The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-07-10
PRESIDENT SAYS


Continued from Page OneJ
necessity be something less than a
treatise Ny services and all the in
formation 1 possess will be at your
disposal and at the disposal OF your
committee on foreign relations at any
time. either informally or in session.
as you may prefer, and l hope that
you viii not hesitate to make use Of
them. I shall at this time. prior to
your own study Of the document. at
tempt only a general Characterization
OF It's scope and purpose.
Treaty a Difficult Task.
In one sense, no doubt, there is no
need that l should report to you what
was attempted and done at Paris.
You have been daily cognizant of what
was going on thereof the problems
with which the peace conference had
to deal and Of the difficulty of laying
down straight lines of settlement any
where on field on which the old lines
OF international relationship, and the
new alike, followed so intricate a pat
tein and were for the most part cut
so deep by historical circumstances
which dominated action where il
would have been best to ignore or
reverse them. The cross currents of
politics and OF interest must have been
evident to you. II would be presum-
ing to me to attempt to explain the
questions which arose or the many
diverse elements that entered into
them. l shall attempt something less
ambitious than that and more clearly
suggested by my duty to report to the
congress the part it seemed necessary
for my colleagues and me to play as
the representatives of the government
of the United States. That part was
dictated by the role America had
played in the war and by the eXpecta-
tions that had been created in the
minds of the peoples with whom we
had associated ourselves in that great
struggle.
The United States entered the war
upon different footing from every
other nation expect our associates on
this side Of the sea. We entered il,
not because our material interests
were directly threatened or because
any special treaty obligations to which
we were parties had been violated. but
only because we saw the supremacy,
and even the validity. of right every
where put in jeopardy and free gov
eminent likely to be everywhere i'm
perilled by the intolerable aggression
of a power which respected neither
right nor obligation and whose very
system OF government flouted the
rights Of the citizen as against the
autocratIc authority OF his governors.
And in the settlements OF the peace
we have sought no special reparation
for ourselves. hut only the restoration
of right and the assurance of liberty
everywhere that the effects of the
settlement were to he felt We en-
tered the war as the disinterested
champions of right and We interested
ourselves in the terms OF the peace in
no other capacity.
America saved the Day.
The hopes of the nations allied
against the central powers were at a
very low ehb when our soldiers began
to pour across the sea. There was
everywhere amongst them. except in
their stoutest spirits, a sumbre fore
boding Of disaster. The war ended
in November. eight months ago, but
you have only to recall what was
ftared in midsummer last, four short
months before the armistice. to realize
what it was that our timely aid ac-
complished alike for their morale and
their physical safety. That first, new
or 70 he forgotten action at Chateau
Thierry had already taken place
Our redoubtable soldiers and marines
had already closed the gap the enemy
had succeeded IN opening for their ad.
vance upon Paris-had already turned
the tide OF battle back towards the
frontiers NJ France and begun the
rout that was to save Europe and the
world Thereafter the Germans were
10 be always forced back. back. were