The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-27
ny Aseoelafed prees

Paris, June 26.-President Poincare to- night gave dinner to President Wilson and all the delegates to the peace con- ference. Mrs. Wilson accompanied the President.
 Responding to an address made by M. Poincare, President Wilson said:
 q thank you most sincerely for the words that you have uttered. I cannot pretend, sir, that the prospect of going home is not very delightful to me, but I can say with the greatest sincerity that the prospect of leaving France is very painful to me.
 q have received a peculiarly generous welcome here, and it has been pleasing for me to feel that that welcome was in tended not so much for myself as for the people whom l represented. And the people of France know how to give a welcome that makes a mans heart glad They have a spontaneity about them, . simplicity of friendship which is alto gether delightful.
 T feel that my stay here, sir, has en- Eghtened both my heart and my mind. It has enabled me personally to see the evidence of the suffering and the sacri- fees of France. It has enabled me to come into personal touch with the lead CTS of the French people, and through the medium of intercourse with them to understand better, l hope, than under stood before, the motives, the ambitions and the principles which actuate this great nation. It has been to me, there fore. lesson in friendship in those things which make the intercourse of na- tions profitable and serviceable for ail the rest of mankind.
 "Sometimes the work of the conference has seemed to go very slowly, indeed. Sometimes it has seemed as if there were unnecessary obstacles to agreement; but as the weeks have heightened I have seemed to see the profit that came out of that. Quick conclusions would not have produced that intimate knowledge of each others mind which I think has come out of these daily conferences.
 We have been constantly in the pres ence of each others minds and motives and characters, and the comradeships which are based upon that sort ot knowledge are sure to be very much more intelligent not only, but to breed a much more intimate sympathy and comprehension than could otherwise be created
 These six months have been six months which have woven new flores of connection between the hearts of our peo- pie. And something more than friend ship and intimate sympathy has come
 
 Friendship is very good thing. In timacy is very enlightening thing. But friendship may end with sentiment A new thing that has happened is that we have translated our common principles and our common purposes into a com mon plan. When we part we are not go- ing to part with a finished work. but with work, one portion of which is finished and the other portion of which is only begun.
 We have finished the formulation of the peace, but we have begun a plan of cooperation which believe will broaden and strengthen as the years go by so that this grip of the hand that we have taken now will need to be relaxed We have been and shall continue to be com races We shall continue to be co-work- CTS in tasks which, because they are common, will weave out of our senti- ments a common conception of duty and a common ception of the rights of men of every race and of evedy clime If it be true that that has been accomplished, it is a very great thing.
 As go away from these scenes I think l shall realize that I have been present at one of the most vital things that has happened in the history of nations Ma tions have formed contracts with each other before but they never have formed partnerships They have associated themselves temporarily, but they have never before associated themselves per. manently
 'The wrong that was done in the wag- ing Of this war was a great wrong, but It wakened the world to a great moral