The daily banner., 1919-07-14
LANSING GIVES
EUROPE HOPE
Leaves Grateful Message as
He Sails For Home.
DANGERS STILL EXIST
Secretary of State Says Treaty Lays
Foundation For Better Order OF
Things in All the World.

I Paris, July 14-Robert Lansing, sec
retary of state in President Wilson
| cabinet, sailed on the Rotterdam for
the United States.
Secretary Lansing's valedictOry TO
the French nation, issued before his
departure for Brest, was displayed
| prominently by all the French neWSpa-
pers. Most of them carried the Sec
retary's statement in full on the front
page and accompanied it with lauda-
tory comment.
can affectionate adieu to the people
Of France" the Petit Parisien says in
/ it's headlines. The Excelsior calls it
"an expression of profound gratitude. y
Secretary Lansing's statement fol
lows:
MANY thoughts rush to mind on
leaving the peace conference, after SIX
months of effort. Never before has
such an international gathering been
held, for here has been the meeting
grounds of tewnty-seven nations to
| ltuuidate a world war and establish a
new order, and a laboratory, where al
ready a system of world cooperation
| has been born out of necessity.
"Out of it all has come the most i'm
portant international document ever
| drawn-the treaty Of peace with Ger
many-a document which not only
| meets the issues of the present war;
| but also lays down new agreements OF
| the most helpful and most hopeful
| character. The nations are bound to-
gether to avert another world cataS-
| trophe, backward peoples are given a
! new hope for their future, several ra-
| cial entities are liberated to form new
states, a beginning is made toward re-
moving unjust economic restrictions
and the great military autocracies of
central Europe are destroyed as the
| first step in a general disarmament
"The treaty is, of course, not all that
we had hoped for. 1t would hardly be
expected to be.
'fBut the present treaties are but the
starting point Of world reconstruc.
ton. Now that the general principles
have been laid down, it remains to ex-
ecute them. And by that mean, not
so much retributive action against ma
tions which recently have run amuck
in the world, but rather the cleansing
and healing processes that shall really
make good our hopes and aspirations.
Undoubtedly there is great dan
ger in the world today. Many people
have thought that the mere signing of
the treaty with Germany marks the
ending of the world peril. Public opin-
ion seems to have breathed a sigh of
relief and lapsed back into apathy.
Concentration Of thought on world
problems is weakening now when it
is most essential, and the forces of
disintegration and reaction have been
given a freedom of action far greater
than when the world was on its guard.
"The situation today is serious.
Western civilization is still dazed by
the shock of four and a half years of
destruction. Industry and commerce
are not yet restored. All Of Europe
is impoverished, parts Of it are starv-
ing.
eff it is true that one nation can
destroy the equilibrium of all, it is all
the more true that each nation is
bound by it's own law Of self-preser-
vation to cooperate with the others to
check troubles before they get their
headway.
$50, I leave for home, pleased but
not over complacent iwth the outcome
of the past six months, and hopeful,
but not in the least unmindful of the
problems Of the next few years."