Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-09-09
of
Speech
4 OMAHA, Neb.. Sept. S.-President
WILSON'S speech was as follows:
Mr.. Chairman and My Fellow
Citizens.

Mr.. Chairman and My Fellow
Citizens:
/ never feel more pleasure in
facing my fellow citizens than
= when I realize L am not repre-
senting a peculiar cause; that !
am not speaking for a single
group Of my fellow citizens; that
L am not the representative of
party, but the representative of
the people of the United States
of America.
| went across the water with
that happy consciousness. In
all the work that was done on
the other side of the seas, where
l was associated with the dis
tinguished Americans of both
political parties, we all of US
constantly kept in our heart the
feeling that we were expressing
the thoughts of America that we
were working for the interests
and the things chat America be-
lieved in, and l have come here
to testify that this treaty con-
tains the things that America
believes in.
L brought a copy of that treaty
along with me, for l fancied
that in view of the criticisms
you have heard of it, you have
thought it consisted of only four.
or five clauses. Only four Or
are picked for criticism. Only
four or five phrases in it are
called to your attention by some
of the different orators who OPP
pose it's adoption.
Chan>.r of Liberty
Why, my fellow citizens, this
g nf tho
of human liberty and the man
that picks flaws in it, or rather,
that picks out the flaws that are
in it-for there are flaws in it
because of the magnitude of the
thing and because of the majesty
of the interests involved, forgets
the magnitude of the thing and
forgets the majesty of the in
tereSts therein, he forgetS that
the counsels of more than TWEEN
ty nations were combined and
rendered unanimously in the
adoption of this great instru
ment.
Everybody admits that it is
complete settlement of the mat
ters which led up to this war,
and that it contains the complete
machinery which provides that
it shall stay settled.
gu know one of the greatest
difficulties in out own domestic
affairs is unsettled, land titles.
Suppose that somebody were
mischievously to tamper with
the land records of the state of
Nebraska and that there should
be as doubt as to the lines Of
every farm. You know what
would happen. Within six
months all the farmers would be
fnoonS with q
shotgun. Litigation would pene-
trate every community, hot feel
ing would be generated-con-
lasts not only Of lawyers, but OF
the farmers themselves-would
arise.
One of the most interesting
things that this treaty does is
to settle the land titles of Eu-
rope, and to settle them in this
way, on the principle that land
belongs to the people that live
on it.
This is actually the first time
in human history that that prin-
ciple was ever recognized and yet
that is the fundamental American
principle. The Fundamental
American principle is the right
of the people that live in the
country to say what shall be
done with that country.
European Land Titles
We have gone so far in our
assertions of the popular right
that we not only say that the
people have the right to have a
government of their own that
satisfies them, but that they have
the right to change it in any re-
spect any time. Very we'll. That
principle lies at the heart of the
treaty. There are people in
Europe who never before could
say that the land they lived on
was their own and that the
choice they would make of their
lives was their own choice.
l know that there are many in
Nebraska who came from that
country of tragical history, the
now restored republic of Poland,
and / want to call your atten-
ton to the fact that Poland is
here given her complete restitu-
ton, and not only is she given
the land that formerly belonged
to the Poles, but she is given the
lands which were occupied by the
Poles, and now are occupied by.
and had been permitted to re
main under other sovereignty,
and she is given that land under
a principle that all our hearts APP
prove of. You take what in Eu-
rope they call high Silesia, the
upper portion of the district of
Silesia. The very great majority
of the people in high Silesia are
Poles and the Germans contested
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