Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1919-07-03

ID ana SGaled SATURDAY at VIZ
p. m, in the historic hall of
mirrors at Versailles, but under cir
,umstances which somewhat dimmed
he expectations of those who had
worked and fought during long years
If war and months Of negotiations for
is achievement.
The absence Of the Chinese dele
gates, who at the last moment were
Unable to reconcile themselves to the
5hantung settlement, and left the.
eastern empire outside the formal pur-
views Of peace, struck the first dis
;ordant note in the assembly. A writ
zen protest which General Jan Chris
.ian SHUTS lodged with his signature
vas another disappointment to the
makers of the treaty.
But, bulking larger, was the attitude
Of Germany and the German plenipo-
tentiaries, which left them, as evident
from the official program Of the day
and from the expression CT NJ. Clemen-
,eau, still outside any formal recon-
citation and made actual restoration
to regular relations and intercourse
with the allied nations dependent, not
upon the signature Of the "prelimi-
1aries Of peace" today, but upon rati-
location by the national assembly.
To NJ. Clemenceau's stern warning
In his opening remarks that they
would be expected and held, to OBJ
serve the treaty provisions legally
and completely, the German delegates,
through DR.. Haniel Won Haimhausen,
replied after returning to the hotel
that, had they known they would be
treated on different status after sign.
ing than the allied representatives, as
shown by their separate exits before
the general body of the conference,
they never would have signed.
AS a contrast with the Franco-Ger
man peace session OF 1871, helt
In the same hall, there were presen
grizzled French veterans of the Fran
co-Prussian war. They replaced the
PrussiaR guardsmen of the previous
ceremony and the Frenchmen watch
ed the ceremony with grim satisfae
ton.
1871 Conditions Reversed.
The conditions ct 1871 were exactly
reversed. The disciples Of Bismarck
sat in the seats Of the lowly while
the white marble statue of Min
erva, the goddess Of war, looked on.
Overhead Of the frescoed ceiling
were scenes from Frances ancien
wars.
Three incidents were emphasized
by the smoothness with which the Ger
emony was conducted. The first o.
these was the failure of the Chinese
delegation to sign. The second was
the protest submitted by General Jar
Christian SHUTS, who declared the
peace unsatisfactory. The third, un
known to the general public, came
from the Germans. When the pro
gram for the ceremony was shown
to the German delegation, Herr Vol
Haimhausen, Of the German delega
ton, went to Colonel Henry, French
liaison officer, and protested. HI
said:
I'VE cannot admit that the German
delegates should enter the hall by {
| different door than the entente dele
gates, nor that military honors shoulc
be withheld. Had we known ther'
would be such arrangements before
the delegates would not have come"
After a conference with the French
foreign minister it was decided, as {
compromise, to render military hon
ors as the Germans left. Otherwise
the program was not changed.
An hour before the signing Of thu
treaty, those assembled in the hall hat
been urged to take their seats, blu
their eagerness to see the historic Gel
emory was so keen that they refuses
to keep their seats, and crowded tc
ward the center of the hall, which is S
| long that a good view was impossible
from the distance. Even with oper
glasses the correspondents and other
were unable to observe satisfactorily
The seats we're in no way elevated
consequently there was a genera
scramble for standing room.
1