Great Falls daily tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1895-1921, 1919-07-14
AMERICAN ENVOY
GAYsWORLD OFF
GUARD IS DANCER
Secretary Starts on Re-
turn; Sure Big Trials
Face Statesmen.
SOLE HOPE FOR FUTURE
IN LEAGUE LABORATORY

Paris, July 13.-Secretary Lansing
left Brest at o'clock last night and
embarked on the steamer Rotterdam
for the United States at IL o'clock today.
Before leaving, the secretary address,
ed a message to the French people, ac-
knowledging the courtesies extended to
him during his sojourn. He expressed
regret that he was obliged to leave Paris
on the eve Of the fete in honor of vic
tory, in spite of the great temptation to
remain.
Secretary Lansing made the following
statement to the American correspon-
dents:
MANY thots rush to mind on leaving
the peace conference. Never before has
such an international gathering been
held, for here has been the meeting
grounds of twenty-seven nations to
liquidate a world war and to establish
new order and a laboratory where al
ready system of world cooperation has
been born, out of necessity.
Worlds Greatest Charter.
"Out of it all has come the most
important international document ever
drawn-the treaty of peace with Ger
many, a document which not only meets
lays down new agreements of the most
helpful character. The nations are bound
together to avert another world catas-
trophe, backward peoples are given a
new hope for their future; several racial
entities are liberated to form new states
IA beginning is made toward removing
unjust economic restrictions, and the
great military autocracies of central Eu-
rope are destroyed as the first step in
disarmament.
sThe treaty is, of course, not all that
, we hoped for. It could hardly be ex-
pected to be-. Too many conflicting in
terests were involved as well as too
many legitimate documents which would
tax the most perfectly balanced mind.
Nearly every one will find in it weak
nesses both of omission and commission,
provisions inserted which might better
have been left out and provisions left out
which might better have been inserted.
Transition Of New Era.
"Such document must, however, be
examined both against the background of
its creation and in the large sweep Of
its spirit.
1--WE may call it stepping stone
from the old international methods to
the new. If it still holds some of the
distrusts and hatreds of the war which
self, If its construction has been hindered
by memories of secret pacts and prom
ises, it must be borne in mind that it
carries with it the evident purpose to
throw off the old methods of interna
tional intrigue and plotting.
But the present treaties are but the
starting point Of world reconstruction
Now that the general principles have
been laid down it remains to execute
them. And by that / mean, not so much
retributive action against nations which
but rather the cleansing and healing pro-
.cesses that really make good our hopes
and aspirations"
Great Danger in World.
Undoubtedly there is a great danger
In the world today Many people have
thot that the mere signing of the treaty
with Germany marks the ending of the
world peril. Public opinion seems to have
breathed a sigh of relief and lapsed back
into apathy. Concentration of thot on
world problems is weakening now when
It is most essential and the forces of
disintegration and reaction have been
given freedom of action far greater
than when the world was on it's guard !
"The situation today is serious. West
ern civilization is still dazed by the shock
Industry and commerce are not yet re-
stored. All Europe is impoverished;
parts OF it are starving. It's whole poll
tical fiber has been shot thru. Russia |
and Hungary are gripped by subversive |
political doctrines; Austria Hungary and |
Turkey as empires have ceased to be;
Poland and Czecho-S -Slayakia are strug-
Cling to their feet as members. of the |
family of nations. All that complicated |
machinery of society which took decades
to elaborate and world war to tear
Continued on Page Two).