Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-07-10
ANDF FORKS HERALD, THURSDAY, JULY10 isl

they now knew that they had been
lied to-: that fleets and armies had
been maintained to promote national
ambitions and meant war. They knew
that no old policy meant anything
else but ~force-always force. And
they Knew that it was intolerable.
Every true heart in the world and
every enlightened judgment demand
ed that, at whatever cost of ~independ-
ent action, every government that
took thought for its people or for JUS
tice or for freedom should lend it
self to a new purpose and utterly de-
stroy the old order of International
politics. Statesmen. might see difficult
ties but the people could see none and
could brook no denial, a war IN
which they had been bled white to
beat the terror that lay concealed in
every balance of power must not end
in a mere victory of arms and a new
balance. The monster that had re-
sorted to arms must be put in chains
that could not be broken. The unit
ed power of free nations must put a
stop to aggression and the world must
be given peace. If there was not the
will Or the intelligence to accomplish
that now. there must be another and
a final war and the world must be
swept clean of every power that could
= ~ AIN Soe w "a ASA
lions vas not merely an instrument to
adjust and remedy old wrongs under a
new treaty of peace; it was the only
hope for mankind. Again and again
had the demon of war been cast out
of the house of the peoples and the
house swept clean by a treaty of
peace; only to prepare a time when
he would enter in again with spirits
worse than himself. The house must
~~-. ~ -s&1 - $o~4-k ~.L -@,.N .A~lI
it against all such. Convenient, in
deed indispensable as statesmen found
the newly planned League of Nations
to be for the execution of presen'
plans of peace and ~reparation they
saw it in a new aspect before then
work was finished. They saw it as the
main object of the peace conference
as the only thing that could complete
it or make it worth while. They saw
it as the hope of the world and tina
hope they did not dare to disappoint
hesitate ITO accept this great duty
Dare we reject it and break the hear
of the world? -
MANY DIFFICULTIES
ENCOUNTERED.
"And so the result Of the conference
of peace 20 far as Germany is con
cerned, stands complete. The Difficult
ties encountered were very many
Sometimes they seemed insuperable
1t was impossible to accommodate tn
interests of so great a body of nation
Interests which directly or indirect
ly affected almost every nation in tn
world-Without many minor compro
misses. The treaty as a result, is no
exactly what we would have written
1t is probably not what any of tn,
| No ticApo1 1l~orokS@~ vp~,,ll 1n~->F--~:A
ten. But results were worked GU
which on the whole bear test. I thin
that it will be found that the compro
misses which were accepted as inevita
BILE nowhere cut to the heart of an,
principle. The work of the %conferenc
squares as a whole, with the principle
agreed upon is the basis of the peac
as we'll as with the practical possibil
tiles of the International situation
which had to be faced and dealt wit
as facts.
Il sha1l~presently have occasion t
lay before you a special treaty wit
France, whose object is the temporar
protection of France from unprovoke
aggression by the power with. whor
this treaty Of peace has been negotiat
ed. Its terms link it with his treat,
take the liberty, however. of reserv
ing it for special exploitation on anoth
err occasion.
THE role which America was t
play in the conference seemed deter
mined. as I have said. before my col
leagues and ] got to Paris-determin
ed by the universal expectations of tn
nations whose representatives, draw
from all quarters Of the globe, w
were to deal with. 1t was UNIVERSAL
recognized that America had entere
the war to promote no private or pc
culiar interest of her own but only a
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