Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1919-07-16
washington.-President Wilson laid

lLQe pe2CCLredly Will IeI IuiHS pelOie
the senate without attempt to explain
tits specific terms. His address, which
required 40 minutes for delivery, was
devoted almost wholly to the league
,od nations.
American isolation, the president
ksatd, ended 20 years ago at the close
lof the war with Spain. Fear Of Amer
rcan motives now also had ended. he
declared.
There can be no question Of our
'ceasing to be a world power" said
Mr.. Wilson. "The only question Is
whether we can refuse the moral lead
ership that is offered us. whether we
shall accept or reject the confidence
% fthe world"
The war and the peace conference
in his opinion, the president said, had
already answered that question. "and
nothing but our mistaken action can
alter it."
After the end of the great war.
the president said, "every enlightened
Judgment demanded that, at whatever
cost Of independent action, every gov,
ernment that took thought for its
people, or for justice or for ordered
freedom, should lend itself to a new
purpose and utterly destroy the old
order of international politics"
Text of Address.
: President Wilson, in presenting the
peace treaty and the league of ma.
tions to the senate, spoke as follows:
Gentlemen of the Senate:
The treaty of peace with Germany
was signed at Versailles on. the 2Sth
of June. avail myself Of the earliest
opportunity to lay the treaty before
you for ratification and to inform you
with regard to the work of the confer.
ence by which that treaty was formu'
dated.
The treaty constitutes nothing less
than a world settlement. 1t woule
not be possible for me either to sum-
marize or to construe its manifold
provisions in an address which must
of necessity be something less thar
a treatise. Ny services and all the
information I possess will be at your
disposal and at the disposal Of your
committee on foreign relations at any
time. either Informally or in session,
as you may prefer; and I hope that
you will not hesitate to make use OF
them. l shall at this time, prior tc
your own study Of the document at
tempt only general Characterization
of it's scope and purpose
In ore sense, 30 doubt, there is nc
need that l should report to you what
was attempted and done at Paris.
You have been daily cognizant ci
wnst vas going on thereof the prob
lems with which the peace conference
had to deal and of the difficulty oi
laying down straight lines of settle
ruent anywhere on field on which
the old lines Of international relation
shir, and the new alike followed sc
dr;tricate a pattern and were, for the
most part, cut 50 deep by historical
circumstances which dominated &C
tion where it would have been best
to ignore or reverse them. The cross
currents of politics and Of interest
must have been evident to you. 1t
would be presuming in me to attempt
to explain the questions which arose
,or the many diverse elements that en-
tered into them. I shall attempt
something less ambitious thar that
and more clearly suggested by my
duty to report to the Congress the
mart it seemed necessary for my COL
leagues and me to play as the repre-
sentatives of the government ct the
United States.
;. THAT part was dictated by the role
America had played in the war aHd
10y the expectations that has been
created in the minds Of the peoples
with whom we had associated our
selves in that great struggle.
The United States entered the war
npon different footing from every
other nation except our associates on
this side of the sea. We entered it,
not because our material interests
were directly threatened or because
any special treaty obligations to which
we were parties had been violated
hut only because we saw the suprem-
acy, and even the validity of right
everywhere put in jeopardy and Tree
government likely to be evcryWaare
imperilled by the intolerable asgres'
sion of O. power which respected
ne,thcr light nor obligation and whose