The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-08-19

iresiueHt wilson began his COME
ence with the senate foreign relation
committee at the White House toda
with an opening statement on Il
peace treaty and the league OF nj
tions. He said:
Mr.. Chairman-I am sincerely
glad that the committee should
have responded in this way to my
intimation that l would like to be
OF service to 1t. l welcome the
opportunity for frank and full
interchange of views.
l hope, too, that this conference
will serve to expedite your con-
sideration of the treaty of peace.
| beg that you will pardon and
indulge me If l again urge that
practically the whole task of
bringing the country back to nor
NAL conditions Of life and indus
try waits upon the decision Of the
senate with regard to the terms
of the peace.
l venture thus again to urge
my advice that the action of the
senate with regard to the treaty
be taken at the earliest practic-
able moment because the prob
lens with which we are face to
face In the readjustment of our
national life are of the most
pressing and critical character,
will require for their proper solu-
tton the most intimate and dis
interested cooperation of all
parties and all interests and can
not be postponed without man.
ifest peril to our people and to
all the national advantages we
hold most dear. May mention a
few Of the matters which cannot
be handled with intelligence until
the country knows the character
of the peace 1t Is to have? do
so only by a very few samples.
Mines Open at Cost and Loss.
The copper mines of Montana
and Alaska. for example, ARE be-
ing kept open and in operation
only at great cost and loss,
in part upon borrowed money.
The zinc mines of Missouri, Ten
nessee and Wisconsin are being
opetated at about one-half their
NhC ltdu vi
nois anG Missouri reaches only a
portion of its former market;
there Is an immediate need for
cotton betting and also for lubri-
eating oil which cannot be met
all because the channels of trade
are barred by war when there Is
no war. The same Is true of
raw cotton, of which the central
empires alone formerly purchased
nearly 1000, 900 bales. And these
are only examples. There Is
hardly a single raw material, a
single important foodstuffs, or a
single class Of manufactured
goods which Is not in the same
case. Our full, normal, profitable
production waits on peace.
Our military plans, of course.
wait upon it. We cannot decide
how large a military or naval
force we shall maintain or what
our policy toward military train
ing shall be until we have peace,
also, and how peace is to be sus-
tanned, whether by the arms of
single nations or by the concert
or all tne great peoples.
. And there is more than that
difficulty involved. The vast sur
plus properties of the army in
clude, not food and clothing
merely, whose sale will affect
normal production, but great
manufacturing establishments
also. which should be restored to
their former uses, great stores of
machine tools and all sorts of
merchandise which must lie idle
until peace and military policy
are definitely determined. By the
came token there can be no prop
erly studied national budget until
then.
The nations that ratify the
treaty, such as Great Britain Bel
gium and France, will be in
position to lay their plans for
controlling the markets of CEN
trail Europe without cooperation
from us if we do not presently
act. We have no consular agents.
no trade representative there to
look after our interests.
Whole World Waits on Senate.
There are large areas of Europe
whose future will lie uncertain
and questionable until their peo-
pie know the final settlements of
peace and the forces which are to
and sustain it. With
out determinate markets our pro-
duction cannot proceed with in
telligence or confidence. There
can be no stabilization of wages
because there can be no settled
of employment. There
can be no easy or normal indus
trial credits, because there can be
or permanent revival OF
business.
But l will not weary you with
obvious examples. will only ven
ture to repeat that every element
IF normal life amongst us de-
pends on and awaits the ratii-
cation Of the treaty Of peace; and
4 IuN that n