The Washington herald., 1919-02-04

SACRIFICES NEED
, NLEAGUE BR TIL
Wilson'S Speech
From Historic
Paris Platform

Il u
II am keenly aware OF the unusual
and distinguished honor you are pay
ing me by permitting me to meet you
in this place and address you from
this historic platform. Indeed, sir, as
day has followed day, and week has
followed week, in this hospitable land
of France l have felt the sense of
comradship ever become more and
more intimate, and it has seemed to
me that the making of history was
being singularly clear.
I'VE knew before this war began
that France and America were united
in affection. We knew the occasions
which drew the two nations together
in those years, which now seem so
| far away, when the world was first
! beginning to thrill with the impulse
of human liberty, when soldiers OF
| France came to help the struggling
1 little republic of America to get on
| its feet and proclaim one of the first
Victories of freedom.
We had never forgotten that, but
we did not see the full meaning of it.
~ hundred years and more went by
and the spindles were slowly weaving
the web of history. We did not see it
to be complete dozen words missing
here). In that far-off day when France
came to the assistance of America,
America was fighting Great Britain
and now she is linked as closely to
Great Britain as she is to France
DiyergInG Lines Joining.
I'VE see now how these apparently
diverging lines of history are coming
together. The rations which once
stood in battle array against one an
other are now shoulder and shoulder
fighting a common enemy. 1t was a
long time before we saw that, and in
the last four years something has
happened that is unprecedented in the
history of man. 1t is nothing less than
this, that bodies Of men on both sides
of the sea and in all parts of the
world have come to realize their COM
radeship in freedom.
France in the meantime, as We
have so often said, stood at the
frontier of freedom. Her lines lay
along the very lines that divided the
home of freedom from the home of
military despOtism. Hers was the
immediate peril Hers was the con-
slant dread. Hers was the most
pressing necessity OF preparation,
and she had constantly to ask her
self this question. if the blow falls,
who will come to our assistance?
And the question was answered in
the most unexpected way. Her al
lies came to her assistance, bu.
many more than her allies. The
free people Of the world came to her
assistance. And thus America paid
her debt of gratitude to France by
, sending her sons to fight upon the
soil Of France. She did more She
assisted in drawing the forces of the
/ world together in order that France
might never again feel her isolation
! in order that France might never
! feel that hers was lonely LeriI,
would never again have to ask the
question who would come to her as
/ sistance.
For the alternative is a terrible
alternative for France. do not
need point to you that east of you
/ in Europe the future is full of ques-
| tion. Beyond the Rhine. across Ger
many, across Poland, across Russia.
across Asia, there are questions un-
answered and they may be for the
/ present unanswerabIc. France still
stands at the frontier. France still
stands in the presence of those
J threatening and unanswered ques-
| tions, threatening because unan-
|swered, stands waiting for the solu-
| tion of matters which touch her di-
rectly and intimately and constant
! Iy and if she must stand alone, what
must she do? She must put upon
! her people a constant burden of
! taxation. She must undergo a sac
! rifice that may become intolerable
And not only she. but the other ma
! tiOns of the world must do the like.
They must stand on Cap-aPie. They
must be ready for any terrible in
cident of injustice. The thing is not
conceivable.
II visited the other day a portion
of the devastated region of France. 1
saw the noble city of Rheims in ruins.
and I could not help saying to myself,
! Here is where the blow fell because
the rulers of the world did not sooner
see how to prevent it The rulers of
| the world have been thinking of the
| relations of governments and forget
| ting the relations of peoples.
/ whole World should Guard.
They have been thinking Of the
meneuvers of international dealings,
! when what they ought to have been
| thinking of was the good fortunes
! of men and women and the safety
| of home, and the fear that they
/ should take that their peoples
should be happy because they were
| safe. They Know that the only way
| to do it is to make it certain that
I the same thing will happen always
| that happened this time, that there
| never shall be any doubt or waiting
| or surmise, but that whenever
| France or any other frde peoples is
CONTTSTTED ON D.cE Tyyo