Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-09-05
Indianapolis, sept. ..

"a frHs
N So great a company rs this tempts
fhe TO make a speech Qaughter and
appiause), and yet I want TO say to
A You in all seriousness and sober
+, ness that ] have not come here to
make a speech, In the ordinary sense
of that term.
II have come upon n very sober
i GRAND, indeed, have come TO report
\ 10 you upon the work which the rep
resentatives Of the United States at |
tempted TO do at the conference OF
[ peace, on the other side Of the sea,
because I realize, my fellow citizens,
that my colleagues and j, in the task |
we attempted over there, were your
servants. We went there with dis
tinct errand, which IL was our duty
20 perform In the spirit which you
have displayed in the prosecution OF
the war and in conceiving the pur-
!, poses and objects Of that war.
1 was in the city of Columbus
this afternoon, where l was endeav-
oring to explain to a body OF our
fellow citizens there lust what IL was
that the treaty Of peace contained,
for must frankly admit that in most
III OF the speeches that have heard in
debate upon the treaty OF peace, 10
n would be impossible ia form definite
conception Of what that instrument
means.
Traces Origin Of War
rkasJ want to recall to you for the
purposes Of this evening the circum-
stances Of the war and the purposes
for which our men spent their lives on
\ " the other side of the sea.
LM You will remember that prince
It bf the house Of Austria was slain in
II one of the cities of Serbia. Serbia
/ N was one of the small Kingdoms OF
IHEurope. She had no strength which
| 9any of the great powers needed 10
fear. As we see the war now, Ger
vmany, aud those who conspired with
liher, made pretext of that assassipa-
b ltion in order to make unconscionnble
a demands for the weak and helpless
N Kingdom of Serbia, not with view
HNof bringing about an acguiescence III
|lthose demands, but with a view to
4iikbringing about conflict IN whlch
ElIQheir purposes, quite separate from the
0lHIIpurposes connected with these de-
imands, could be achieved.
H Just SO soon as these demahus
were made other nations OIL butoPe
n sent telegraphic messages to their
Il representatives at Vienna and Ber-
a lin urging them to ask the govern
,ments of Vienna and Berlin to enter
M into discussion Of these matters. ..
IN 1 was recalling, my fellow cltl
gems, the circumstances when pesun
1.-The terrible conflict that has just
n h1beeH concluded. -, :,
ia So soon as the unconscionablc de
mands of Austria were made on ser
4 bia the other governments OF Gnrope
sent telegraphic messages to beriih
and Vienna asking that the matter ps
e. I1brought into conference. Anu t"e
significant circumstance OF the begin-
n,ne of this war Is that the Austrian
and German Governments did not dare
5I 10 discuss the demands on Serbia %
the purpose which they had In view:
1t is universally admitted ON the
other side of the water that II they
had gone into international conference
ON the Austrian demands the war
never would have been begun, There
was an insistent demand from Lon
don, for example. by the British for
eign minister that the cabinets OF
Europe should be given time To- CON
fer with the governments at Vienna
and Berlin ;e Ihe 10 governments rnt dors at az
admit time for discussion.
Il Re Points Overlooked
am calling these circumstances,
INV ~ Nv citizens, becauseI want to
(hpc out 10 you what apparently has
y <t,ed the attention OF some of the
<fties of the league of nations. that
fhe heart Of the league Of nations does
lIaot lie In any Of the portions which
thaye been discussed In public debate.
NThe great bulk of the provisions of
vthat covenant contained these engage
ffpents and promises on the part OF
fthe states which undertook to become
fmembers of it: that in no circum
stances will they go to war without
first having either submitted the ques-
tion to arbitration-in which case
~ - ~ il h.,t tha
Ehaving submitted the question to dis
cussion by the council of the league Of
nations. In which ease they will allow
six months for the discussion anil
engage not to 20 to war until three
months after the cOHncil has an
neunced its opinion upon the subject
under dispute.
- So that the heart Of the covenant
OF the league is that the nations
solemnly covenant not to 60 to war
for nine months after a controversy
becomes acute.
m there had been nine days OF
diseussion Germany would not have
gone to war, IL there had been min
DAYS within which to bring to bear
the opinion of the world, the judg
.ment of mankind upon the purposes
>pf these governments, they never would
have dared to execute those pur-
poses.
So that what il is important for
us to remember is that when we sent
those boys in khaki across the sea
we promised them, we promised the
world, that we would not conclude
this conflict with a mere treaty of
peace. We entered into solemn en- =
2agements with all the nations with
Whom we associated ourselves that
we would bring about such kind of
Settlement and such u consort of the
jpurpose of nations that wars like
lthis could not again occur.
Fought TO Kill German Aims
If this war has TO be fought over
81 lagain, then all our high ideals and
fpcrposes have been disappointed, for
1--WE did not go into this war merely to
fbeat Germany. We went into TINS
iwar to beat all purposes such as Ger :
tmany entertained.
We are presently. my fellow coun
frymen, to have the very great pleas
lure of welcoming on this side OF tho
sea the queen and king of the Hell
eians [applausel, and /, for one, an
perfectly sure that we are going tC
make Il clear to them that we have moi
forgotten the violation of Belgium
that we have not forgotten the intoler
able wrongs which were put upon tina
suffering people. l have seen then
devastated country, where IL was no
actually laid in ruins, every factory
was gutted of its contents, all tht
machinery by which IL would be pos
sible for men to go to work agar
l. akaf n