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Show ! iil I Great Liner Leaves for "Over There" with Bis Convoy II NEW YORK, Dec. 3. The George Washington turned f her head toward the sea shortly after 10:30 o'clock. As the big liner straightened her course, the presidential salute of 21 :j guns thundered from the transport's guns. I As the fleet started down the bay a squadron of airplanes dropped from the clouds and executed a series of daring loops ';; above the president's ship. i The liner and its convoy steamed toward the sea with the I George Washington's band playing martial airs and with harbor craft of all types, including many Allied merchant ships, dipping flags and tooting whistles in salute to the departing j, chief executive. Off Staten island the George Washington met its ocean convoy, the dreadnaught Pennsylvania and a quintet of y destroyers, trim in new coats of battleship grey. The presidential fleet passed quarantine at 11 o'clock, '. the Pennsylvania leading and the destroyers deployed on either ' side and in the wake of the transport. Gunboats in the lower bay fired salvos in salute. As the squadron steamed out to sea a single airplane, ' traveling only fifty feet above the water, could be seen leading lead-ing the way toward the eastern horizon, p Across the waters of the Hudson just as the George Washington was about to sail there came the roaring cheers of more than two thousand American soldiers returning to American shores on the British transport Lapland. From f crowded rigging, from densely packed rails and from every porthole the home-coming fighting men shouted greetings to : the president; and from the decks of the presidential liner and the destroyers guarding her answering cheers came back. INEW YORK Dec. 4. Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States, sailed today for Europe to participate as one of five representatives of the United States at the peace conference con-ference to be held in France. The transport George Washington Washing-ton got under way at 10:15 a. m. i The president's party included two other members among J the delegation Secretary of State Robert Lansing and Henry ! White, former ambassador to France, and Italy. Colonel E. i1 M. House and General Tasker Bliss, the other two members, are already in Europe. J As the George Washington swung out into the North river on a voyage unprecedented in American history, Presi-!, Presi-!, dent and Mrs. Wilson stood on the flying bridge, the highest : point to which passengers could climb. An army band on . the shore played "Over There." J President and Mrs. Wilson had breakfast alone in the - private dining room which is part of their suite. The president, in high spirits, said he was looking for-! for-! ward to the voyage as a rest indeed the first real rest since he assumed office. .He remarked that it might be "an en-:! en-:! forced rest for a few days," thus acknowledging his reputation for being a very poor sailor. The George Washington vith j its convoy of war vessels will take the southern route, going J by way of the Azores in order to avoid the colder temperatures which would be encountered on the northern route. !J A wireless telegram was report-1 ed to have been received by the i ; president late today from Secre- j r tary 0f the Treasury McAdoo an-' an-' Bouncing the acceptance or rejec-. rejec-. tion of the treasury secretaryship j j by the man to whom it has been i offered. It is believed to be Rep-$ Rep-$ resentative Carter Glass of Vir- finia. His decision is expected to , be made known at Washington during the day. ''With the transport's departure! j today it was disclosed that Secre-? Secre-? tary Tumulty had been very anx-;! anx-;! jous to accompany the president out yielded to the wishes of the president, who believed that Mr. I Tumulty's presence was needed in Washington. I Jv the president stepped aboard, the ship was virtually sealed, even army officers of high j rank being barred. George Creel, ) who did not go aboard at the time I jne president did, found difficulty jin later joining the peace party. te was obliged to exert official pressure in order to be allowed to go aboard. John W. Davis, newly appointed appoint-ed minister to Great Britain, with Mrs. Davis and the French and j Italian ambassadors with their families, also were on the passenger passen-ger list. Prior to President Wilson's de-iparture de-iparture it became known that he (goes determined to oppose militarism militar-ism in any form. The crushing of Prussian militarism was a part of his plan for the future peace of the whole world, the president feels, according to persons who conferred with him on the transport trans-port George Washington before it sailed. Long before President Wilson's special train arrived from Washington Wash-ington today there was unusual activity about Dock No. 4, at Ho-boken, Ho-boken, where the transport George Washington was moored. Workmen Work-men were busy throughout the night putting on the finishing-touches finishing-touches on the liner and complet- ing the elaborate decorations of i the pier. The usual barred zone was wide-j ily extended and only those armed 'with special passes were allowed to approach streets leading to the ' dock. Military police kept an all-! night vigil over the route from the railroad station to the pier while hundreds of agents of the secret i service and of the army and navy intelligence services watched the (Wide streets and kept inquisitive persons on the move. War vessols kept a ceaseless patrol of the waters wat-ers near the transport while at !dawn army airplanes circled over I the vicinity and maintained a ! watch from the air. Perhaps never nev-er before have such elaborate plans been mapped out to guard I the president. The long pier was gaily decorat- j ed with thousands of flags and, (bunting. A canopy consisting of a mass of American flags and em-; ,blems of the allies, extended overi jthe gangplank. , I Stewards and their assistants 'worked well into the night completing com-pleting their arrangements for the comfort of the party. Phonographs Phono-graphs were installed in the gentlemen's gen-tlemen's smoking room and the ladies' la-dies' lounging room, the records i (Continued on Page -1.) ; uu President Goes as Opponent to Militarism (Continued from Page 1) the library was replenished with scientific books. The gymnasium was fitted with punching bags, rowing machines and other athletic equipment. Two brass bands made the trip -the Kensington (Kansas) and the sailors' Great Lakes station band, these organisations having been selected from among a score that offered their services. Paintings of George and Martha Washington occupied a space in the saloon formerly taken up by a large painting of the German emperor. em-peror. ranging all the way from grand opera selections to popular songs and jazz band music. Half a dozen doz-en card tables were nailed to the I floor of the smoking room, while A few miles east of quarantine the presidential fleet met the transport IVilnnehakda, inbound with 3,039 troops aboard. ! The George Washington sailed with' a complement of 75 officers and 1,049! men of 'the United States navy with Commander F. M. Perkins, executive officer and Lieutenant-Commander John H. Peters, navigating officer, serving as chief aides to Captain Mc-Cauley. Mc-Cauley. ; A detachment of 74 marines, led by Major David H. Miller, formed a guard of honor to the president. Details of the sailing were in the hands of Lieutenant J. Lavson, flag officer of the staff of Vice Admiral Gleaves, chief of the cruiser and transport trans-port service. The prospects were that the George i Washington would run into rough! weather early in her trip, for the) weather bureau issued a warning of I .storm in this . vicinity and ordered storm signals holsTed from Sandy j Hook to Nantucket. LONDON, Tuesday, Dec. 3 In tlie i absence of the American and other Al- I lied representatives, it is understood that the inter-Allied conference has 1 made all the preliminary arrangements possible for tho peace conference. ; i Four separate conferences were held c today, one of the main purposes being! to secure the endorsement by the rep- i rcscntatives af the dominion of the conclusions reached at Monday's conference. con-ference. It is understood a general agreement was reached on the matters deliberated deliberat-ed upon, but out of courtesy to tho United States, in the absence of Colonel Colo-nel House, it will be necessary to acquaint ac-quaint President Wilson in detail with the decisions before they are made public. LONDON, Tuesday, Dec. 3 Andrew Bonar Law, the chancellor of the exchequer, ex-chequer, tonight confirmed the statement state-ment that the British government had decided to press the Allies as strongly as possible that the surrender of former for-mer Emperor William should be demanded de-manded and that he should stand trial. The chancellor also announced that the government had appointed a committee com-mittee to examine scientifically into tho question of how much the enemy would be able to pay. As Colonel E. M. House, the American Amer-ican representative, was unable to attend at-tend the Allied conferences in London yesterday and today, Mr. Bonar Law added, it was impossible that a decision decis-ion could be reached on any point. He was therefore, now only expressing the views of the British government. WASHINGTON, Dec 3 President Wilson began tonight his trip to Europe Eur-ope to attend the peace conference. The president left Washington on a special train for New York, where tomorrow to-morrow he and his party, which includes in-cludes Mrs. Wilson and her mother, Mrs. William H. Boiling, will board the transport George Washington on Avhich the voyage across the Atlantic will be made. No announcement was made as to tho president's itinerary or the person -nl of the party accompanying him. It was understood that the George Washington Wash-ington would steam from New York with her naval convoy some time tomorrow, to-morrow, probably In the morning. About seven davs will be required for the trip and the ship will dock at a French port, presumably Brest. The president does not expect to be abroad for more than six weeks, which would give him just a month on European Euro-pean soil. Before' the peace conference confer-ence meets ho will confer with Premiers Pre-miers Lloyd George of Great Britain, Clemenceau of France, and Orlando of Italy, and probably with King Albert Of Bfilclnm tn illgnnq; the Salient points of the peace treaty. While in Europe Mr. Wilson plans to visit England and Italy as well as France, and lie my go to Brussels. He also is understood to Intend to make a pilgrimage to some of the battlefields battle-fields in France. Great preparations have been made in London. Paris and Rome for the president's reception. Joseph P. Tumulty, the president's secretary, accompanied Mr. Wilson to New York, but will not go abroad. He will return to Washington to conduct the business of the White House and will be the eyes and ears of the president presi-dent in this country. Mr. Tumulty will be In frequent communication with tho president by cable and will keep him fully advised of events at homo. Only three of the five American representatives to the peace conference confer-ence as announced at the White House last week will cross on the former North German Lloyd liner. They aro the president himself, Secretary of Stato Robert Lansing and Henry White, former ambassador to Franco and Italy. Colonel E. M. House and Genera Taskcr H. Bliss, tho other two members, are in France and will join tho president there. Renr Admiral H. S. Knapp and Captain Cap-tain William V. Pratt are accompanying accompany-ing the presidential party and will report re-port to Admiral Benson, naval representative repre-sentative with Colonel House on the peace mission, as his assistants. Ad.-mlral Ad.-mlral Knapp has been In command of the naval forces in Haiti and San Domingo Do-mingo and Captain Bratt, who is assistant as-sistant chief of naval operations, has been head of the bureau of operations . during the absence abroad of Admiral Benson. Secretaries of the peace delegation will be Joseph C. Grew, former secretary sec-retary of embassy at Berlin, and later charge at Vienna and who now is in Paris making preliminary arrangements; arrange-ments; Leland Harrison of the Latin-American Latin-American division and Philip R. Patch-in, Patch-in, confidential assistant to Secretary Lansing. William McNeir goes as disbursing officer and S. Y. Smith as draughting officer and a large force of clorlcal assistants from the state department is accompanying the party. Dr. Jfames Brown Scott and David Hunter Miller will be technical advisers advis-ers in international law and Dr. S. E. Mezes, head of the state depart - i ment bureau of inquiry established I last year to study peace problems, will! attend the conference as director of' specialists, a large party of whom willj go with him on the George Washing-! ton. Army officers accompanying the presidential party include Brigadier, General Churchill, chief of the mill-! I irv in i n 1 1 rvnn nt Kurann ntlft. rfF- Ill LV-lillH.U UUlUU. Lll I UUI cers who will assist General Bliss will, be Major General Francis J. Kernan ' and Colonels Van Deman. Jordan, Ayrcs, Helms. Furlong, Fling and Cap -1 tains Auchencless and Childs. Brigadier General William E. Harts.' former aide to President Wilson will i be in command of the military aides I and messengers at the conference. J Rear Admiral Carey T. Grayson, the( (president's physician, is accompanying' the president and others making the trip on tho George Washington include George Creel, chairman of the committee com-mittee on public information, who Igoes abroad to close up the foreign! i work of the committee, and Raymond, j D. Fosdlck. chairman of the commis- j sion on training camp activities,V.who is to direct welfare work among the American soldiers in Europe. Convoying the presidential ship when she puts to s,ea tomorrow will ; bo the superdreadnaught Pennsylvania j and a fleet of fifteen destroyers under personal command of Admiral Henry T. Mayo, commander-in-chief of tho Atlantic fleeL Ten of the destroyers will turn back after forty-eight hours, but the other five and the Pennsylvania Pennsylvan-ia will continue across the Atlantic. 1 Off the coast of France the presi- : denial ship will be- met by two divisions divis-ions of the Atlantic fleet and escorted to port. Rear-Admiral Hugh Rodman ' will be in command of the chief divls- ion which will include the superdread- ! naughts New York, the flagship, com- 1 manded by Captain E. L. Beach; Texas. Tex-as. Captain Victor Blue; Wyoming, s Captain II. H. Christy; Florida, Cap- 1 tain M. M. Taylor; Arkansas, Captain s L. R. Desteiger and Nevada, Captain j W. C. Cole. ( Rear-Admiral T. S. Rogers will com- mand the other division, which will r consist of the Utah, Captain F. B. Bas- sett; Oklahoma, Captain Charles B. McVay, and Arizona, Captain John A. Dayton. Captain L. M. Nulton, commands the Pennsylvania and the five destroyers to accompany the George Washington throughout tho voyage are the Wlckes, Commander J. S. Bareon; Woolsey, Commander V. McNair, Lea, Commander Comman-der D. W. Bagley, Tarbell, commander Haisey Powell, Yarnell, Commander W. F. Haisey. Tho ten destroyers to be in tho convoy con-voy fleet for forty-eight hours are the Mahan, Radford, Breeze, Craven, Dor-sey, Dor-sey, Robinson, Walke, Montgomery, Lamberton and Perkins. Rear-Admiral Rodman's division of ; six super-dreadnaughts has been serv- i ing during the past year as a battle squadron with tho British fleet, while ; Admiral Roger's division has been op- erating in British waters guarding : convoys' from possible attack by enemy ene-my raiders. In the president's immediate party i The President and Mrs. Wilson, Rfar- 1 Admiral Carey T. Grayson, the presi. 1 dent's physician; George Creel, chair- man of the committee on public Information; In-formation; Gilbert T. Close, confidential confiden-tial clerk to the president; E. I. Hoover, Hoov-er, head usher at tho White House, and Miss Edith Benham, secretary to Mrs. Wilson. Others on the train were; The Secretary Sec-retary of State and Mrs. Lansing; Secretary Baker, who was to leave the party at Hobokcn, John W. Davis, ambassador am-bassador to Great Britain, and Mrs. Davis; Henry White, a member of the peace delegation; Mrs. Benson, wife o Rear-Admiral W. S. Benson; Major and Mrs. Scott ; Lieutenant Commander Comman-der Hatch; Mr. Harris. Mr. McN'eir, , Mr. Welch, Sidney Smyth; the French ; ambassador and Mrs. Jusserand; ' Count de Cellere, the Italian ambassador ambas-sador and Countess de Cellere and two ) children, and Colonel R. H Jordan of the general staff, transportation offi-, cer. i |
