Weekly journal-miner., 1919-06-25
Five Months Work

 The peace treaty oi Versailles is the fruit of about five months of con ferences in which delegations from B allied countries and Germany par ticipated. The five leading nations, the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan, were repre- scented in the peace conference at Paris by five delegates each, while the delegations of other nations and British dominions were composed of from one to three men.
 The representatives of the United States were President Wilson, Sec retary of State Robert Lansing, Henry White, formerly American ambassador at Rome and Paris; Col. Edward N. House and General Tas- ker H. Bliss.
 Georges Clemenceau, premier ot France, was chirman of the peace conference.
 At first a supreme council of ten was organized so as to include two representatives each from Great Brit ain, France, the United States, Italy and Japan. Subsequently this coun- cil was divided in two parts-a coun- cil of four, composed of President Wilson and Premiers Lloyd George, Clemenceau and Orlando; and council of foreign ministers.
 The conference of the allied dele gations convened officially on. Janu- ary l8 to draw up the terms to be submitted when completed to the German delegation. President Wil- son had arrived in France on Decem- Der l3 and had visited England, Italy and parts of. France.
 Russian Proposal
 One of the first acts of the con ference was to send proposal to all Russian factions to meet on the Rrince's Islands to endeavor to com pose the Russian internal situation, but this plan was rejected by the Russians. Various factions which were disputing over territory in diff ferent sections of Europe were di- rected by the peace conference to discontinue their conflicts.
 Work Starts January "A
 The first step toward the actual drafting of the treaty occurred on January "A. when the conference agreed to the plan for organization of a League of Nations and com mittee was appointed to draw up a covenant.
 By January 30 the conference had adopted the plan of governing col onies and backward nations through mandatories issued to various na nations, subject to the direction and approval of the League of Nations.
 The covenant oi the League of Ma tions was completed on February l4. On the following day President Viii son left France for the United States
 He returned to France, arriving there March l4 In his absence the council of ten had continued its work despite an attempt to assassinate Premier Clemenceau.
 A report of the international labor legislation committee was adopted April H. Reparation demands to be made on Germany were approved April l4 and the Germans were in vited on April l6 to send their dele gation to Versailles to receive thcI treaty.
 The peace conference next consid- cred the treaty with Austria The Italian delegation insisted upon ob-I taining control of the former Aus trian city if Plume, but on April g President Wilson gave out state ment that Plume could not be given to Italy. On the next day Premier Orlando returned to Rome and for more than a week thereafter the Ital- ian delegates were absent, but re- turned on May , in time to partici pate in the conference with the Ger maH delegates.