Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-09-12

f%apnlause). This treaty cannot Dc
Carried out without the League o.
Nations. have several times sa ans
and perhaps I may say again. tnet ons
Of the principal things aoou ,.unass
treaty. is that it establishes ne anu
titles Of the world. It. says, TOR e.
ample, that Bohemia shall belong 10
the Bohemians, and not to aus -
TRANS or to tho Hungarians: ma, II
tie Bohemians do not want TO nye T.
in a monarchy, dual or single, ~ - !.
their business and not ours, anu .un.
they can do what they please WIZ
the;, own government. We have said
that the Austrian territories south OF
Austria and Hungary occupied by 1he
Jugo-Slavs: This never did peions
to Austria; this always belonged 70
Slays and the Slavs shall have u TOT
their own, and we will guarantee the
title
II have several times asked: sup
pose that the land titles Of Montaha
were clearly enough stated and some
were recorded, but yet there was NO
way Of enforcing them; do you know
what would happen?' every OF you
would enforce his own land titles. You
used to 70 armed out here long ago
(Applause.) II this Is a poor speech
I hope none of you do tonight. 'Ap.
plause.) And you would resume tne
habit IL there was nobody to guaran.
tee your legal titles; you would nays
to resort to the habit if society snoula
not guarantee them. You have got
to sec to it that others respect hem
for your own protection; and that was
the condition of Europe and VIII be
the condition of Europe again II inc
settled land titles which we have !alo
out are not guaranteed by organized
society: and the only organized so
ciety that can guarantee them is a
society Of nations. But 1t was MOI
easy to draw the line. 1t was not a
surveyors task. There were not wei!
known points from which to start anu
to which to go, because we were Try
ing to give the Bohemians, for exam
pie, the lines where the Bohem1ans
live; but the Bohemians LII not STOP
at a straight line, If you viii! pardon
and the Germans stopped over into
Poland; and in some places there was
an almost inextricable mixture OF two
or more populations: and everybody
said that the statistics lied; because
the German statistics. with regard, to
High Silesia, were not true because
the Germans wanted to make 1t ap'
pear that the Germans were In the
majority; and the Poles declared thai
the Poles were in the majority there;
and We said: This is a difficult bus.
mess. Sitting in Paris, we cannot tell
by count how many Poles there are
in High Silesia or how many Germans;
and if we could count them. we eanno'
tell from Paris what they want. Hlgn
Silesia does not belong to US: 1t o
not belong to anybody but the people
who live in 1t. Well do this vel
put that territory under the care .oi
the League of Nations for a limited
period: We will establish a small arm
ed force there, made up Of contingents
from the different Allied nations sc
that none of them shall be in control
and then we will hold a referendum
and Upper Silesia shall belong eithel
to Germany or Poland, as the people
of upper Silesia desire. ,(Applause)
"And that Is only one case out o.
half a dozen. The League OF Nations
is to see to 1t, in regions where the
and the desire of the population is. a:
yet, uncertain; the League of Nation:
is to be the fundamentally by which
the territories of those various coun'
triee are to be delievered to the peo'
pie to whom they belong. n(Applause.l
No other international conference ever
such a purpose; no earlel
of that sort would have
been willing to carry out such objects
Up to the time Of this war, my fellow
citizens, It was the firm, and fixed con
Of the statesmen in Europe
that the greater nations ought to dom
guide and determine the destln,
Of the weaker nations. The American
principle vas rejected. The American
principle is that the justice Of tn
strong; that the weak man has thu
Same legal rights that the strong MAJ
has; the justice Of the poor man shall
be the same as that ofAthe rich. al
though l am sorry to sayAhe poor mar
does not always get his rights. Gap
plause.) ell
Principle OF Equality
$50, as between nations the princi
ple Of equality is the only. principle
Of Justice, and the weak nations have
lust as many rights, and just tbs
same rights as stronger nations. Il
do not establish that principle
then this war is going to come again
because this war came by rtason OF
against a weak nation
What happened, my fellow citizens:
you remember the crown prince
of Austria was assassinated in Serbia
not a~ssassinated by anybody actinI
orders from the government OF
Serbia, or anybody over whom tn
government Of Serbia had any con
troll, but assassinated by some mar
who had, at hts heart, the memory
Of something that was in~tolerable tc
HIM something that had beer done
to the people that he belonged to
and the Austrian government, no
immediately-but by suggestion from
Berlin, where it was whispered: w
are ready Tor the world war; and this
is q good chance to begin It; the Other
nations do not believe we are. going tt
begin it. We Will begin 1t and over:
France frst Of all before thu
others can come to their aid. TheJ
sent an ulttrnatum to Serbia practic'
ally demanding that she surrender
her sovereign rights. and gave hel
"a hours to decide.
Did Not Dare Wait.
Poor Serbia in her sudden terror
occurred in the past, practically
Welded to every demand. but with re.
gard to a little portion of it said she
would like to talk 1t over with them
but they did not dare wait; the,
knew IL the world ever had the fact.
OF that dispute. laid before them, the
nations Of mankind would overwheln
anybody that undertook to infiict suct
a grievance against Serbia in suck
circumstances; but they always chos.
this little nation. they had Away.
chosen the Balkans AS the ground o
their entry into war. German agents
were planted all through the land al
that when Germany got ready
she could use the Balkan states as .
base in her game. And what does thu
treaty Of peace do? The treaty Q.
peace sets all OF the nations up in In
dependence again: gives Serbia bacl
what had been torn from her; sets W
this Jugo-slav states, or what Il
known as Jugo Slavokia-I wish 4