The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1919-08-22
World Chaos Can End Only With
Peace, He Says
TRADE NOW AT STANDSTILL
Change of Language Means Delay
Immediate Ratification Is Urged,
but No Animus Is Shown by
the Chief Executive.

lection" to interpretations of how the
United States accepts the League Of
Nations, provided such interpretations
did not form part Of the formal rati-
ficatiOn itself.
If interpretations were made part of
the formal ratification, the president
contended, long delays would follow,
as other governments, including Ger
many, would have to accept in effect
the language of the senate as the Ian
guage of the treaty before ratifcatiOn
would be complete" Most of the in
terpretations, the president said,
seemed to him to suggest the plain
meaning of the instrument itself"
Urges Quick Action.
The president began his conference
with the committee at the White
House with an opening statement on
the peace treaty and the League OF
Nations. In part, he said:
Mr.. Chairman: / am sincerely glad
that the committee should have re-
spOnded in this way to my intimation
that l would like to be of service to it.
/ welcome the opportunity for. frank
and full interchange of views.
81 hope, too, that this conference
will serve to expedite your considera-
ton of the treaty of peace. / beg that
you will pardon and indulge me if
again urge that practically the whole
task of bringing the country back to
normal conditions of life and industry
waits upon the decision of the senate
with regard to the terms of the peace.
II venture thus again to urge my adj
vice that the action of the senate with
regard to the treaty be taken at the
earliest practicable moment, because
the problems with which we are face
to face in the reimbursement of our ma
tiOnal life are of the most pressing
and critical character, will require for
their proper solution the most intimate
and disintereSted cooperation OF all
parties and all interests and cannot be
postponed without manifest peril to
our people and to all the national adj
vantages we hold most dear. May
mention a few of the matters which
cannot be handled with intelligence
until this country knows the character
of the peace it is to have? / do so
only by very few examples.
Trade Channels Are Blocked.
'The copper mines of Montana and
Alaska, for example, are being Kept
open and in operation only at great
cost and loss, in part upon borrowed
money; and zinc mines of Missouri,
Tennessee and Wisconsin are being
operated at about One-half their ca
pacity; the lead of Idaho, Illinois and
Missouri reaches only d portion of its
former market; there is an immediate
need for cotton betting and also for
lubricating oil which cannot be met
all because the channels of trade are
barred by war when there is no war.
There is hardly a single raw material,
a single important foodstuff or single
class of manufactured goods which is
not i'm the same case. Normal profitable
production waits on peace.
"Our military plans, of course, wait
upon it, We cannot intelligently or
wisely decide how large naval or
military force we shall maintain or
what our policy with regard to mill
tary training is to be until we have
peace, not only, but also until we know
how peace is to be sustained whether
by the arms of single nations or by the
concert of all the great peoples.
''There are large areas of Europe
whose future will be uncertain and
questionable until their people know
the final settlement of peace and the
forces which are to administer ana
sustain it.
without determinate markets our
production cannot proceed with intel
lfgence or confidence. There can be
no sterilization of wages because
there can be no settled conditions of
employment There can be no easy
nor normal industrial credits, because
there can be no confident or perma-
nent revival of business.
''But I will not weary you with OBJ
vious examples. / will only venture
to repeat that every element of normal
life amongst us depends upon and
awaits the ratification of the treaty of
peace, and also that we cannot afford
to lose a single summers day by not
doing all that we can to mitigate the
winters suffering, which unless we
find means to prevent it, may prove
disastrous to large portion of the
world, and may at it's worst bring upon
Europe conditions even more terrible
than those wrought by the war itself.
Nothing, am led to believe, stands
In the way of the ratification of the
treaty except certain doubts with re-
gard to the meaning and implication
NJ rorfain articles of the covenant of