The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-11-15
Versailles Almost Sure To Be
the Place.
In Same Hall Where German
Empire Proclaimed.
ALLIED COUNCIL MEETS
Nothing Done With Appeal of
Huns for Haste.
Question of Government in
Germany Main One Now.

Washington, Nov. 15.-American
delegates to the great peace confer
ence are understood to have been Sc
lected by President Wilson. altho there
probably will be no announcement un-
til the place and date of meeting has
been decided upon formally by the
inter-allied council which reassembled
today in France. Discussion in we'll
informed circles today of the prob
able personnel of the delegation CEN
tered upon four men. They are:
Robert Lansing, secretary of state,
to head the mission; Col. E. M. House.
now in France attending the inter-
allied council as the personal repre-
sentative of the president; Elihu Root
and Louis D. Brandeis. associate JUS
tice of the supreme court.
The belief is growing here that Pres
ident Wilson himself will attend the
opening sessions of the congress. tho
not to sit as a delegate around the
peace table.
tBy the Associated Press)
Paris. Nov. 15.-Versailles, altho
not formally chosen as the meeting
place of the peace negotiations, is re-
garded as almost certain to be the
place selected for the peace confer
| assemblies today. The real work of the
negotiations will be carried on in
Paris where it is probable that dele
cations from all the countries will re-
side temporarily, the members going
out to Versailles now and then for
plenary sessions of the conference.
There also is little doubt that the su-
preme act of signing the peace agree
ment will take place at Versailles in
the same historical hall where the
1raip 11os
1871. -.~
Versailles, or rather the palace there. has
Of France, Germany, Great Britain and the
| United States. In 1888 the armistice pre-
to the and ths Of stass
signed at Versailles. Six years later the
palace was the scene of important events
army besieging Paris had its headquarters
in the town in 1s70-I1. and there the
were discussed. After the peace Versailles
was the seat of the French national as
| sembly: and for few years thereafter was
| The town of Versailles, southeast of
Paris, is not attractive in itself. but the
tract many visitors. The palace at Yer
sailles was begun in 1861, and the gardens
| are one of the glories of the place, were
planned by LIE Notre. All estimates of the
| coSt oI tne Dui0lnSS anu gardens are
vague but some experts estimate that more
than $1O0OOO.000 We're spent by Louis XIV,
who destroyed the accounts In the
Antoinette were forcibly removed to Paris
after which the furniture was destroyed
Napoleon and the kings during the restora- :
| ton barely kept the place In repair but
Louis Philippe restored the palace and
made 1t museum of works of art illustra-
| nearly $5,0O0,OOO.
| Preliminaries Made,
| Washington, Nov. 15.-Preliminar-
| les for the great peace conference are
now well under way. 1t was indi-
Gated today that the conclave might be
held before, or shortly after the first
| OF the year. Next week this govern
| ment will send representatives to aid
Col E. NJ. House in his work attenda mt
upon the opening of the conference.
| These representatives are understood
to include George Creel chairman of
! the committee on public information
| Edgar Sisson, head of the foreign di-
vision of the committee and regarded
as an expert on Russian affairs;
Walter Rogers, chief of the propa-
ganda service in New York and a
group of secretaries.
Delay it n Month.
Washington, Nov. 15.--WhiIe the
peace conference will be delayed an
other month, according to the best in
formation here today. this govern
ment and the allies are working on
details both at the home capitals and
thru the supreme war council at Yer
sailles. Probably within the next 10
days the advance guard Of the Ameri-
can delegation will go over to arrange
wire and cable facilities for handling
the news of the Sreat session.
= The United States for some months
has been congregating its suggestions
thru Colonel House and his aidess A
careful study has been made with re-
ispect to peace adjustments needed in
the near east where new nations have
risen out Of long oppression. Safe
guarding of these groups will be one
of the chief problems to be considered
Maintains Silence.
The state department is maintaining
"a cautious silence on the subject OF
the conference. It has done nothing
yet with respect to the German wire
, less appeal for an early conference and
: the disposition appears to be not to
hasten matters until Germany appear.
more sta bilized than at present.
However it seems likely from pres.
dispatches that constitutional change.
are in effect in Germany now and thai
steps are under way for forming &
stable government.
VIII Any Stand.
The main question is whether an,
| particular government will stand a
this time, with unrest and revolution
underlying the whole Teuton situation
More than twenty-five nations hav,
| a right to places at the peace table a
belligerents against Germany. Thes.
) tcountries will not have equal voice il
} the session, even tho technically en-
titled to it. Instead. France, Britain
: and the United States and Italy will
have the main power. Belgium
s claims will be carefully followed, a
will the claims of the Balkan ma
I tions.