The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-07-10
(Continued from Page One)

cessity. The league of nations was i the practical stateman's hope of sue 1 cess in many of the most difficult | things he was attempting"
 ! When the President entered the ! Senate chamber, escorted by a com ! nIiJtee of Senators, the crowded gal ! lrries rose and cheered for a minute | in disregard of the Senate rules. The 1 President, mounting 10 the Vicr. 1 presidents seat, spoke briefly with , Vice President Marshall as the ] cheering continued, punctuated with 1 rebel" yells.
 { President Wilson in presenting the | peace treaty and the league of na- tions to the senate today spoke as fol- lows:
 Gentlemen of the Senate: The treaty of peace with Germany was signe1 at Versailles on the 28th of June. I avail myself of the earliest opportunity to lay the treaty before you for your ratification and to in form you with regard to the work of the conference by which that treaty was formulated
 The treaty constitutes nothing less than a world settlement. It would not be possible for me either to sum marize or to construe it's manifold ! provisions in an address which must i of necessity be something less than | treatise. My services and all the in | formation I possess 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 1 you will not hesitate to make use of | them. I shall at this time. prior to | your own study of the document, at 1 tempt only a general characterization l of its scope and purpose.
 | In one sense, doubt. there is no | need that 1 should report to you wha. | was attempted and done a< Paris. 1 You have been daily cognizant of ! what was going on thereof the | problems with which the Neace con- i ference had to deal and of the diff | culties of laying down straight lines
 of settlement anywhere on a field on l which the old lines of international
 relationship, and the new alike fol- | lowed so intricate a pattern and | were for the most part cut so deeply 1 historical circumstances, which dom ] mated action where it would have | been best to ignore or reverse them. | The cross currents of politics and of 1 interest must have been evident to you. It would be presuming in me | to attempt to explain the questions ! WtllCn arose or the many diverse elc- | ments that entered into them.
 shall attempt something less ambitious ] than that and more clearly suggest i ed by my duty to report to the con | gress the part it seemed necessary
 for my colleagues and me to play as | the representatives of the govern
 ment of the United States.
 That part was dictated blythe rols
 America had played in the war and | by the expectations that had been I created in the minds of the peoples 1 with whom we had associated our
 selves in that great struggle.
 The United States entered the war upon a different footing from every other nation except our associates on this side of the sea. We entered it, not Because our material interests were directly threatened or because any special treaty obligations to which we were parties had been vio- lated. but only because we Saw the supremacy and even the validity of right everywhere put in jeopardy and free government likely to be every iwhere imperilled by the intolerable aggression of a power which respect ed neither right nor obligation and whose very system of government
 houted the rights of the citizen as against the autCcratic authority of his SON And III Une settlements or the peace we have sought no special
 reparation for ourselves, but only the restoration of right and the assurance of liberty everywhere, that the ef-
 fleets of the settlement were to be felt. We entered the war as the disin-
 terested champions of right and we iinterceded ourselves in the terms of
 the peace in no other capacity.
 The hopes of the nations allied fr-o1
 a very low ebb when our soldiers be-
 gan to pour across the sea. There
 was everywhere amongst them, ex-
 cept in their stoutest spirits a somber
 foreboding of disaster. The war end-
 ed in November eight months ago,
 but you have only to recall what was
 feared in midsummer last, four short
 months before the armistice to real
 ize what it was that our timely aid
 accomplished alike for their morale
 and their physical safety. That first,
 ver-to-be-forgotten action at Cha
 teau Thierry had already taken place
 Our redoubtable soldiers and ma
 rines had already closed the gap the
 enemy had succeeded in opening for
 their advance upon Paris had already
 turned the tide of battle back towards
 the frontiers of France, and begun
 the rout that was to save Europe and the world. Thereafter the Germans
 were to be always forced back, back,
 were never to thrust successfully for
 ward again. And yet there was no
 confident hope.
 Anxious men and women, leading
 spirits of France. attended the cele-
 bration of the Fourth of July las,
 year in Paris out of generous courtesy with no heart for festivity, little zest
 for hope. But they came away with i something new at their hearts They have themselves told us so. The mere
 sight of our men-of their vigor, o1 the confidence that showed itself ir every movement of their stalwart fig ures and every turn of their swinging march, in their steady comprehendine eyes and easy discipline, in the in-
 domita ble air that added spirit tc l everything they did-made everyone
 who saw them that memorable day
 realize that something had happened
 that was much more than a mere in | cident in the fighting, something very | different from the mere arrival o1
 fresh troops. A great moral force had
 flung itself into the struggle The