Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1919-07-18
PRESIDENT MAKES
PLEA FOR TREATY
BEFORE SENATE
Makes Assertion That League of
Free Nations Has Become
practical Necessity"
MEANS RELIEF FROM WAR
Chief Executive Refers to II as an
indispensable instrumentality fer
the Maintenance of the New
Order Set Up in World"

OFocT OCT Up III WOTtu-
Washington, July 1O.-The senat,
was called into session at u o'clocl
and prayer offered by the chaplain
Rev. Forrest J. Prettyman, who asked
divine guidance for the senate and the
chief executive in the work it wa:
about to undertake.
President Wilson spoke from a small
rostrum erected by the desk of the
reading clerk of the senate.
His address was as follows:
Gentlemen of the Senate:
The treaty of peace with Germany
was signed at Versailles on the 28th
b. June I avail myself of the earliest
opportunity to lay the treaty before
you for ratification and to inform you
with regard to the work of the confer
ence by which that treaty was formu-
lated.
The treaty constitutes nothing less
than a world settlement. 1t would not
be possible for me even TO summarize
or to construe it's manifold provisions
In an address which must of necessity
be something less than a treatise. My
tervices and all the information pos
tess will be ar your disposal and at
! the disposal of your committee on
| foreign relations al any time, either
! informally or in session. as you may
prefer; and hope that you will not
| hesitate to make use of them.
shall at this time, prior to your
own Study OF the document, attempt
only a general characterization of its
scope and purpose.
Problems Of Conference.
In one sense, no doubt, there is no
need that I should report 70 you what
sas 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 anywhere
on a field on which the old lines of in
ternational relationship. and the new
alike. followed so intricate a pattern
and were for the most part cut so deep
by historical circumstances which
dominated action where it would have
been best TO ignore or reverse them.
The cross currents of politics and of
interest must have been evident to
you. 1t would be presuming in 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 has played in the war and by
the expectations that had been created
in the minds of the peoples with whom
we had associated ourselves in that
great struggle.
Saw Supremacy of Eight PeriIed.
The United States entered the war
upon q different footing from every
other nation except our associates on
this side the sea. We entered it, not
because our material interests were |
directly threatened or because any spe- |
cial 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 |
periled by the intolerable aggression /
Of a power which respected neither /
right nor obligation and whose very
system OF government hOuted the
rights of the citizens as against the
authority Of his governors.
And in the settlements of the peace
we have sought no special PREPARATION
for ourselves. hut only the restoration
of right and the assurance Of liberty
everywhere that the effects of the set
tlement were to be felt. We entered
the war as the dislnterested champions
Of right and we Interested ourselves
n the terms of the peace IN no other
United States Timely Aid.
The hopes of the nations allied
against the central powers were AT
'ery low ebb when our soldiers began
o pour across the sea. There was ev-
'rywhere amongst them. except in
heir stoutest spirits. a somber fore
'oding of disaster. The war ended in
November eight months ago. but you
AVE only to recall what was feared
n midsummer last, only four short
months before the armistice. TO real
re what ii was that our timely aid
alike for their morale
nd their physical safety.
The first. never-to-be-forgotten &C
lon at Chateau Thierry had already /
AIKEN place. Our redoubtable soldiers
nd marines had already closed the s
ap the enemy had succeeded in open {
,g fer their advance upon Paris-had :
lready turned the tide of battle back