The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-08-20


ment:
Mr.. Chairman: / am sincerely
glad that the committee should
have responded in this way to my
intimation that 1 would like to be
OF service to 1t. I welcome the
opportunity for frank and full
interchange of views.
hope. too, that this confer
ence will serve to expedite your
consideration of the treaty of
peace. beg that you will par
don and indulge me If 1 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.
I venture thus again to urge my
advice that the action of the SEN
ate 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 national life
are OF the most pressing and criti-
fcal character, will require for
their proper solution the most In
innate and disinterested coopera-
ton Of all parties and all interests,
and cannot be postponed without
manifest peril to our people and
to all the national advantages we
hold most dear. May l mention a
few of the matters which cannot
be handled with intelligence until
the country knows the character,
OF the peace II is to have? I do
so only by a very few samples.
The copper mines OF Montana,
Arizona and Alaska, for example,
are being kept open and in opera
ton only at a great cost and loss,
in part upon borrowed money; the
zinc mines of Missouri, Tennessee
and Wisconsin are being operated
at about one-half their capacity;
souri, reaches only a portion OF It's
former market; there is an imme-
date need for cotton betting, and
also for lubricating oil which can
not be met-all because the chan
nels OF trade are barred by war
when there is no war. The same
is true of raw cotton, of which the
Central Empires alone formerly
purchased nearly 100000 bales.
And these are only examples.
Everything Awaits Peace.
There is hardly a single raw
material. a single imported food
stun or a single class of manu-
featured goods which is not in the
same case. Our full normal pro-
fitable production waits on peace.
Our military plans Of coarse
wait upon II. We cannot intelli-
gently or wisely decide how large
naval or military force we shall
maintain or what our policy with
regard to military training is to
be until We nave 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.
And there IL more than that
difficulty invoIved. The vast sur
plus properties of the army in
clude not food and clothing merely,
whose sale viii affect normal pro-
auctions, but great manufacturing
establishments also which should
he restored TO their former uses,
great stores OF machine tools, and
all sorts of merchandise which
must lie idle until peace and mill
tary policy are definitely deter
mined. BY the same token there
can be no properly studied ma
uonal budget until then.
The nations that ratify the
treaty. such as Great Britain,
Belgium and France, will be in a
position to lay their plans for
controlling the markets of Central
Europe, without competition from
us, II We do not presently act.
We have no consular agents, no
trade representatives there to
look after our interests.
There are large areas of Europe
whose future will lie unceT tain
and questionable until their peo-
pie know the final settlements of
peace and the forces which are TO
administer and sustain It. With
out discriminate markets our pro-
ductn cannot proceed with In