upon a different footing from every other nation except our associates on this side the sea. We entered it, not because our material interests were directly threatened or because any special spe-cial treaty obligations to which we were parties had been violated, but only because we saw the supremacy, and even the validity, of right everywhere every-where put in jeopardy and free government gov-ernment likely to be everywhere Imperiled Im-periled by the intolerable aggression of a power which respected neither right nor obligation and whose very system of government flouted the rights of the citizens as against the autocratic authority of his governors. gov-ernors. And in the settlements of the peace we have sought no special reparation for ourselves, but only the restoration of right and the assurance of liberty everywhere that the effects of the settlement set-tlement were to be felt, We entered the war as the disinterested champions of right and we interested ourselves in the terms of the peace in no other capacity. Allies' Hopes at Low Ebb. The hopes of the nations allied against the central powers were at a very low ebb when our soldiers began to pour across the sen. There was everywhere ev-erywhere amongst them, except in their stoutest spirits, a somber foreboding fore-boding of disaster. The war ended In November eight months ago, but you have only to recall what was feared in midsummer last, only four short months before the armistice, to realize real-ize what it was that our timely aid accomplished alike for their morale and their physicnl safety. The first, never-to-be-forgotten ac tion at Chateau Thierry had already taken place. Our redoubtable soldiers and marines had already closed the gup the enemy had succeeded in opening open-ing for their advance upoti Paris had already turned t he tide of battle back toward the frontiers of France and begun ihe rout that was to save Europe Eu-rope and the world. Thereafter the Germans were to be always forced back, back, were never to thrust successfully suc-cessfully forward again. And yet there was no confident hope. Put New Heart Into Allies. The mere sight of our men of their vigor, of the confidence that showed itself in every movement of their stalwart stal-wart figures and every turn of their swinging march, in their steady comprehending com-prehending eyes and easy discipline, in ihe indomitable air that added spirit to everything they did made everyone who saw them that memorable memo-rable day realize that something had happened that was much more than a mere incident in the fighting, something some-thing very different from the mere arrival ar-rival of fresh troops. They were recognized as crusaders, and as their thousands swelled to millions mil-lions their strength was seen to mean salvation. And they were tit men to carry such a hope and make good the assurance it forecast. Finer men never went into battle; and their ofheers were worthy of them. Comrades in Great Cause. This is not the occasion upon which to utter a eulogy of the armies America Amer-ica sent to France, but perhaps, since I am speaking of their mission, I may speak also of the pride I shared with every American who saw or dealt with them there. They were the sort of men America would wish to be represented repre-sented by, the sort of men every American Amer-ican would wish to claim as fellow countrymen and comrades in a great cause. They were terrible in battle, and gentle and helpful out of it, remembering remember-ing the mothers and the sisters, the wives and the little children at home. They were free men under arms, not forgetting their ideals of duty in the midst of tasks of violence. I am proud to have had the privilege of being associated as-sociated with them and of calling myself my-self their leader. Hard Task at Peace Table. And the compulsion of what they stood for was upon us who represented represent-ed America at the peace table. It was our duty to see to it that every decision de-cision we took part in contributed, so far as we were able to influence it, to quiet the fears and realize the hopes of the peoples who had been living in that shadow, the nations that had come by our assistance to their freedom. free-dom. It was our duty to do everything every-thing that it was within our power to do to make the triumph of freedom and of right a lasting triumph in the assurance of which men might everywhere every-where live without fear. Difficulties Hard to Adjust These were not tasks which the conference looked about to find and went out of its way to perform. They were inseparable from the settlements of peace. They were thrust upon it by circumstances which could not be overlooked. The war had created them. In all quarters of the world old established relationships had been disturbed or broken and affairs were at loose ends, needing to be mended or united again, but could not be made what they were before. They had to be set right by applying some uniform principle of justice or enlightened expediency. ex-pediency. And they could not be adjusted ad-justed by merely prescribing in a treaty what should be done. New states were to be set up which could not hope to live through their Irst period of weakness without assured as-sured support by the great nations that had consented to their creation and won for them their independence. independ-ence. Future international conventions with regard to the control of waterways, water-ways, with regard to illicit traffic of many kinds, In arms or in deadly drugs, or with regard to the adjustment adjust-ment of many varying international administrative arrangements could not be assured if the treaty were to provide no permanent common International Inter-national agency, if its execution in such matters was to be left to the slow and uncertain processes of cooperation co-operation by ordinary methods of negotiation. ne-gotiation. Common Tribunal Necessary. If the peace conference itself was to be the end of co-operative authority and common counsel among the governments gov-ernments to which the world was looking look-ing to enforce justice and give pledges of an enduring settlement, regions like the Sanr basin could not be put under a temporary administrative regime re-gime which did not involve a transfer of political sovereignty and which contemplated a final determination of its political connections by popular vote to be taken at a distant date ; no free city like Danzig could be created cre-ated which was under elaborate International Inter-national guaranties to accept exceptional excep-tional obligations with regard to the use of its port and exceptional relations rela-tions "with a state of which it was not ' to form a part; properly safeguarded plebiscites could not be provided for, where populations were at some future fu-ture date to make choice what sovereignty sover-eignty they would live under; no certain cer-tain and uniform method of arbitration arbitra-tion could be secured for t lie settlement settle-ment of anticipated difficulties of final decision, with regard to many matters dealt with in the treaty itself; the long-con' inued supervision of the task of reparation which Germany was to undertake to complete within the next generation might entirely bl eak down ; the reconsideration and revision of administrative ad-ministrative arrangements and restrictions restric-tions which the treaty prescribed. hut which it was recognized might not prove of lasting advantage or entirely fair if too long enforced, would be impracticable. im-practicable. Found Indispensable. A league of free nations had become a practical necessity. Examine the treaty of peace, and you will find that everywhere throughout its manifold provisions its framers have felt obliged to turn to the League of Nations as an indispensable instrumentality for the maintenance of the new order it lias been their purpose to set up in the world, the world of civilized men. That there should be a League of Nations to steady the counsels and maintain the peaceful understanding of the world, to make, not treaties alone, but the accepted principles of international law as well, the actual rule of conduct among the governments govern-ments of the world, has been one of the agreements accepted from the first as the basis of peace with the central powers. Saw Necessity for League. The statesmen of all the belligerent countries were agreed that such a league must be created to sustain the settlements that were to be effected. But at first I think there was a feeling feel-ing among some of them that, while it must be attempted, the formation of such a league was perhaps a counsel of perfection which practical men, long experience In the world of affairs, must agree to very cautiously and with many misgivings. It was only as the difficult work of arranging an all but universal adjustment adjust-ment of the world's affairs advanced from day to day, from one stage of conference to another, that it became evident to them that what they were seeking would be little more than something written upon paper, to be interpreted and applied by such methods meth-ods as the chances of politics might make available, If they did not provide a means of common counsel which all were obliged to accept, a common authority au-thority whose decisions would be recognized rec-ognized as decisions which all must respect. Skeptical Turn to League. And so the most practical, the most skeptical among them turned more and more to the league as the authority author-ity through which international action was to be secured, the authority without with-out which, as they had come to see it, it would be difficult to give assured effect to this treaty or to any other international in-ternational understanding upon which they were to depend for the maintenance mainte-nance of peace. The most practical of the conferees con-ferees were at last the most ready to refer to the league of nations the superintendance of all interests which did not admit of immediate determination of all administrative problems which were to require a continuing oversight. What had seemed a counsel of perfection had come to seem a plain counsel of necessity. neces-sity. The league of nations was the practical statesman's hope of success in many of the most difficult things he was attempting. To End Wars of Aggression. And 'it had validated itself in the thought of every member of the conference con-ference as something much bigger, much greater every way than a mere instrument for carrying out the provisions pro-visions of a particular treaty. It was universally recognized that all the peoples of the world demanded of the conference that it should create such a continuing concert of free nations as would make wars of aggression and spoliation, such as this that has just ended, forever Impossible. A cry had gone out from every home in every stricken land from which sons and brothers and fathers had gone forth to the great sacrifice that such a sacrifice should never again be exacted. It was manifest why it had been exacted. It had been exacted because one nation desired dominion and other nations had known no means of defense de-fense except armaments and alliances. People Now Know Truth. War had lain at the heart of every arrangement of Europe of every arrangement of the world that preceded pre-ceded the war. Restive peoples had been told that fleets and armies, which they toiled to sustain, meant peace; and they now know that they had been lied to; that fleets and armies had been maintained .to promote national ambitions and meant war. They knew that no old policy meant anything else but force, forces always force. And they knew that It was intolerable. |
