The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1919-07-17
m President Gives Account of His Stewardship Before
Crowded Senate; Received With Tumultuous Applause
And Heard With Rapt Attention.
eGTER PART OF ADDRESS DEVOTED TO LEAGUE OF nations
Rather Than Verbosty Marked the Composition
Of the Address Which Will Go Down Into History as One
of the Most Remarkable Documents of ANY Age

u.sbington.-President Wilson laid
$50 neacetreaty with Germany before
49, senate without attempt to explain
.ts specific terms. His address, which
.oouired 40 minutes for delivery, was
.oroted almost wholly to the league
Of nations
American isolation, the president
..d ended 20 years ago at the close
# the war with Spain. Fear of Amer
AN motives now also had ended, he
declared.
"There can be no question OF our
.oasng to be a world power" said
Mr. wilson. 1.-THE only question is
,vsether we can refuse the moral lead
orsbip that is offered us, whether we
shall accept or reject the confidence
tthe world"
The war and the peace conference
n his opinion, the president said, had
already answered that question, land
nothing but our mistaken action can
alter il"
After the end Of the great war,
the president said, every enlightened
Judgment demanded that, at whatever
cost Of independent action, every gov
eminent that took thought for it's
people, or for justice or for ordered
freedom, should lend itself to a new
purpose and utterly destroy the old
order Of International politics."
Text Of Address.
President Wilson, in presenting the
peace treaty and the league OF ma
lions to the senate, spoke as follows:
Gentlemen Of the Senate:
The treaty Of peace with Germany
was signed at Versailles on the 2Sth
Of June. l avail myself of the earliest
opportunity to lay the treaty before
you for ratification and to inform you
with regard to the work Of the confer
ence by which that treaty was formu-
lated
The treaty constitutes nothing less
than world settlement. It would
not be possible for me either to sum-
Marie or to construe it's manifold
provisions in an address which must
OF necessity be something less than
treatise. My services and all the
Information I possess will be at your
disposal and at the disposal OF your
committee on foreign relations at any
time, either informally or in session,
as you may prefer; and I hope that
you will not hesitate to make use Of
them I shall at this time, prior to
your own study of the document at
tempt only a general characterization
Of It's scope and purpose.
In one sense, no doubt, there is no
need that I should report to you what
was attempted and done at Paris.
You have been daily cogniZant OF
what was going on thereof the prob
lens with which the peace conference
mad to deal and of the difficulty Of
laying down straight lines Of settle
ment anywhere on a field on which
the old lines Of international relation
snip, and the new alike followed so
intricate a pattern and were, for the
most part, cut so deep by historical
circumstances which dominated &C
ZION where it would have been best
70 ignore or reverse them. The cross
currents Of politics and Of interest
must have been evident to you. 1t
would be presuming in me to attempt
explain the questions which arose
Ut the many diverse elements that en-
Tered into them. shall attempt
something less ambitious than that
ana more clearly suggested by my
uuty to report to the Congress the
part it seemed necessary for my col
'0agueS and me to play as the repre-
Sentatives Of the government Of the
United States.
mat part was dictated by the role
america had played in the war and
:" the expectations that has been
created in the minds of the peoples
WIN whom we had associated our
'elYes in that great struggle.
Inc United States entered the war
upon different footing from every
U'ner nation except our associates on
"iS side Of the sea. We entered It,
W. because our material interests
we're directly threatened or because
DS special treaty obligations to which
a.. were parties had been violated,
WI only because we saw the suprem-
w. and even the validity OF right
u'0'y"here put in jeopardy and free
tSOVernment likely to be everywhere
-, 'perllled by the intolerable aggres-
s" on OF a power which respected
1Nner right nor obligation and whose
.,-; Wy system OF government houted the
U'S ot the citizens as against the