Evening star., 1919-09-04
COLUMBUS, in GAY GARB,
GREETS THE PRESIDENT
AT FIRST STOP TODAY
TEXT OF PRESIDENTS
SPEECH AT COLUMBUS

"Mr. Chairman, Gov. Campbell and
My Fellow Citizens:
1T is with very profound pleasure
that 1 find myself face to face with
you. 1 have for long time chafed
at the confinement of Washington.
have for long time wished to fulfill
the purpose with which my heart was
full when l returned to our beloved
country. namely. to go out and report
to my fellow countrymen concerning
those affairs of the world which now
need to be settled
THE only people 1 owe any report
to are you and the other citizens of
the United States and it has become
Increasingly necessary. apparently.
that L should report to you. After
all the various angles at which you
nave heard the treaty held up per-
haps you would like to know what is
In the treaty. l find it very difficult
IN reading some of the speeches that
have read to form any conception of
that great document.
Unique In History.
1T is document unique in the his
tory of the world for many reasons
and 1 think 1 can not do you a better
service or the peace of the world a
better service than by pointing out
10 you. just what this treaty con-
talns and what it seeks to do.
In the first place, my fellow coun-
trymen, 1t seeks to punish one of the
greatest wrongs ever done in history.
the wrong which Germany sought to
DO to the world and to civilization.
and there ought to be no weak pur-
pose with regard to the application
OF the punishment. She attempted an
intolerable thing, and she must he
made to pay for the attempt.
Terms Not Unjust.
The terms of the treaty. are severe
put they are not unjust, l can testify
that the men associated with me at
the peace conference in Paris had it
IN their hearts to do justice and not
wrong. but they knew perhaps with
d more viva sense of what had hap
peheu than we could possibly know
on this side of the water the manv
soiemn covenants which GERMANY had
uisT sTeearded,. the long preparation she
hau made TO overwhelm her neigh
oors' the utter disregard which She
I'd raI SHOWN Tor human rights, for the
rights of women and children and
thoSe who were helpless.
lhey mad seen their lands dey-
ss1ated ssIs by an enemy that devoted it.
but to the effort of terror Iy, seeI;nyg,
20 terrify the people whom they
iought, and l wish to testify that they
this tTeaty biest III IT, the terms Of
overwhelm any great nation and tbev
nae no purpose In overwhelming the
German people, but they did think
that 1t ought to be burned into the
consciousness of men forever that no
people ought to permit its govern
ment to do what the German Govern
ment did.
Knows Heart of People.
Some gentlemen have feared with
regard to the league. of nations that
we Will be obliged to do things we
don't want to do. If the treaty were
wrong that might be so, but If the
treaty is right We will wish to pre-
serve right 1 think ] know the heart
OF TINS great people whom /, for the
time being. have the high honor to
represent. better than some other men
that hear talk.
have been bred, and am proud TO
TO have been bred. in the old revolu-
tionary stock which set this Govern
ment up. when America was set up as
friend OF mankind, and / know-if
tney DO not-that America has never
lost that vision or that purpose.
Purpose Dissipates Fear.
But l haven't the slightest fear
that arms will be necessary If the
purpose is there. If know that nv
adversary is armed and / am not, 1
do not press the controversy, and il
any nation entertains selfish purposes
set against the principles established
in this treaty, and is told by the rest
of the world that it must withdraw
it's claims. 1t will not press them.
THE heart of this treaty. than 49,,
fellow citizens. is not even that il
Furnishes Germany-that is a tempor
ary thing-it is that it rectifies the
age-long wrong which characterized