The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-09-05

tney wanted WA simply reparatiUn
With Senator Knox temporary ou'
of the way. the president swung into
the main theme OF his, speech--tht
redemption OF a promise. He root
the view that the creation and per.
petuation Of the league of nations was
promise. sacred promise to no.
only the American people, but thu
peoples of the world. He repeated tina,
II would; that never again could wal
be precipitated upon the world IL the
league were In operation, and he dwelt
with especial emphasis on the promise
which he said had been made to the
men who crossed the sea TO crush
Germany. They went, he said. to end
the war. and he meant to see tina,
their hopes would not be in vain.
The president then began his expo
sition of the league and the treaty.
He considers the latter a temporary
thing, for once it's terms are carried
out, it will cease to exist He believes
the league. however, to be a living
thing. and something that will exist
for all time
He took up, one by one, the cases of
the smaller nations. In this respect.
he said. the treaty was unique
The center of ii is he said, the
redemption OF weak nations"
The riOht of sef-government to-
gether with the choice of government,
was extolled by the president az he
pointed out how it had been applied
TO Poland. Jugo- Slavia. and Czcho-
Slovakia.
The treaty, he said. gives the peo-
pies of those nations a right to set up
government OF their own choice.
AMERICAN PRINCIPLE
THAT is the American principle, -
he declared, and was glad to fight
for it,"
The only sore spot in the treaty ap-
preached by the president was Itsly's
loss of Fiumc. Here again he. refers
to the league, Italy he said, sorrowed
at the loss of Fiume and the shores
Of the Adriatic because she desires
the territory for strategic reasons.
But under the league, according to
the president. there would he no ne
cessity for strategic frontier.
When the president told of the
treaty pertaining to labor, he declared
that it was in reality a magma
charta" of labor. and he spoke of the
forthcoming international labor con-
ference in Washington in October
Let me tell YOU 1t will meet wheth-
said decisively This got a great hand
from the crowd 1t should be re-
called, however, that the senate by
resolution. permitted the calling of the
conference for October and that its
convention Is in no way dependent
upon the ratification of the treaty.
should the treaty be ratified before
that time, Am erican delegates will
attend the conference, otherwise not.
The mandatory system for the for
mer German possessions was next ex-
planned and the president emphasized
the fact that in all the treaty no sin
cle act of annexation is recorded. He
explained what could be expected I'M
der the mandatory system, and he
painted picture OF strong nations
playing the part of fairy godmothers'
almost to weaker peoples under their
tutelage. There was something akin
TO "A tremor in his voice when, after
reciting the good that would come to
those weaker peoples, he said:
Why. these clauses. my fellow citi-
Gems, draw the hearts of a world into
the league, draw from the noble i'm
pulses Of the world together and make
team of them"
This summed up the presidents
first exposition of the treaty to the
people. The introduction to his con-
clusion was surprising He paused
for a moment, and then with the air
of magician revealing one of his
most priced secrets, he said:
THAT is the treaty. Did you eyer
hear Of it before? Did you ever.kn ow
before what was In this treaty? Did
anybody before tell you what tn.
treaty was intended to do?"
The president then asked the audi
ence to read the treaty, to study II
But Ii that would be impossible for
them to do, he begged them to "ac-
cept the Interpretation of those who
| made it and know what the intentions