The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1919-09-06
TEXT Of ADDRESS
OF WILSON GIVEN
AT KANSAS CITY
tcontlnusd From PAGE ~

standing armies, and great stores Of
war material. They do not mean
burdensome taxation merely. they do
not mean merely compulsory military
service which saps the economic
strength of the nation, but they mean
the building up of a military class.
Again and again, my fellow citizens,
IN the conference at Paris. we were
face to face with this situation: That
in dealing with a particular civil gov
eminent we found that they would not,
dare to promise what their general
staff was not willing that they should
promise; and that they were domi-
mated by the military MACHINE which
they had created. nominany for their
own defense, but really-whether they
wiled il or not-for the provocation
of war. And So as long as you have
a military class, it does not make any
difference what your form OF gov
crnment is. II you are determined TO
be armed to the teeth, you must obey
the orders and directions OF the only
men who can control the great, ma
chinery Of war. II is not merely the
cost Of it (armamentS) although that
is Overwhelming but i, is the spirit
of il, and America has never had
and I hepe in the providence of God
never will have that spirit (great ap-
plause).
Disarmament by Agreement.
And there is no other way to dis
pense with great armament except by
the common agreement OF the fight
ing nations OF the world. And here
is the agreement. They promise dis
armamen, and promise TO agree upon
a plan But there was something else
we wanted, that is accomplished by
this treaty. We wanted to destroy
autocratic authority everywhere In
the world. We wanted to see TO il
that there was no place in the world
where small group OF men could
use their fellow citizens As pawns In
a game that there was no place in
the world where a small group of
men, without consulting their fellow
citizens could send their fellow ci,i-
rens to the battlefield. and to deal in
accomplishing something dynastic,
some political plan that had been
in private, some object that
had been prepared for by universal
intrigue. That is what
we wanted to accomplish. The most
startling fact that developed itself at
the opening OF our participation in |
this war was not the military ptepa-
ratlonS Of Germany--we were familiar
with that, though We had been dream
ing that she would not use it--but
her political preparation; to find tina,
every community in the civilized
world was penetrated by her intrigue.
The German people did not know
that, but 1t was known in Wilhelm
Strasse, where the central offices uf
the German government were, and
Wilhelmstrassc was the master OF
the German people and this war, my
fellow citizens, has emancipa,ed the
German people as well as the rest OF
the world
We don't want 10 see anything
ike that done again, because we
know that democracy will only have
to destroy that form OF government
and II We don't destroy il now. the
JOB /, still TO be done and by a com
bination of all the great fighting peo-
plcs of the world TO see to il that the
aggressive purposes OF such govern
ment cannot be realized, you make it
no longer worth while for little groups
of men to contrive the downfall OF
civilization in private conference.
Example Of Russia.
MY fellow citizens. il does not
make any difference what kind of a
governs you, if it i. y mi
norlty. And the thing we must see
TO IS that no minority anywhere mas
tiers the majority. That is at the
heart, my fellow citizens, of the trag-
ical things that are happening in that
great country which we long to help
and can find no way that is effective
to help mean the great realm OF
Russia. The mY who are now meas
uarably in control Of the affairs of
Russia represents nobody but them.