Bisbee daily review., 1919-04-24

PARIS, April 23.-The full text of
 President Wilson's statement on the Italian situation follows:
 "In view of the capital importance
 of the questions affected, and in order
 to throw all possible light upon what
 is involved in their settlement, I hope that the following statement will con- tribute to the final formation of opfn- ion and to satisfactory solution:
 When Italy entered the war she entered upon the basis of a definite private understanding with Great Britain and France, now known as the pact of London. Since that time the whole face of circumstances has been altered. Many other powers, great and small, have entered the struggle, with no knowledge of that private under standing.
 "The Austro-Hungarian empire, then the enemy of Europe, and at whose expense the pact of London was to be kept in the event of victory, has gone to pieces and no longer ex- ists. Not only that, but the several parts of that empire, it is felt now by Italy and all her associates, are to be erected into independent states and associated in league of nations, not with those who were recently our enemies, but with Italy herself and the powers that stood with Italy in the great war for liberty.
 Peace Meet to Protect Small States
 We are to establish their liberty as well as our own. They are to be among the smaller states whose inter- ests are henceforth to be safeguarde6 as scrupulously as the interests of the most powerful states.
 "The war was ended, moreover, by proposing to Germany an armistiee and peace which should be founded on certain clearly defined principles which set up a new order of right and jutsice. Upon those principles the peace with Germany has been con- ceived, not only, but formulated. Upon those principles it will be concluded We cannot ask the great body of pow. CTS to propose and effect peace with Austria and establish a new basis of independence and right in the states which originally constituted the Au- stro-Hungarian empire and in the states of the Balkan group on prin- ciples of another kind. We must ap- ply the same principles to the settle ment of Europe in those quarters that we have applied in the peace with Germany.
 Tt was upon the explicit avowaf of those principles that the initiative for peace was taken. It is upon them that the whole structure of peace must 1 rest.
 Why Italy Can't Have Plume
 If those principles are to be ad- | hered to, Plume must serve as the outlet of the commerce, not of Italy, l but of the land to the north and north east of that port; Hungary, Bohemia, Rumania and the states of the new | Jugo-Slav group. To assign Plume to Italy would be to create the feeling that we have deliberately put the port lpon which all those countries chiel. y depend for their access to the Medi- -erranean in the hands of a power of which it did not form an integral part | md whose sovereignty if set up there. must inevitably seem foreign, not do- nestle not identified with the com nercial and industrial life of the re- yions which the port must serve. It Is for that reason, no doubt, that Plume was not included in the pact of London, but there definitely assigned 10 the Croatians.
 And the reason why the line of the pact of London swept about many of the islands of the eastern coast of the Adriatic and around the portion of the Dalmatian coast which lies most open | to that sea was not only that here | and there on those islands, and here | and there on that coast, there are bod les of people of Italian blood and con nection, but also, and no doubt chiefly, | because it was felt that 1t was neces- sary for Italy to have a foothold | amidst the channels of the eastern | in order that she might make | her own coasts safe against the naval aggressions of Austria-Hungary.
 Austrian Menace Gone
 But Austria-Hungary no longer ex- ists. It is proposed that the fortifica- ] tions which the Austrian government | there shall be razed and | destroyed.
 Tt is part also of the new plan of | European order which, centers in the | league of nations that the new states | erected there shall accept limitation | of> armament, which puts aggression