The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1919-07-15
President Wilson's Address
Presenting Treaty to Senate
Declares League of Nations Practical Necessity; No
Merely An Instrument to Adjust Old Wrongs;
Only Hope for Mankind.

peace treaty and the league Of ma
tions to the senate Thursday spoke as
follows:
"Gentlemen of the Senate: The
treaty of peace with Germany was
signed at Versailles on the 2Sth of
June. / avail myself of the earliest
opportunity to lay the treaty before
YOU for ratification and to inform
you with regard to the work of the
conference by which that treaty was
formulated.
"The treaty constitutes nothing
less than a world settlements. 1t
would not be possible for me either
to summarize or to construe it's man
fold provisions in an address which
must of necessity be something less
than a treatise/ My services and all
the information I possess will be at
your disposal and at the. disposal of
your committee on foreign relations
at any time, either informally or in
session, as you prefer; and / hope
that you will not hesitate to make
use of them. shall at this time, pri-
or to your own study of the docu-
ment, attempt only general char
acterization of it's scope and pur-
pose.
ssIn one sense, no doubt, there is
no need that I should report to you
what was attempted and done at
Paris. You have been daily cogniz-
ant of what was going on thereof
the problem with which the peace
conference had to deal and of the diff
ficulty of laying down straight lines
of settlement anywhere on field on
which the old lines of international
relationship and the new alike follow
ed so intricate a pattern and were,
for|the most part, cut so deep by his
torical circumstances which doml-
mated action where it would have
been best to ignore or reverse them.
The cross currents of politics and Of
interest must have been evident to
you. It would be presuming in me
to attempt to explain the questions
which arose or the many diverse ele-
ments that entered into them. l
shall attempt something less ambiti-
GUS than that and more clearly sug-
gested by my duty to report to the
congress the part it seemed necessary
for my colleagues and me to play as
the representatives of the govern
ment of the United States.
ssThat 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 peo-
ples with whom we lad associated
ourselves in that great struggle.
On Different Footing.
s'The United States entered the
war upon a different footing from
every other nation except our asso-
ciates on this side Of the sea. We
entered it, not because our material
interests were directly threatened or
because any special treaty obliga-
tions to which we were parties had
been violated, but only because we
saw the supremacy, and even the
validity of right everywhere put in
Jeopardy and free government likely
to be everywhere imperiled by the
intolerable aggression Of a power
which respected neither right nor
obligation and whose very system OF
government flouted the rights OF
the citizens as against the autocratic
authority of their governors. And
in the settlements of the peace we
have sought no special reparation for
ourselves, but only the restoration OF
right and the assurance of liberty
everywhere that the effects Of the
settlement were to be felt. We en-
tered the war as the disinteresteo
champions of right and we interested
ourselves in the terms of peace in nc
other capacity.
"The hopes of the nations allied
against the central powers were at a
very low ebb when our soldiers be-
gan to pour across the sea. There
was everywhere amongst them, ex'
cept in their stoutest spirits, SOM
Der fore-boding Of disaster. The wal
ended in November, eight months
ago, but you have only to recall what
was feared in midsummer last, fou1
short months before the armistice, te
realize what it was that our timely
aid accomplished alike for their NOR
ale and their physical safety. That
first, never-to-be-forgotten action al
'Cho+ao,, Tbiorrv had alreadV takeI