Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-07-13
Secretary Starts Home, Say
ing Every One Can Find
Errors in Treaty..
BASE FOR JUSTICE LAID
j IN CONCERT OF NATIONS
Great Tasks Before Governments
Outlined in Statement; French
1 Thanked for Courtesies.

BY the Associated Press.
PARIS, July 12.-Before leaving for
the United States tonight Secretary
Lansing made the following state
ment to the American correspondents:
Many thoughts rush to mind on
leaving the peace conference after six
months of effort. Never before has
such an international gathering been
held, for here has been the meeting
ground of twenty-seven nations to
1iquidate world war and establish a
new order and a laboratory where al
ready a system of world cooperation
has been born, out of necessity.
"Out of it all has come the most
important international document ever
drawn-the treaty of peace with Ger
many-a document which not only
meets the issues of the present war,
but also lays down new agreements
of the most helpful and most hopeful
character. The nations are bound to-
gether to avert another world catas-
trophe; backward peoples are given a
new hope for their future; several ra
cial entities are liberated to form new
states; beginning is made toward
removing unjust economic restrictions,
and the great military autocracies of
central Europe are destroyed as the
3rst step in a general disarmament.
''Not All We Hoped For
The treaty is. of course. not all
that we had hoped for. 1t could hard
ly be expected to be. Too many con-
f1ictins interests were involved, as
well as too many legitimate docu-
ments which would tax the most per-
fectly balanced mind. Nearly every
one will ind in # weaknesses, both
of omission and commission; pro-
visions inserted which might better
have been left out, and provisions
left out which might better have been
inserted.
such a document must, however, be
examined both against the back
iround of it's creation and in the
large sweep of it's spirit. From that
point of view we may call it a step
ping stone from the old international
methods to the new. If it still holds
some of the distrusts and hatreds of
the war which Germany has full well
earned for herself; if it's construction
has been hindered by memories of Sc
cret pacts and promises, it must be
borne in mind that it carries with it
the evident purpose to throw off the
old methods of international intrigue
and plotting.
unjust Make Hopes Good
But the present treaties are but
the starting point of world recon-
struction. Now that the general prin-
to execute them. And by that / mean,
not so much retributive action against
nations which have recently run
amuck in the world. but rather the
cleansing and healing processes that
shall really make good our hopes and
aspirations.
Undoubtedly there is a great dan
ger in the world today. Many peo-
pie have thought that, the mere sign
ing of the treaty with Germany marks
the ending of the world peril. Pub
lie opinion seems to have breathed
a sigh of relief and Iapsed back into
apathy. Concentration of thought on
world problems is weakening now
when it is most essential, and the
forces of disintegration and reaction
have been given a freedom of action
far greater than when the world was
on it's guard.
Many Tasks Before World.
The situation today is serious.
Western civilization is still dazed by
the shock of four and half years of
destruction. Industry and commerce
are not yet restored. All of Europe
is impoverished: parts of it are starry
ing. Its whole political fiber has been
shot through. Russia and Hungary
are gripped by subversive political
doctrines; Austria-Hungary and Tur-
key as empires have ceased to be;
Poland and Czechoslovakia are strug-
Cling to their feet as members of the
family OF nations. All that compli-
Gated machinery of society which took
decades to elaborate and a world war
to tear down cannot be replaced over
night by wholly different machinery
Many problems remain unsettled
Territorial adjustments TO secure the
rights of peoples to live under their
own flag as far as possible in the
tangled skein of European nationali-
ties may be made effective. Attain
ment of the Polish frontiers on all
sides, particularly in East Prussia. is
very difficult The Teschen coal
fields are still source of contention
between Poland and Czechosloyakia.
Hungary is interrupting the trade OF
all central Europe. The Adriatie
problem is still unsolved, as well AS
the fate of those large territories
formerly under the Turk. including
especially Asia Minor and Armenia.
Alert Public Essential.
"Worifs statesmanship will bt
sorely tried in the next few years