Evening star., 1919-09-05
PRESIDENT WILSON'S SPEECHES AT COLUMBUS AND INDIANAPOLIS

AA0 ~ ~
them that they will do 1t at thei
peril.
ut is idle to say the world will com
btne against you because 1t may not
but it is persuasive to say the world II
combined against you and viii remain
combined against any who attempt th'
same things that you attempted;
1.-THE league of nations is the onl!
thing that can prevent the recurrence
this dreadful catastrophe and redeem
league is based upon the experience
this very war
View of Public Men.
Il did not meet a single public mar
who did not admit these things-tha
Germany would not have gone into thu
war if she had thought Great Britain
was going into it. and that she mos
certainly would never have gone int
this war il she had dreamed Americ;
was going into it. and they have all ad
mitted that a notice beforehand that th'
greatest powers of the world woult
combine to prevent this sort of thinf
i. would have prevented it absolutely
when gentlemen tell you. therefore
that the league Of nations is intended
for some other purpose than this
reply this to them. II we do no
do this thing we have neglected thu
central covenant that we made to ou
people, and there will be no statesna,
promise his people any alienation from
the perils of war.
Worlds Passions Not Dead.
The passions of this world are no
not cooled; they have been rendered
hotter than ever. The harness tha
is to unite nations is more necessary
now than it ever was before and un
less there is this sureness of com
bined actions before wrong is at
tempted. wrong will be attempted
just soon as the most ambitious ma
tions can recover from the financia
stress of this war
Now. look what else is in thu
treaty. This treaty is unique in thu
history of mankind because the cen
nations. There never was congres!
Of nations before that considered th'
rights Of those who could not en-
force their rights. There never wal
a congress of nations before that die
not seek to affect some balance o
po Si oioo6hl doooI w "
serving the strength and interest o
the strongest powers concerned
whereas this treaty builds up nations
that never could have won their free
dom in any other way, 1t builds then
up by Gift. by largess. not by obli
cation: builds them up because of thu
of the men who wrote th'
treaty that the rights of people tran
scend the rights of governments. be
cause Of the conviction Of the mel
who wrote that treaty that the fer
tie souTse % Of war is wrong; that ths tn
a mple, was held together by militar.
force and consisted of peoples wh'
did not want to live together; wht
did not have the spirit of nationalit.
as. stewards each other: who were con
stantly chafing at the bands tina
held them.
= Hungary Willing Partner.
Hungary, through a willing part
neri Of Austria, was willing to be he
partner because she could share Aus
trials strength for accomplishing he
own ambitions, and her own ambi
slavic peoples that lie to the south 0
her. Bohemia. an unhappy partner
a partner by duress. flowing in al
her veins the strongest national i'm
pulse that was to be found anywher
in Europe. and north of that pitifu
Poland, great nation divided vi
among the great powers of Europe
torn asunder-kinship disregarded
natural ties treated with contemp
and an obligatory division among sov
ereigns imposed upon her, part 0
her given to Russia. a part of he
given to Austria and a part of he
given to Germany and great bodies o
Polish people never permitted to hav'
the normal intercourse with thei
kinsmen for fear that that fine in
stinct of the heart should assert it
self which binds families together.
Poland could never have won he
Bohemia never coul,
have broken away from the Austro
Hungarian combination. The Slavi
peoples to the south running dowl
into the great Balkan peninsula ha,
again and again tried to as
sert their nationality and their inde
pendence and had as often bee,
crushed, not by the immediate powe
they were fighting. but by the com
bined power of Europe.
Old Alliances Objects.
The old alliances. the old balances O
power were meant to see to it tina
no little nation asserted it's rights I,
the disturbance of the peace of Eu
rope and every time an assertion o
rights was attempted they were sup
pressed by combined influence an,
force, and this treaty tears away al
that and says these people have
right to live their own lives under tn
which they themselve
choose to set up. That is the Ameri
can principle and 1 was glad to fgh
for it, and when strategic considera
tions were urged l said-not I alone
strategic considerations wer
not in our thought, that we are no
for future wars, but wer
giving people what belonged to them
My fellow citizens, ! do not thinl
there is any man alive who has NOR
tender sympathy for the great peopl
Of Italy than / have and a very sterl
to consider some Of the claims of 1tal.
on the Adriatic because strategically
from the point of view of future wars
Italy needed a military foothold on tn
other side of the Adriatic, but her peo
pie did not live there except in littl
spots. 1t was a Slavic people and
had to say to my Italian friends tina
everywhere else in this treaty we hav
given territory to the people VIII
lived on it and 1 do not think that i
is for the advantage of Italy, and
am sure IT is not for the advantage o
the world. to give Italy territor.
where other people live.
Il felt the force of the argument TO
what they wanted. and it was the olt
argument that had always prevailed
that they needed it from
point of view, and have n
doubt that If there is no league o
nations they will need it from a mil
itary point of view, but If there Is
it from a military point of view