Republican farmer., 1919-07-11
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been best 10 ignore or reverse them The cross currents of politics and of interest must have been evident to you. It would be presuninE In me to attempt to explain :he questions which nrose or the many diverse ele- ments that entered into them. shall attempt something less ambitious than that and more clearly suggest ed by my duty to report to the con gress the part 1t seemed necessary for my colleagues and me to play as the representatives of the govern mcnt of the United States.
 That part was dictated by the role America had played in the war and by the expectations that had been created in the minds of the peoples with whom we had associated our selves i'm that great struggle.
 The United States entered the war upon a 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 vio- lated, but only because we saw the supremacy and even the validity of riEht everywhere put in jeopardy ard Tree government likely to be every where imperi1lef by the intolerab!e Aggression of q power which respect ed neither right nor obligation and whose very system of government Routed the rights of the citizen as against the autocratic authority of his Governors. And in the settlements of the peace we have sought no special reparutton for ourselves. but only the restoration of right and the assurance of liberty everywhere, that the eff fects of the settlement were to be felt. We entered the war as the disin- terested champions of right and we lnterceded ourselves fin the terms of the peace in no other capacity.
 The hopes of tho nations allied against the Central Powers were at a very low ebb when our soldiers be- Ean Go pour across the sea There was everywhere amongst them, ex- cept in their stoutest spirits a somber forebOdinE of disaster. The war end- cd In November eight months ago, but you have only to recall what was feared in midsummer last. four short months before the arruistice to real ize what it was that our timely aid accomplished alike for their morale and their physical safety. That first. never-to-be forgotten action at Cha teau Thierry had already taken place.
 
 rlnes had already closed the gap the enemy had succeeded fin opening for their advance upon Paris had already turned the tide of battle back towards the frontiers of France, and begun tho rout that was to save Europe and the world. Thereafter the Germans were to be always forced back, back. were never 10 thrust successfully for ward again. And yet there was no confident hope.
 Anxious men and women. leading spirits of France. attended the ceIe- brntlon of the Fourth of July last year in Paris out of generous courtesy with no heart for festivity. little zest for hopo. But they came away with something new nt their hearts. They have themselves told us so. The mere sight of our men-of their vigor. of the confidence that showed itself in every movement of their stalwart fig urcs and every turn of their swinging march, in their steady comprehending z eyes and easy discipline. in the in domitablc air that added spirit to every thing they did-made everyone who saw them that memorable day realize that something had happened that was much more than n mere in- cfdent fin the fighting, something very different from tho mere arrival of fresh troops. A great moral force had flung itself into the struggle The fine physical force of those spirited men spoke of something more than bodily vigor. They carried the great ido4- of a freo people at their hearts. and with that vision were unConquer- able. Their very presence brought re- assurance, their fighting made victory certain.
 But I speak now of what they meant to the men by whose sides they fought and to the people with whom they mingled in such utter simplicity and friends who asked only to be- of service. They were for all the visible embodiment of America What they did made America and all that she stood for a living reality in the thoughts not only of the people of France but also of tens of millions of men and women throughout all the toilinE nations of n world stand ing everywhere in peril of its free dom and of the loss of everything 1t held dear, in deadly fear that it's bonds were never to be loosed, it's hopes forever to be mocked and dis appointed.
 And the compulsion of what they stood for was upon us who represent cd America at the peace table It
 
 decision we took part in con ntributed so far as we were able to Influence it. to quiet tho fears and realize the hopes of the peoples who had been living in that shadow, the nations that had come by our assistance to their freedom. It was our duty to do everything that 1t was within our power to do to make the triumph of freedom and of right a lasting tri- -umph in the assurance of which men might everywhere live without fear ( old entanglements of every kind stood in the way---pronrfses which governments had made to one an- other in the Gays when might and right were confused and the power of the victor was without restraint. En- arguments which contemplated any Vispoat1ons of territory, any exten- Aone of sovereignty that might seem to be to tho interest of those who had the power to insist upon them. had becn entered into without thought of
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