Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-05

! they will hold their convention soon
and do it now. They cannot, in
conscience or good faith. deprive us
of this great work of peace, without
substituting some other that is bet
ter"
The President Immediately re-
turned to his train. which soon left
for st. Louis.
President Wilson'S speech fol-
lows in substance:
MY fellow citizens: So great a
company as this tempts me to make
speech daughter and applause)
and yet l want TO say to you in all
seriousness and soberness that 1
have not come here to make a
speech, in the ordinary sense of that
term.
Errnnd Sober One
Il have come upon a very sober
errand, indeed, | have come to
report to YOU the work which the
representatives of the United States
attempted to do at the Conference
of Peace, on the other side of the
sea. because l realize, my fellow
citizens. that my colleagues and L,
in the task we attempted over there
were your servants. We went there
with a distinct erIand, which it was
which you have displayed in the
prosecution of the war and in con-
ceiving the purpose and objects of
that war.
Il was in the city of Columbus
this afternoon, where l was endeaV-
oring to explain to a body of our
fellow citizens there just what it
was that the Treaty of Peace con-
tanned. for l must frankly admit
that in most of the speeches that
have heard in debate upon the
Treaty of Peace, it would be i'm
possible to form a definite con-
ception of what that instrument
means.
II want to recall to you for the
purposes of this evening, the cir
cumstances of the war and the pur-
poses for which our men spent their
lives on the other side of the sea.
Made Prctcxt For War
You will remember that
prince of the house of Austria was
slain in one of the cities of Serbia.
Serbia was one of the small king
doms of Europe. She had no
strength which any of the great
powers needed to fear. AS we see
the war now, Germany and those
who conspired with her made a
pretext of that assassination in ord
er to make unconscionable demands
for the weak and helpless kingdom
of Serbia, not with a view of bring
ing about an acquiesCence in those
demands. but with a view to bring
ing about a conflict in which their
purposes, quite separate from the
purposes connected with these de-
mands, could be achieved.
dor rNf1
were made, other nations of Europe
sent telegraphic messages to their
representatives at Vienna and Ber-
lin, urging them to ask the govern
ments of Vienna and Berlin to enter
into discussion of these matters.
Il was recalling, my fellow Citi-
zens. the circumstances which be-
gan the terrible conflict that has
just been concluded.
so soon as the unconscionable
demands of Austria were made on
Serbia, the other governments of
Europe sent telegraphic messages
to Berlin and Vienna asking that the
matter be brought into a confer
ence. And the significant circum-
stance of the beginning of this war
is that the Austrian and German
governments did not dare to dis
cuss the demands on Serbia or the
purpose which they had in view.
ut is universally admitted on the
other side of the water that if they
had gone into international confer
ence on the Austrian demands, thC
war never would have begun. There
was an insistent demand from Lon
don, for example. by the British
foreign minister that the cabinets
of Europe should be given time to
confer with the governments at
Vienna and Berlin. The govern