The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-07-10
(By Associated pressl

WASHINGTON, July 10.-Presi-
dent Wilson at noon today presented
to the senate the peace treaty and the
league of nations, personally appear
ing and addressing that body.
When the President entered the
senate chamber escorted by q com
mittee of senators the crowded CALLER
les rose and cheered for a minute in
disregard of the senate rules. The
President, mounting to the vice presi-
dents seat, SPOKE with Vice President
Marshall as the cheering continued.
He said that he was availing him
self of the first opportunity to lay the
treaty before the senate for It's rati.
tication since its signature at Yer
sailles on June %. "The treaty con-
stttutes nothing less than world set
tlement," the President said, land 1t
would not be possible for me either to
summarize or to construe its manifold
provisions in an address. My ser
vices" he said. "and all the informa-
Etion possess will be at your disposal
and at the disposal of your committee
on Foreign Relations. shall at this
time attempt only a general character
ization of its scope and purpose"
The President declared that a
league of free nations had become a
practical necessity to which the franz
ers of the treaty felt obliged to turn
as an indispensable fundamentally for
the maintenance of the new order 1t
has been their purpose to set up in the
world. The most skeptical of the
peace conferees at Paris, the Presi-
dent continued, had turned more and
more to the league as discussion pro-
gressed in seeking solution OF prob
lens that arose in framing the terms
of the treaty itself. The fact that the
| covenant of the league was the first
substantive part of the treaty to be
worked out and agreed upon, the
President said, while all else was in
solution, helped to make the formula
ton of the rest easier. Mr.. Wilson
said the agreement on the covenant
had given the conferees feeling that
their work was to be permanent, and
that the most practical among. them
were at last the most ready to refer to
the league OF nations the superintend-
ance OF all interest which did not ad-
NIT Of immediate determination of all
administrative problems which were
to require continuing oversight.
what had seemed a counsel of
perfection, said the President, had
come to seem a plain council OF neces-
sity. The league of nations was the
practical statesman's hope of success
in many of the most difficult things
he was attempting.
"The United States entered the war
upon differtnt footing from every
other nation except eur associates on
this side of the sea. We entered It
not because our material interest
were directly threatened or because
any special treaty obligation to which
we. were parties had been violated, but
only because we saw the supremacy
and even the validity OF right every
where put In jeopardy and free gov
ernment likely to be everywhere i'm
periled by the incorrigible aggression
OF power which . respected neither
right nor obligation and whose very
system of government flouted the
Eight OF the citizen as against the au-
tocratic authority of his governors.
And in the settlement of the peace we
have sought no special reparation for
ourselves, but only the restoration OF
right and the assurance OF liberty
everywhere. We entered the war as
the disinterested champions Of right