Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-09-06
Wilson's Speech at Kansas City

WILSON'S 0peeC1
( In his address here today President
Wilson said: q
Il came back from Paris bringing
one Of the greatest documents Of hu-
man history. One OF the things that
made 1t great was that It was pene-
trated throughout with the principles
to which America has devoted her,
life. Let me hasten to say that one
of the work on the other side Of the
water was that I discovered that what
we called American principles had
penetrated to the heart and to the IN;
derstandtng. not only Of the great
peoples Of Europe, but to the hearts
and understandings Of the great men
who were representing the peoples Of
France. ,fs
II think can say; that one Of the
things that America has had most at
heart throughout her existence has
Tor the brutal processes Of war, the
friendly processes OF consultation and
arbitration and that is done in the
covenant of the League of Nations. I
am very anxious that my fellow citi-
zens should realize that that Is the
chief topic of the covenant OF the
League Of Nations and the greater
part of its provisions. The whole in
tent and purpose Of the document. are
the member states agree that they
Will never go to war without first
having done one or the other Of two
things. either submitted the matter in
controversy to arbitration. in which
case they agree to abide by the YER
dict, or submit it to discussion in the
council Of the League of Nations, and
for that purpose they consent to allow
six months for the decision, and
whether they like the opinion ex-
pressed or not, that they will not go
to- war for three months after that
opinion has been expressed. SO that
you have, whether you get arbitration
Or not, nine months discussion, and
i want to remind you that that is the
central principle of some thirty
treaties entered into between the
United States Of America and some
tnlrty other sovereign nations, all of
which are confirmed by the senate of
the United States. t:sM
Have Such Agreements. y
I'VE have such an agreement with
with Great Britain: we have such an
agreement with practically every
great nation except Germany which
refused to enter into such an ar
rangement because, my fellow citi-
zens, Germany knew that she intend
ed something that didn't bear discus
sion and that II she should have sub
mitted the purpose which led to this
war to so much as one months dis
cossion, she never would have dared
go into the enterprise against man.
kind which she finally did go into,
lapplause) and therefore 1 say that
this principle Of discussion is the
principle already adopted by America.
And what is the compulsion to do
this? The compulsion Is this. that il
any member state violates that prom
ise to submit either to arbitration or
discussion. it Is thereby ipso facto
deemed to have committed an act of
war against all the rest. Then YOU
will ask, do we at once take up arms
ana tfght them? No. We do some-
Oh mora terlihBe -ttla.
thaE We absolutely boycott them
LET any merchant put up. to him
IseH that IL he enters into q covenant
and then breaks 1t, and the people all
around absolutely desert his estab-
lishment and will have nothing to do
with him, ask him after that IL it will
be necessary. to send for the police.
The most terrible thing that can hap
pen to any individual and the most
conclusive thing that can happen to
nation is to be read out of decent
society, (applause.) .%
There was another thing that we
needed to accomplish, that is accom-
plished in this document. We wanted
disarmament and this document pro-
vtdes in the only possible way for dis
armament by common agreement
Observe. my fellow citizens, that just
now every great fighting nation in; the
world is a member of this partner
snip except Germany and inasmuch as
Germany has accepted limitation Of
her army to 100000 men. I don't
think for the time being she may be
regarded as a great fighting nation.
And You know, my. fellow citi-
xtns. that ornaments mean great
standing armies and great stores of
material. They do not mean burden
some taxation merely. they do not
mean merely compulsory military
service, which saps the economic
strength OF. the nation, but they
mean the building up Of military
class. Again and again, my fellow
citizens, In the conference at Paris We
were face to face with this situation:
that In dealing with a particular civil
government we found that they
would not dare to promise what their
general staR was not willing that they
should promise; and that they were
dominated by the military machine
which they had created. nominally
for their own defense, but really,
whether they whled it or snot-for the
provocatton Of war. And 80, as long
as you have q military class, 1t does
not make any difference what your
form Of government. is, IL you are de-
termined to be armed to the teeth,
You must obey the orders and direc-
tons OF the only men who can con-
troll the great machinery Of war. It
is not merely the cost Of it (arma-
ment) although that is overvhelm-
ing. but 1t is the spirit Of It., and
America has never had, and hope In
the providence Of God never will have
that spirit. (Great appianse.)
And there 10 no other way to dis
pense with great armaments except
by the common agreement Of the
fighting nations Of the world. And
here is the agreement They promise
disarmament and promise to agree.
thing else We wanted, that Is ac-
complained by this treaty. We;
wanted to destroy autocratic au-
thority everywhere in the world. We
wanted to see to 1t that there was no
place in the world where Z small
group Of men could use their fellow
citizens as pawns in q game, that
there was NO place In the world whore
. small group. of men. without con-
sulting their fellow citizens. could
send their fellow citizens to the
hattleheld and TO deal In accomplish
ing somethtng dynastic. some political
~~lA w - .Enlf