Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1919-08-22
SAYS He Sees No Reasonable OBJ
lection to Reservations Con-
/. corning League of Nations.
CONFERENCE AT WHITE HOUSE
President Asserts United States
SurrenderS No Powers and
May Withdraw at viii.

Foreign Relations Committee of the
Senate met at the White House Tues
day to discuss the peace treaty.
The President opened the discussion
lby impressing on the senators the
urgency of prompt ratification of the
treaty without amendments and with
out reservations that would require re-
submission of the treaty to the other
fsignatories, especially Germany.
The President said that the inter-
est of every class of people, the
farmers, Industrial workers and EN-
pIoyees, demanded prompt ratification
to the end that stable conditions Of
industry, agriculture and employment
be r~e-established. The Presidents adj
dress, which was in effect an address
to the country, follows:
81 hope that this conference will
serve to expedite your consideration
of the treaty of peace. l beg that you
will pardon and indulge me If l again
urge that practically the whole task
of bringing the country back to normal
conditions of life and industry waits
upon the decision of the Senate with
regards to the terms of the peace.
II venture thus again to urge my ad-
vice that the action Of the enate
with regard to the treaty be taken
at the earliest practicable moment be-
cause the problems with which we are
face to face in the readjustment of
our national life are of the most press
ing and critical character, will require
for their proper solution he most in
innate and DISTINGUISHED cooperation
of all parties and all interests, and
cannot be postponed without manifest
peril to our people and to all the ma
tional advantages we hold most dear.
1.-THE copper mines Of Montana, Ari-
zona and Alaska, for example, are be-
ing kept open and In operation only
at a great cost and loss, in part upon
borrowed money; the zinc mines of
Missouri, Tennessee and Wisconsin
are being operated at about one-half
their capacity the lead of Idaho, ni-
is and Missouri reaches only a por-
Of its former ct there is an
immediate need for cotton betting, and
also for lubricating oil which cannot
be met, all because the channels of
trade are barred by war when there
is no war. The same is true of raw
cotton, of which the central empires
alone formerly purchased nearly four
million bales. And these are only ex-
anples. There is hardly a single raw
material, a single important foOdstuff,
or a single class of manufactured
goods which is not in the same case.
Our full, normal profitable production
waits on peace. 4
Our military plans, Of course, wait
upon 1t. We cannot intelligently or
wisely decide how large a naval or
military force we shall maintain or
what our policy with regard to mill
tary training is to be until we have
peace not only, but also until We know
how peace is to be sustained, whether
by the arms of single nations or by
the concert of all the great peoples.
And there is more than that difficulty
involved. The vast surplus properties
of the army include, not food and
clothing merely, whose sale will af-
feet normal production, but great
manufacturing establishments also,
which should be restored to their for
ner uses, great stores of machine tools
and all sorts Of merchandise, which
must lie idle until peace and military
policy are definitely determined.
ttrNhn Nations that rotifv tho froofU
such as Great Britain, Belgium and
France, will be in a position to lay
their plans for controlling the markets
of central Europe, without competition
from us, If we do not presently act.
We have no consular agents, no trade
representatives, there to look out for
our interests.
"There are large areas of Europe
whose future will lie uncertain and
questionable until their people know
the final settlements of peace and the
forces which are to administer and
sustain 1t.
without d~eterminate markets our
production cannot proceed with intelli-
gence or confidence. There can be no
easy or norman lnuHSIrlal cfeQ1tS De-
cause there can be no confident or per-
manent revival of business. There
can be no sterilization of wages be-
cause there can be no settled condi-
tons of employment.
Every element Of normal life
amongs us depends upon and awaits
the ratification of the treaty of peace
and we cannot afford to lose a single
summers day by not doing all that
we can to mitigate the winters suffer
ing, which, unless we find means to
prevent it, may prove disastrous to a
large portion of the world, and may,
at its worst, bring upon Europe con.
ditions even more terrible than those
brought by the war itself.
Nothing, l am led to believe, stands
in the way Of the ratification of the
treaty except doubts with regard tC
tho meaning and implication of GER
tain articles of the of the
lee Qua of nations. and I must frankll