Arizona republican., 1919-07-11

the peace conference ltSelf was 10 De the end of cooperative authority and common counsel among the govern ments, 10 which the world was looking to enforce justice and give pledges O. an enduring settlement, regions like the Saar basin could not be put under a temporary administrative regime which did not involve a transfer of poliucal sovereignty. and which contemplated a final determination of its political connections by popular vote to be taken at distant date. no free city like DanZig could be created which was un- der elaborate international guarantees 10 accept exceptional obligations with regard 10 the use of it's port and ex- cepGOnal relations with a state of . which it was not to form a part: prop
 erly safeguarded plebiscites would not | provide for where populations were at | some future date to make choice what ] sovereignty they would live under: no | certain and uniform method of arbitra-
 ton could be secured for the settlement l of anticipated difficulties of final de- ctsion with regard to many matters dealt with in the treaty itself: the long continued supervision of the task of reparation which Germany was to un- dertal1e 10 complete within the next generation might entirely break down: the reconsideration and revision of ad- mlnistrative arrangements and restric- nons which the treaty prescribed but which it was recognized might moi
 prove of lasting advantage or entirely l fair If too long enforced would be i'm | practicable. The promises governments | were making to one another about the
 way in which labor was to be dealt
 with, by law not only but in fact as
 well, would remain a mere humane
 thesis 1T there was to be no common
 tribunal of opinion and judgment to which liberal statesmen could resort
 Tor the influences which alone might
 secure their redemption. A league of
 Tree nations had become a practical
 necessity Examine the treaty of peace
 and you will find that everywhere
 throughout it's manifold provisions that
 we have been obliged to turn to the
 league Of nations as an indispensable
 nstrumentality for the maintenance of
 the new order it has been their purpose
 10 set up in the world-the world of
 civilized men.
 League Is Indispensable
 That there should be a league of
 nations 10 steady the counsels and
 maintain the peaceful understandings
 of the world, to make, not treaties
 alone, but the accepted principles of
 international law as we'll the actual rule of conduct among the govern ments of the world, had bean one of the agreements accepted from the first , as the basis of peace with the central
 powers. The statesmen of all the bel l. iigerent countries were agreed that , such league must be created to sus-
 tain the settlements that were to be
 effected But at first l think there
 was a feeling among some of them , that while it must be attempted, the i formation of such a league was per i haps a counsel of perfection which
 practical men, men long experienced
 in the world of affairs, must agree s to very cautiously and with many mis- ] givtngs. It was only as the difficult i adjustment of the worlds affairs ad- { vanced from day to day. from one f stage of conference to another that il ' became evident that what they were 9 seeking would be little more thar l something to be written upon paper r to be interpreted and applied by sucf I- methods as the chances of polite: e might make available if they did no e provide a. means of common counse !. which all were obliged to accept, y common authority whose decision Q would be recognized as decisions whicl e all must respect
 d And so the most practical, the mos s skeptical among them turned more an, n more to the league as the authorit, T through which international actiol
 was to be secured, the authority with = out which, .aSsthey'' come to see il = if would be difficult to- give assures q effect either to this treaty or to an t other international understanding upol - which they -arestoSdepend for'the main U tenance of peace. The fact that tn Il covenant of the league was the frs ,, substantive part of the treaty to b worked -outAandsagreed upon while al o else was in solution, helped to ma k ' the formulation of the rest4easier. Th = conference was, after all, not to b - ephemeral.
 - CovenantrGives Confidence
 '-rheseoncert of nations was to con ts tinue under .aAdefnite covenant whic ,I had been agreed upon and which a were convinced was workable. The "a could go forward with confidence { make arrangements intended to s+ permanent. The most practical of tn ar confereeS were at last the most read 1f to refer to the league of nations tn
 superintencence~o all interests whic
 did not admit of immediate determine IS ton Of sH administrative problem 10 which were to. require a continuin ir oversight What had seemed a couns, D. 0r perfection had come to seem plai sn counsel of necessity. The league ( ae nations was the practical statesman n hope of success in many of the mo: ut difficult things he was attempting. Id And it validated itself in tt t. thought of every member of the cor g. ference as something much bigge b. much greater everywhere than a mel es 1T strunent for carrying out the prt ot visions of a particular treaty.
 K WTthhoIds French Treaty he T shall presently have occasion m lay before you a special treaty wit
 France, whose object is. the. temporal ad protection~of France from. unprovoke m aggression by the power with who 'y- this treaty of peace has. been negot a. ated. It's terms linkit with this treat ed take the liberty, however, of reserN u- ing it forspeciaL application, on anoth' 7" occasion.
 as '-The role which America was to pIa " ~ in the conference seemed determine. " as I have said before my colleague "a and I got to Paris-determined by th =. universal expectations of the natior ,St whose representatives, drawn from a n,, quarters of the globe, we were to de; o with It was universally recognize
 that America. had entered the war
 promote no private or peculiar inter me est of her own but only as u ,r champion of rights which she W. os glad to share with freemen and love- rs of justice everywhere. We had formI n, lated the principles upon which u is- settlement was to be made-tne prir ba ciples upon which the ar1nistice ha