Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1919-08-29

Il respectfully suggest that, having
said this, I have in effect answered
also your second, third and fourth
questions so far as / myself am con-
cerned.
Peace When Treaty Is Ratified.
Permit me to answer your tlfth
| question by saying that the provisions
| of the treaty to which you refer oper-
ate merely to establish peace between
| the powers ratifying, and that 1t IS
questionable whether it can be SAID
that the League of Nations is In any
true sense created by the ASSOCIATION
of only three of the allied and asso-
ciated governments.
in reply to your sixth question,
can only express the confident opinion
that the immediate adoption OF the
| treaty, along with the articles or the
covenant of the league as written
would certainly within the near future
reduce the cost of living in this coun-
try as elsewhere, by restoring produc-
ton and commerce to their normal
strength and freedom.
For your convenience, | will num-
Der the remaining paragraphs OF THIS
letter as the questions to which they
are intended to reply are numbered.
"VII. / have had no official 1nfor-
nation as to whether Norway SWe-
den, Denmark, Holland, or Switzer-
land will join the league.
"VIII. / answered your eighth ques-
ton in reply to question asked me at
our conference the other day. CInls
question referred to licensing of ex-
ports to Germany
"IX. In February, 1917, Spain as
requested to take charge of American
interests in Germany through her dip
lomatic and consular representatives,
and no other arrangement has since
been made
'sX. The committee to prepare plans
for the organization of the league, for
the establishment of the seat OF the
league and for the proceedings of the
first meeting of the assembly, has been
appointed, but has not reported.
XXI. Article 118 of the peace treaty,
part Nv, under which Germany re-
nounces all her rights to territory FOR
merly belonging to herself or to her
allies was understood, SO far as spe-
cial provision was not made in the
treaty itself, for its disposition, as
constituting principal allied and asso-
ciated powers the authority by which
such disposition should ultimately be
determined. It conveys no title to
those powers, but merely intrusts the
disposition of the territory in question
TO their decision.
xxi. Germany'S remuneration in
favor of the principal allied and asso-
ciated powers Of her rights and titles
to her overseas possessions is meant
similarly to operate as vesting in those
pdWers a trusteeship with respect to
their final disposition and government.
League to Pass on Disposition.
''XIII There has been provisional
agreement as to the disposition Of
these overseas possessions, whose con-
firmation and execution is dependent
upon the approval of the League of Ma
lions, and the United States is party
to that provisional agreement
XIV The only agreement between
France and Great Britain with regard
to African territory, Of which I am
cognizant, concerns the redisposition
of rights already possessed by those
countries on that continent. The pro-
visional agreement referred to in he
preceding paragraphs covers all the
German overseas possessions in Africa
as we'll as elsewhere.
XIV. No mention was made in con-
naction with the settlement of the
Saar basin of the service of an Amer.
lean member of the commission of five
to be set up there.
"XVI. It was deemed wise that the
United States should be represented by
one member of the commission for set
Ting the new frontier lines of Belgium
and Germany, because of the universal
opinion that Americas representative
would add to the commission a useful
element of entirely disinterested judg-
ment.
League to Pick Saar Commission.
xvii. The choice of the commits
sion for the Saar basin was left to the
council Of the League of Nations, be-
cause the Saar basin is for Is years to
be directly under the care and direc-
ton of the League of Nations.
xviii. Article SO does in effect pro-
vide that five of the members of the
commission of seven to fix the boun-
daries between Poland and Czecho-
Slovakia should be nominated by GER
tain countries because there are five
principal allied and associated powers,
and the nomination of five representa-
tives by those powers means the nomi-
nation Of one representative by each
of those powers.
xxx. No such commission has yet
been appointed. (The commission re-
ferred to is that for the fixing of the
Polish boundaries.)
Xxx. 1t was deemed wise that the
United States should have a represen-
tative on the commission set up to
exercise authority over the plebiscite
of Upper Silesia for the same reason
that I have given with regard to the
commission for settling the frontier
line of Belgium and Germany.
Sincerely yours,
"WOODROW WILSON,"
L. =. L. TN.