The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-07-18
PRESIDENT MAKES
PLEA FOR TREATY
BEFORE SENATE
Aakes Assertion That League OF
Free Nations Has Become
practical Necessity"
MEANS RELIEF FROM WAR
Chief Executive Refers to 1t as an
indispensable Instrumentality for
the Maintenance of the New
Order Set Up in World"

the Maintenance of the New
Order Set Up in World"
Washington, July 1O.-The senate
| was called into session at II O'Clock
| and prayer offered by the chaplain,
Rev. Forrest j. Prettyman, who asked
| divine guidance for the senate and the
| chief executive In the work 1T was
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 18th
OF June. / 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 q world settlement. 1t would not
be possible for me ever TO summarize
or to construe It's manifold provisions
In an address which must OF necessity
be something less than a treatise. My
services and all the information | pos
sess will be at your disposal and at
the disposal Of your committee on
foreign relations at 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 l should report to you what
was attempted and done ut Paris. You
have been daily cOgniZant of what was
8 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
e ternational relationship, and the new
8 alike, followed so intricate a patterI
d and we're fnrs ithHcfrcuinstances which
dominated action where it would have
been best to ignore or reverse them.
c Tie cross currents of politics and OF
interest must have been evident &c
you. 1t would be presuming in me tC
attempt to explain the questions which
arose or the many diverse elements
d thnt nnHAnnI sNtA tEo.~ l.lJ
g something less ambitious than that
and more clearly suggested by my duty
o to report to the congress the part ii
; seemed necessary for my colleagues
q 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 Right Periled.
The United States entered the war
upon a different footing from every
other nation except our associates on
L this side the sea. We entered 1t, not
I because our material interests were
G directly threatened or because any spe-
clal treaty obligations to which We
= were parties had been violated, but
7 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 flOuted the
rights of the citizens as against the
autocratic authority of his governors.
: And in the settlements OF the peace
we have sought no special PREPARATION
" ourselves, but only the restoration
of right and the assurance Of liberty
r everywhere that the effects of the set.
Element We're to be felt. We entered
the war as the disinterested champions
OF right and we interested ourselves
! In the terms of the peace In no other
7 capacity.
!, United States TimNy Aid.
The hopes Of the nations allied
against the central powers were at a
very low ebb when our soldiers began
to pour across the sea. There was CIV.
, erywhere amongst them, except in
their stoutest spirits, a somber fore.
boding of disaster. The war ended In
November eight months ago, but you
. have only to recall what was feared
, In midsummer last, only four short
months before the armistice, to real
t lie what 1t was that our timely aid
accomplished alike for their morale
! and their physical safety.
The first, never-to-be-forgotten &C.
, ton at Chateau Thierry had already
taken place. Our ~redoubtable soldiers
! and marines had already closed the