The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1919-12-31

whether League of Nations should
10 : Gated rs means of preventing
tu'C,3 wars was ono of the frs to be
'a&"n np BY the peace conference. On
.'nnwaty 2T the conference formally
,:9ti&!rI IN favor Of the establishments,
c. {. league Of Nations. and n com
mi>%:'n, -" which President Wilson
";'% chairman, vas appointed to pre-
i2r2 :. drtinitc plan. The League Of
Nnti":is commission held It's first mcrr
in; o.. february . ana on February II
President Wilson read and cxplain"r
to III" r"ncc conference Il draft of the
constitution ror the League Of Nntinus
The y,1'. nrnvid",l for nm executive
'"nr.! 10 - composed OF representa-
:"n o. min" nations and for m inter.
national Sccrctariat 1t WIS nrovIucn
mat dtciSiOn" of the executive councii
Shoa'd hr rafCrccd, If necessary, BY
u" prevention Of oil financial. com
'hercih' or personal intercourse" be-
t"eeh the nation failing to- abide hy
the decision and all other member
states OF the League Of Nations.
On the same day that he presented
thiS plan to the peace conference Pres
ident Wilson sailed for the United
States 10 attend The closing sessions
"t congress at Washington. Opposi-
tion to the incorporation of the League
of Nations covenant in the peace treaty
already had developed In this country
ana President Wilson. upon his return
deiiVered an address Mt Boston in
which he emphasized the necessity Of
the United States taking leading
part in the organization of the League
of Nations
Meantime the peace conference vas
endeavoring to reach n solution OF
several other vcxing problems. A bit
ter dispute had arisen between Italy
ana the new JugO-Slav state as to the
possession Of the eastern coast Of the
Adriatic. The Italians demanded DOS
session of the city Of Fiume on the
ground that It's population was largely
ita'an' while the Jugo-Savs main.
taincd that possession Of this port was
essential If their newly organized ma
ton was to have access to the sea.
The Japanese delegates also gave
an early indication of their attitude
by insisting upon Japan's right to re-
tain The Marshall and Caroline islands,
which she had taken from Germany.
President Wilson returned to Paris
after spending little more than a week
In the United States. with his arrival
In France on March ii the peace CON
ference began consideration Of recon-
mcndationS by various committees.
ana the peace treaty began to take
definite shape.
On March "a the council OF ten
which had hccn considering tn" chief
problems before the peace conference
was replaced by a council Of four. con
sisting Of President Wilson and Pre-
micrs Lloyd George Clrmcnccau and
Orlando. From that time up to the
actual signing Of the peace treaty all
OF the problems arising we're disposed
or by this council OF four. in which.
ut times. the premier OF japan also
participated.
The revised covenant Of the League
OF Nations was presented at n plcnnry
session OF the peace conference on
April 2S. President Wilson as chair
man Of the commission which framed
the covenant. explained the changes
that had been made. mostly rs Il result
Of criticism i'm the United States. One
OF the most important of the amend
ments made was that providing that
the covenant should not affect existing
understandings for maintaining peace.
While It was not so stated specifically,
this amendment was designed to pre-
vent the League Of Nations covenant
from interfering with the Monroe doc
trinc. The revised covenant was
adopted by the unanimous vote Of the
peace conference.
On April 80 the council OF four.
which by this time had been reduced
to council OF three by the with
drGwal Of the Italians agreed to
transfc" to Japan the German posses
sion Of KlauChau. The Chinese dele
cation objected strenuously to this set
Element, although Japan agreed ulti-
mntely to restore the territory to
China. On May the council deter
mined that Great Britain and her colo
nics and dominions should become
mandatory for the islands north OF the
equator
BY May s the treaty had finally been
completed and on that date It was
presented to the German plcnIpotcn-
tlarcS ut Versailles. The pact. while
/; represented chiefly the deliberations
OF the council Of four, had hcen adopt-
ed by n conference In which 81 allied
and associated powers were represent.
Al