Omaha daily bee., 1919-09-05

the American principle of the choice
of the governed.
"Of course, at times it went fur
Their than we could make a prac.
teal policy of, because various peo'
piles were keen upon getting back
portions of their populations which
were separated from them by many
miles of territory and we couldn't
spot over with little pieces of sepa'
rated states.
II even had to remind my Ital,
ian colleagues that if they were
going to claim every place where
there was a large Italian population
we would have to cede New York
to them, because there are more
Italians in New York than in any
Italian city.
But | believe-I hope-that the
Italians in New York City are as
glad to stay there as we are to have
them. I would not have you sup
pose that I am intimating that my
Italian colleagues entered any claim
Tor New York City.
Must Understand Treaty.
"We of all peoples in The world,
my fellow citizens, ought to be able
to understand the questions of this
treaty and without anybody explain
ing them to us; for we are made up
out of all the peoples of the world.
] dare say that in this audience
there are representative of prac-
tically all the peoples dealt with in
this treaty.
"You don't have to have me ex-
plain national ambitions to you; ma
tional aspirations. You have been
brought up on them: you learned of
them since you were children, and it
is those national aspirations which
we sought to realize, to give an
outlet to, in this great treaty.
"But we do much more than that.
This treaty contains, among other
things, a magma charta of 1abor-a
thing unheard Of until this interest
ing year of grace. There is whole
section of the treaty devoted to
arrangements by which the interests
of those who labor with their hands
all over the world, whether they be
men or women or chi1dren-are all
of them to be safeguarded. And
next month there is to meet the first
assembly under this section of the
league-and let me tell you it will
meet whether the treaty is ratified
by that time or not
Labor Assembly to Meet.
There is to meet an assembly
which represents the interests of
the men concerning the conditions
of their labor, concerning the char
acter of labor which women shall
engage in. the character of labor
which children shall be permitted
to engage in; the hours OF labor,
and, incidentally, of course, the re-
of labor. The labor
shall be remunerated in proportion,
of course, to the maintenance of the
standard Of living which is proper
for the man who is expected to give
his whole brain and intelligence and
energy to particular task.
~ hear very little said about this
magma charta of labor which is
embodied in this 1t forecasts the
day which ought to have come long
ago, when statesmen will realize
that no nation is fortunate which is
not happy, and that no nation can
be happy whose people are not con-
tented, contented in their industry,
contented in their lives and for
tunate in the circumstances of their
lives.
"If I were to state what seems to
me to be the central idea of this
treaty, it would be this: 1t is almost
a discovery in international conven-
nations do not consist
of their governments, but consist OF
their peoples.
THAT is a rudimentary idea; it
seems to us to go without saying to
US in America, but, my fellow citi-
zens, it was never the leading idea
in any other international congress
that ever heard of; that is to say,
any international congress made up
of the representatives of govern
ment.
"They were always thinking of
national policy, of national advan-
tages; of the rivalries of trade, of
the advantages of territorial con-
quest.
There is nothing of that in this
treaty.
"You will notice that even the