Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-18
The World in Session.

4Qe WOIlQ III 0eSSlOu.
A congress such as the world has
never before seen meets today at Yer
sailles. Representatives from twenty
three nations sit at council table to
discuss the many questions that have
arisen out of the war and to frame
q treaty of peace which will lay the
foundations of a more secure and stable
fnternationalism. 1t is the hope of
the world that this will be the great
peace, even as the war just fought has
been the great war.
This meeting of world delegates has
the advantage over all other peace
congresses that it assemblies with a
formula before it as an outline of ac-
ton. President Wilson's fourteen
points, enunciated year ago and sub
sequently developed and applied to the
changing situation, constitute that
formula. In the main it has been ae-
cepted by the major powers participat-
ing in the war. It's chief principles
remain but to be applied in specific
terms. On four points there is room
for argument and wide range Of pos
sible application, freedom of the seas,
etonop1ic relations, reduction of arma-
ments and league of nations. The
question of open covenants is in abey-
ance as applied in practice to the
proceedings themselves of the peace
conference.
Matters of territorial definition and
the recognition of natienalities con-
Btitute for the present the principal
task. of the conference. Boundaries
must be defined and national claims
adjudicated. There are several con-
Atcts of this character, that between
tie Italians and the Jugoslavs over the
eastern shore of the Adriatic, that be-
tween Czechoslovakia and her neigh
bors, Hungary, Poland, Germany and
Austria, that between Poland and Ger
many and Russia. Other questions await
decision.
s Not merely in the definition Of ma
Honal rights will the wisdom of the
beace conference be taxed. 1t must
apply itself to the question Of the pun
lahment Of the enemy that preeipitated
HE catastrophe. Indemnities and res
tsfations Of devastated and looted
96nds ara to be imposed. Penalties
- 70 be administered to those guilty
q the denominations forbidden by the
46aes Of war and tho laws Of human
- Precautions are to be taken
n<1inst . recurrence Of war in the
arm It took in 1914.
Ufen the question Of a league of
Sations plays the iveliest speculation.
What form will it takef How will it
be constituted and how administered
Will the national units comprising it
be Of equal voting authority, or will
the real responsibility and the real
power be vested in the few nations
that hore the brunt of the war and
eontrihgtsd most greatly to victoryi
AirFsdy no less than forty different
1a1slhave been advanced for this pro-
bssed international organisation to
lA1ia4atu the peace Of the world.
At the session at Versailles there are
~. delegates from the enemy powers.
Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Tur-
hey win have no voice in framing the
articles of peace. When they have
been agreed upon and formulated they
will be presented 10 those four coun-
tries, constituted as they may be at
that time, and they must accept them
ces.renew the war. Only one Of them
issin . position to make any possible
resistance, and that has been stripped
90 far Of its war-making materials that
It cannot hope to offer more than
formal protest against the judgment of
the high court.