Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-19
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
PARIS, January is President
Poincare, in addressing the peace
conference this afternoon, thanked
the allied nations for having chosen
Paris for their important work, ana
praised the valor of the allied armies
which had preserved the capital of
France from the enemy. The Presi-
dents speech was as follows:
Gentlemen: France greets and
thanks you for having chosen as the
seat of your labors the city which
for more than four years the enemy
has made his principal military
objective. and of which the vaior oil
the allied armies has VIGOROUSLY de-
Tended against increasingly renewed
cffensives.
Permit me 20 see in your decision
the homage of all the nations that
YOU represent toward country
which more than any other has en-
dured the sufferings of war, OF wnlch
entire provinces have been trans
formed into vast battleheios anu
have been Systematically laid waste
by the invader, and which has palo
the human tribute in death.
Frances SacrlhceS.
.sFrance has borne these enormous
sacrifices. although she had not the
slightest responsibility for the fright
full catastrophe which has over
whelmed the universe And at the
moment when the cycle OF horror is
ending, all the powers whose oeie
gates are assembled here may acquit
Themselves of any share in the crime
haS raSt1Ifad in unDT6Ce-
dented a disaster. What gives you
the authority to establish peace OF
justice is the fact that none OF the
peoples of whom you are the dele
gates has had any part IN the IN
Justice. Humanity can place conn-
dence in you because you are not
among those who have outraged the
rights of humanity.
''There is no need for further infor-
nation or for special Inquiries into
the origin of the drama which has
just shaken the world. The truth.
bathed in blood. has already escaped
from the imperial archives The pre-
meditated character of the trap is
today clearly proved
Scathing Arrangement.
'In the hope of conquering first the
hegemony of Europe and next the mas
terry of the world, the central empires,
bound together by secret plot, found
the most abominable Of pretexts for try
ing to crush Serbia and force their way
TO the east. At the same time they dis
owned the most solemn undertakings in
order to crush Belgium and force their
way into the heart of France.
These are the two unforgetabie out
RACES which opened the way to agrees
sion. The combined efforts of Great
Britain, France, and Russia were exerted
against that man-made arrogance.
.sIf, after long vicissitudes. those who
wished to reign by the sword have per-
ished by the sword, they have only
themselves to blame. They have been
destroyed by their own blindness.
Shameful Attempt at Bargains.
What could be more significant than
the shameful bargains they attempted
end of July, 1914, when to Great Britain
they suggested: Allow us to attack
France on land and we will not enter
the channel and when they instructed
win only accept declaration Of neu-
trality on your part if you surrender to
Us Brey, Toul and Verdun.' 1t is in the
light OF these things, gentlemen, that all
the conclusions you will have to draw
from the war will take shape.
"Your nations entered the war sue
eessively, but came one and all to the
help OF threatened right. Like Ger
many. Great Britain had guaranteed
the independence of Belgium. Ger
Britain and France both swore to
save her.
Two Ideas in Conflict.
thus. from the very beginning of
hostflities there came into conflict
the two ideas which for fifty months
were to struggle for the dominion of
s the Wnrld-fhd fdno nf orr
force, which accepts neither control
nor check, and the idea of justice,
which depends on the sword only to
prevent or repress the abuse of
strength.
Faithfully supported by her domin-
ions and her colonies, Great Britain
decided that she could not remain
aloof from struggle in which the
fate of every country was involved.
She has made, and her dominions
and colonies have made with her,
p4pdigious efforts to prevent the war
frpm ending in the triumph of the
of right.
sJApan. in her turn. only decided to
taxa up arms out of loyalty to Great
BfitAin, her great ally, and from the
Consciousness of the danger in which
bdth Asia and Europe would have
stood of the hegemony OF which the
Gsrmanic empires dreamed.
Italy Refused Germany.
sItaly. who from the first had re-
flfsed to lend helping hand to Ger
InAn ambition, rose against an age
lofg foe only to answer the call of
oppressed population and to destroy
aG the cost of her blood the artificial
political combination which took no
afopnt of human liberty.
fRumania resolved to fight only to
realize that national unity which was
opposed by the same powers of ar
bHrary force. Abandoned, betrayed
and strangled, she had to submit to
an abominable treaty. the revision of
which you will exact.
SGreece, whom the enemy for many
months tried to turn from her tradi-
tidns and destinies, raised an army
only to escape attempts at domina-
tion of which she felt the growing
threat
Portugal, China and Siam aban-
doned neutrality only to escape the
strangling pressure of the central
powers.
Thus it was the extent Of German
ambitions that brought SO many peo-
Piles. great and small to align them
Refers to q. S. Entry.
AND what shall say of the solemn
resolutions taken by the United States
in the spring of 1917, under the aus
pieces of it's illustrious President, Mr.
Wilson, whom I am happy to greet
here in the name of grateful France,
and, II you will allow me to say so,
gentlemen. in the name Of all the ma
TONS represented In this room.
What shall I say Of the many
declared themselves against Ger
nany-Brazif Cuba Panama CSuate-