The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-07-11
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rancements intended to be permanent.
The most practical of the, conferees were
at last the most ready to refer TO the
league of nations the superintendent OF
all interests which did not admit OF inn
mediate determination of all admins
tratiye problems which were to require
a continuing oversight What had seemed
a counsel of perfection had come to seem
a plain counsel of necessity. The league
of nations was the practical statesman's
hope of success i'll many OF the most dl1-
fcult things he was attempting.
"And it had validated itself in the
thought of every member of the confer
enee as something much bigger, much
greater every way, than a mere instru.,
ment for carrying out the provisions OF
a particular treaty. 1t was universally
recognized that all the peoples OF the
world demanded of the conference that
it should create such a continuing con-
cert Of Gree nations as would make wars
of aggression and spoliation such as this
that has just ended forever impossible.
"A cry has gone out from every home
in every stricken land from which sons
and brothers and fathers have gone forth
/ to the great sacrifice that such sacri-
\ flee should never again be exacted. IL
was manifest why it had been exacted.
1t had been exacted because one nation
desired dominion and other nations had
known no means of defense except arm
aments and alliances. War had lain at
the heart of every arrangement OF Eu-
rope--of every arrangement OF the world
that preceded the war FESTIVE peo-
pies had been told that fleets and armies,
which they toiled to sustain, meant
peace; and they now know that they
had been lied to; that fleets and armies
had been maintained to promote nation
al ambitions and meant war. They
know that no old policy meant anything
else but force, force-always force. And
they knew that it was intolerable.
Every true heart in the world and
every enlightened judgment demanded
that, at whatever cost of independent ac-
ton, every government that took thought
for its people or for justice or for ordered
freedom should lend itself to new pur-
pose and utterly destroy the old order
of international politics. Statesmen
might see difficulties, but the people
could see none and could brook no de-
NAL A war in which they had been bled
white to beat the terror that lay con-
eealed in every balance of power must
not end in mere victory of arms and
new balance The monster that had re-
sorted to arms must be put in chains
that could not be broken. The united
power of free nations must put stop to
aggression, and the world must be given
unt fba will or hp
intelligence to accomplish that now,
there must be another and final war
and the world must be swept clean of
every power that could renew the terror.
Only Hope for Mankind.
"The league of nations was not merely
an instrument to adjust and remedy old
wrongs under a new treaty of peace; it
was the only hope for mankind. Again
and again had the demon of war been
east out of the house of the peoples and
the house swept clean by treaty of
peace; only to prepare time when he
would enter in again with spirits worse
than himself The house must now be
given to tenant who could hold it
against all such Convenient, indeed in
dispensable, as statesmen found the new
ly planned league of nations to be for
the execution of present plans of peace
and reparation, they saw in it new
aspect before their work was finished.
They saw it as the main object of the
peace, as the only thing that could com
pete it or make it worth while. They
saw it as the hope of the world, and
that hope they did not dare to disap-
point. Shall we or any other free people
hesitate to accept this great dutyg Dare
we reject it and break the heart of the
world?
"And so the result of the conference of
peace, so far as Germany is concerned,
stands complete. The difficulties encoun-
tered were very many. Sometimes they
seemed insuperable. 1t was impossible
to accommodate the interests of so great
a body of nations-interests which di-
rectly or indirectly affected almost every
nation in the world without many mi
nor compromises. The treaty, as a re-
suit, is not exactly what we would have
written. 1t is probably not what any
one of the national delegations would
have written. But results were worked
out which on the whole bear test.
think that it will be found that the com
promises which were accepted as inevi-
table nowhere cut to the heart of any
principle. The work of the conference
squares, as a whole. with the principles
agreed upon as the basis of the peace as
well as with the practical possibilities of
the international situations which had
to be faced and dealt with as facts.
Special Treaty with France Later
81 shall presently have occasion to lay
before you special treaty with France,
whose object is the temporary protection
of France from unprovoked aggression
by the power with whom this treaty of
peace has been negotiated. It's terms
link it with this treaty. | take the lib
erty, however, of reserving it for special
explanation on another occasion
"The role which America was to play
in the conference seemed determined, as
! have said, before my colleagues and
got to aris-determined by the uni
versal expectations of the nations whose
representatives, drawn from all quarters
of the globe, we were to deal with 1t
was universally recognized that America
had entered the war to promote no pri-
vate or peculiar interest of her own but
oHIy as the champion OF TlgnUs winch
she was glad to share with free men
and lovers of justice everywhere We
had formulated the principles upon which
the settlement was to be made the prin-
eipes upon which the armistice had been
agreed to and the parleys of peace I'm
dertaken- and no one doubted that our
desire was TO see the treaty of peace
formulated along the actual lines of
those principles and desired nothing