Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-01-19
PO|NCARf WELCOMES
 DELEGATES
Assembly of Horse Shoe Table Complete at Three o'clock Yesterday.

Paris. Jan. 1S,-The peace confer
 once was formally opened this after
 noon with a speech by President Poin-
 care of France.
 President Poincare thanked the al-
 l;ed nations for having chosen Paris
 for their important work and praised
 tha valor of the allied armies which
 had preserved the capital of France
 from the enemy. The presidents ad-
 dress was as follows:
 "Gentlemen: France greets and
 thanks you for having chosen as the
 seat of your labors the city which for
 more than any other has endured the
 made his principal military objective
 and which the valor of the allied
 armies has victoriously defended
 against unceasingly renewed offen-
 siveS.
 Permit me to see in your decision
 the homage of all the nations that you
 represent toward a country which
 more than any oethr has endured the
 suferings of war, of which entire provinces have been transformed into vast battlefield and have been sys-
 tematically laid waste by the invader, / and which has paid the human tribute i in death.
 France has borne these enormous
 sacrifices although she had not the
 slightest responsibility for the fright / full catastrophe which has overwhelm- ' ed the universe. And at the moment
 when the cycle of horror is ending, | all the powers whose delegates are assembled here may acquit themselves | of any share in the crime which has resulted in so unprecedented a disas- ter What gives you the authority to establish peace of justice is the fact l that none of the peoples of whom you are the delegates has had any part in l the injustice. Humanity can place confidence in you because you are not |amongf those who have outraged the trights of humanity.
 There is no need of further infor- l |mation or of special inquiries into the |of the drama which has just shaken l the whole world The truth, lbathed |in blood, has already escaped from |the imperial archives. The premed- |ltated character of the trap is today clearly proved.
 Tn the hope of conqAering first the |hegemony of Europe and next the mastery of the wodld. The true mastery of the world, the Central Elm |pres, bound together by secret plot, |lound the most abomniable of pre- texts for trying to crush Serbia. and |lorce their way to the east. At the same time they disowned the most solemn undertakings in order to crush belgium and force their way into the |heart of France. These are the two unforgettable outrages which opened the way to aggression The combined efforts of Great Britain, France and Russia were exerted against that man-made arro- gance.
 If, after long vicissitudes, those |wno wished to reign by sword have Ip,erished by the sword, they have only themselves to blame. They have been destroyed by their own blindness.
 what could be more significant tnan the shameful bargains they att tempted to offer to Great Britain and trance at the end of July, 1914. when Eo Great Britain they suggested: ALLOW us to attack France on land ana We will not enter the channel"
 Ahd when they instructed their am- passador to say to France: We will only say accept a declaration of neutral ny on your part if you surrender to us .s brley, Toul, and Verdun.' It is tn .ae hght of these things, gentlemen, .aat all the conclusions you vii have shape.
 Your nations entered / the wal excessively, M but came one and all ~ lhe help of threatened right. Like a,et4any, Great Britain had guaran teea the independence of Belgium Ccslliany sought to crush Belgium ta niSat Britain and France both sworl 10 save her.
 h, lnis, from the very beginning oi tSUs'llltles tSs there came into, conflict wa. ,me two ideas which for fifty mcnths tha Sete to struggle for the dominion ol sn ne world-the idea of sovereign ,cace nn' which accepts neither control ",r uh, check. and the idea of justice rna "uich depends on the sword only te strength. p' 0'' ''0 "'"s' " m;,, ,t;althfully supported by her do A'ohs ain and her colonies, Great Brit moi. m ueclded that she could not re iha'l tha aloof from a struggle in whicf vaS S 'aee M Of every country was islvol m;n,o min she has made, and her do w;.h vaions and colonies have mad' vena "ma her, prodigious efforts to pre- nmnh 'ie war from ending in the tri tha pa a of the spirit of conquest an(
 -" ruestruction of right.
 to Japan, taI, in her turn, only decide, C,oo axe up arms out of loyalty t fron, fal Britain, her great ally, ant gsr % t. the consciousness of the dan
 S Sa~-sSnlch U -wshlch both Asia and EuroD tCOntlnued on naoo four,