Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-04-18
TREATY
CONTA|NSOvE
10000 WORDS
Drafting Final Form Proceeds
Rapidly; League Of Ma
tions Covenant in
Place of Honor.

Place Of Honor.
Paris, April 10y Associated
Press. 1.-The council of FIVE. con-
sisting of the foreign ministers of
France, Great Britain and Italy and
President Wilson and Baron Ma
kino, met today with the drafting
committee and discussed the form
of the treaty. The ministers also
considered the revision of the Mo-
roccan treaties necessary to elimi-
nate the German interests.
A new commission was appointed
today to consider the Kiel canal.
1t consists of the present commits
sion on water ways and additional
naval experts of the entente.
All the old commissions have
completed their reports. except that
on Poland, which is undoubtedly de-
layed because of the uncertainty of
the eastern boundary of Germany.
Drafting of the final form of the
peace treaty is proceeding rapidly
in order to have it ready for pre-
sentation to the German delegates
when they arrive at Versailles a
week hence. The document. as
framed, begins with an introduction
in the form of protocol, setting
forth the complete list of bellig-
erent powers taking part in the war
and now making peace, with the
designation of plenipotentiaries Of
each country and with their power
to sign.
Priority Given to League.
Then comes a declaration of i'm
pressive brevity, not exceeding 80
words, stating that on the conciu-
sion of the treaty and the exchange
of notifications, the war shall come
to ali end.
Following upon the declaration Of
peace, the present intention of the
peace delegates is to have the cove
nant of the league of nations oc-
cupy the place of honor in the
treaty and to be the first subject
treated in detail 1t will thus take
the priority it had in the program
of the peace conference.
Then in succession will follow the
military, naval and aerial terms, re-
'parations, responsibilities, the Rhine
frontier, the Sarre region, Alsace-
Lorraine, Poland, the status of Dam
zig as an international port, Ger
many's Schleswig- Holstein frontier
and large number of special sub
jects, including the labor convention
adopted at the last plenary session
of the conference; international
ports and waterways and extended
and financial provisions not directly
connected with reparations.
The textual form of all these sub
divisions has been completed, so
that the work at present going on
is chiefly fitting together the parts
into homogeneous whole. This is
being done by international exports
representing the five great powers.
Their work is largely formal as the
council of four and the commissions
have adopted the language of the
various parts now being fitted to
them.
Treaty Exceeds 10000 Words.
1t is estimated that the treaty as
a whole will exceed 10000 words,
or the contents of large, closely
printed volume. The text is being
prepared in French and English, and
as a means of expediting action. a
German text may be prepared,
though it is foreseen that the Ger
man plenipotentiaries may ask for
considerable time to peruse a
document of such magnitude.
Intention to form a permanent
commission on aerial
navigation to act as a clearing house
on questions of air navigation be-
tween states was shown by an Off
cial report issued today on the con-
illusions of the commission on aerial
navigation.
Wilson Gives Hearings.
President Wilson devoted most
of the day to appointments, be-
ginning at 10 o'clock with the
Chinese peace delegation and end
ing after S o'clock with Frank P.
Walsh, a member of the delegation
sent by Irish societies in America
to plead the cause of Ireland.
The program for the day had
been planned carefully, the president
receiving some one every S minutes
Among those received was French
delegation which wanted to see the
president about the left bank of the
Rhine; the foreign minister Of Swift
zerland, a delegate from Chaldea.
two American women labor leaders,
the patriarch of Constantinople,
Premier Bratino of Roumania, Pre-
mier Pachitch of Serbia, and the
Portuguese minister of foreign af-
fairs who desired to discuss the
problems of their countries.
>Viscount Chinda, of the Japanese
delegation, arranged today for his
before the council CT
four Saturday on the Kiao-Chau
question with a view to an adjust
ment with China which shall be in
in the peace treaty. The
delegates believe that an
accord will be reached, whereby
China will ultimately control Kiao-
Chau, with suitable recognition of
Japan's efforts.
A plenary session of the peace
conference will occupy two days
next week, Wednesday and Thurs
day, to pass upon a number of re-
naming details before the meeting
With the Germans.