The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-06-28
The Peace Conference.
Resume Of The Work of Paris
Meeting

Paris, June 23.-The Peace treaty
months. Of conference in which dele
{ cations from thirty-two allied coun-
ltries, and Germany participated. The
:; five leading nations the United States,
! Great Britain. France, Italy and ia
! pan were represented III the peace
conferences at Paris by five delegates
each, while delegations Of other ma
tons and British dominions were
! composed Of from one to three men.
The representatives Of the United
States were President Wilson; Secre-
! tary Of State Robert Lansing; Henry
| White, formerly American Ambassa-
dor at Rome and Paris: Colonel Ed
/ ward NJ House and General Tasker
H. Bliss
Georges Clemenceau. Premier OF
France, was chairman OF the Peace
| Conference.
At first Supreme Council or a
include two representatives each from
Great Britain, France, the United
| States, Italy and Japan. Subsequently
| this council was divided in two parts
"a Council of Four, composed Of
/ President Wilson and Premiers Lloyd
| George, Clenenceau and Orlando;
! and. Council of Foreign Ministers.
| The Conference OF the Allied Dele
cations convened officially on January
is to draw up the terms to be sub
mitted when completed to the Ger
man delegation. President Wilson
had arrived in France on December
13 and had visited England, Italy and
parts of France.
One Of the first acts of the Con-
ference was to send a proposal to all
Russian factions to meet on the
Princes Islands to endeavor to COM
pose the Russian internal situation
| but this plan was rejected by the
Russians. Various factions which
were disputing over territory in diff
ferent sections of Europe were di-
ERECTED by the Peace Conference to dis
continue their conflicts.
The first step toward the actual
drafting OF the treaty occurred On
January "a when the conference
agreed to the plan for organization Of
League of Nations and committee
was appointed TO draw up covenant.
BY January so the conference had
adopted the plan of governing colo
MES and backward nations through
mandatories issued to various nations,
subject to the direction and approval
of the League of Nations.
The covenant Of the League Of Ma
tons was completed on February IA.
On the following day President Wilson
left France for the Ur:.ed States. He
returned to F'racne arriving there
March 13. In his absence the Coun-
Gil of Ten had continued its work de-
spite an attempt to asassinate Pre-
nier Clemenceau.
A report Of the International Labor
Legislation Committee was adopted
April II. Reparation demands to
be made on Germany were approved
April IA and the Germans were in
|yited on April 16 to send their dele
hgation to Versailles to receive the
treaty The Peace Conference next
considered the treaty with Austria
The Italian Delegation insisted upon
obtaining control Of the formerly Aus
TRAN city of Fiume but on, April 23
President Wilson gave out statement
that Fiune could not be given to
ITALY. On the next day Premier Or
|llando returned to Rome and for more
than a week thereafter the Italian
delegations were absent but returned
on May in time to participate in the
conference with the German dele
gates,
! A revised covenant of the League
Of Nations intended to conform in re-
spect to the Monroe Doctrine to OBJ
lection raised in America was adopt
ed by the Peace Conference on April
2s. Geneva was selected as the seat
Of the Leagu
Shantung was disposed Of on April
80 when the Council Of Three voted
TO turn it over to the japanese on
assurances that it would be given Ia
ter to the Chinese.
The Germans, headed by Count
Brockdorff Rantzau, arrived in Yer
sai1les and presented their credentials
10 the allied delegates on May 1.
The peace treaty was presented to
the Germans at Versailles on May {,
| rhe anniversary OF the sinking Of the
Lusitania, and an official summary of
the treaty was made public that day
1t was also announced that the United
States and Great Britain had pledged
aid to France against possible future
| German aggression. The manner in
which the Germans received the
treaty was described as insolent. Nu-
merous German leaders declared they
would not sign it and a week of
| mourning was decreed by the Ger
man government but the decree was
virtually unheeded.
Thereafter the German delegates
submitted various notes to the Coun-
Gil of Four asking for concessions or
cr1ticising the terms proposed in the
treaty as submitted to them. On May
16 it was announced that the Ger
man treaty would become effective
when ratified by Germany and three
of the allied or associated powers.