The Washington herald., 1919-01-27
BELGIUM In PROTEST
ON "STEAM ROLLER"
METHODS AT PARLEY
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

ertheless, a second protest went for
ward today. 1t is possible the Bel
gian plenipotentiary made the state
ment merely to preserve the ameni-
ties Of open session.
Hopes for women's Voice.
Addressing a delegation of working
women of France at the Murat man
sion last night, President Wilson said:
Mile. Thomson and ladies: You have
not only done me a great honor, but
you have touched me very much by
this unexpected tribute and may I
add that you have frightened me be-
cause, realizing the great confidence
you place in me, am led to question
my own ability to justify that conti-
dence.
You have not placed your conf
dence wrongly in my hopes and pur-
poses, but perhaps not all Of these
! hopes and purposes can be realized
in the great matter that you have so
much at heart-the right of women
to take their full share in the political
life of the nations to which they be-
long.
That is necessarily a domestic
question for the several nations. y
Conference of Peace settling the re
lations OF nations with each other
would be regarded as going very much
outside its province if it undertook to
dictate to the several states that their
internal policy should be. At the same
time, those considerations apply also
to the conditions of labor, and it does
seem to be likely that the conference
will take some action by way OF eX-
with regard 20 the international as
poets, at least. of labor and I should
hope that some occasion might be Of
fCTed for the case not only Of the
women Of France, but of their sisters
all over the world to be presen. ID to
the consideration of the conference.
Conference UnwieIdy Body.
The conference is turning out to
be a rather unwieldly body, a very
large body. representing a great
many nations, large and small, old
and new, and the method of organiz-
ing its work successfully. I am
afraid. will have to be worked out
stage by stage.
Therefore, 1 have no confident
which we can take up questions of
this sort. But what 1 have most at
heart today is to avail myself Of this
opportunity to express my admira-
ton for the women of France, and
my admiration for the women of all
the nations that have been engaged
in this war.
BY the fortunes Of this war, the
chief burden has fallen upon the
women of France, and they have
borne it with a spirit and a devo-
tion which has commanded the ad-
miration of the world. do not think
that the people Of France fully real
ize, perhaps, the intensity of sym
pathy that other nations have felt
for them.
They think of US. in America for
example. as long way off, and we
are, in space. but we are not in
thought. You must remember that
the United States is made up of the
nations of Europe; that French sym
pathies run straight across the seas.
not merely by historic association but
by blood connection. and that these
nerves Of sympathy are quick to
transmit the impulses Of the one ma
ton to the other.
War to Redeem World.
I'VE have followed your sufferings
with n feeling that we were witness
ing one of the most heroic, and,
may add, at the same time satistac-
tory things in the world-satisfactory
because it showed the strength of the
human spirit. the indomitable power
Of women and men alike to sustain
any burden If the cause was great
enough.
Tn an ordinary war there might
have been some shrinking Of effort,
but this was not an ordinary war.
This was a war not only to re-
deem France from an enemy, but to
redeem the world from an enemy. and
France, therefore, and the women of
France. strained their heart to sus-
tain the world.
Il hope that the strain has not been
in vain. l know that it has not been
in vain.
This war has been popular and un-
like other wars in that it seemed
sometimes as if the chief strain was
behind the lines and not at the lines.
1T took so many men to conduct
the war that the elder men and the
women at home had to carry the ma
ton. Not only so. but the industries
Of the nation were almost as much
a part OF fighting as the things that
took place at the fronts.
Must be Peoples Peace.
so it is for that rea son that I have
said to those with whom I am at pres
ent associated that his must be a peo-
plo's peace. because this was a peo-
pies war.
THE people won this war, not the
governments, and the people must
reap the benefits of the war At
every turn we must see to it that Il
is not an adjustment between
governments merely. but an arrange
ment for the peace and security Of
men and women everywhere.
The little obscure sufferings and
the daily unknown privations, the un-
spoken sufferings Of the heart, are the
tragical things Of this war. They have
been borne at home, and the center
Of the home is the women.
My heart goes out to you. there
fore, Indies, in a very unusual degree
and I welcome this opportunity to
bring you this message, not from my
self merely. but from the great peo-
PIE whom I represent"
Ask German Republic
in Southwest Africa