Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1919-07-05
GERMANSS|GN
PEACE TREATY.
Hun Representatives Affix
Signatures in Historic
Hall at Versailles.
ceremonies Marked by Absence of
ostentation, Teutons Being FriadIy
Recelved.--Presdent Wilson
First to Inscribe Name.

Versailles.-World peace was signed
and sealed in the historic hall of mir
rors at Versailles Saturday afternoon,
but under circumstances which some
what dimmed the expectations of
those who had worked and fought dur
ing long years of war and months of
negotiations for its achievement.
China Fails to Sign.
The absence of the Chinese dele
gates. who at the last moment were
unable to reconcile themselves to the
Shantung settlement, and left the east
ern empire outside the formal pur-
views of peace, struck the first dis
cordant note in the assembly. A writ
ten protest which General Jan Chris
tan SHUTS lodged with his signature
was another disappointment to the
makers of the treaty.
Huns Received Chilly Reception.
But, bulking larger, was the attitude
or Germany and the German plenipo-
tentiaries, which left them, as evident
from the original program of the day
and from the expression of NJ. Glenn
enceau, still outside any formal re-
Cancellation and made actual restora-
ton to regular relations and inter
course with the allied nations depen-
dent, not upon the signature of the
"plenipotentiaries Of peace" but upon
ratification by the national assembly
CIemenceau Gives Stern Warning.
To Nj. Clemenceaus stern warning
in his opening remarks that they
would be expected, and held, to OBJ
serve the treaty provisions legally and
completely, the German delegates
through DR.. Haniel Won Haimhausen
replied after returning to the hotel
that had they known they would be
treated on a different status after
signing than the allied representatives
as shown by their separate exit be-
fore the general body of the confer.
ence, they never would have signed.
Under the circumstances the gen
eral tone of sentiment in the historic
sitting was one rather of relief at the
uncontrovertible end of hostilities than
of complete and unalloyed satisfac
ton.
The ceremony had been planned de-
liberately to be austere, befitting the
sorrows and sufferings of almost five
years and the lack Of impressiveness
and picturesque color, of which many
spectators, who had expected mag
nificent state pageant, complained
was matter Of design, not merely
omission.
Ceremony Ended In Less Than Hour
The actual ceremony was far short
er than had been expected, in view of
the number of signatures which were
to be appended to the treaty and the
two accompanying conventions, ending
a bare forty-nine minutes after the
hour set for the opening. The pro-
ceedings were carried out without sur
face incidents, since the Germans were
silent and the Chinese refusal to sign
was evident only by the vacant chairs
The sole words to be recorded in the
protocol of the conference were Nj
Clemenceau's short opening allocution
with its brief, stern warning to the
Germans, and his equally terse phrases
declaring the ceremony closed.
Germans First to Sign.
Contrary to expectations, the Ger
mans were called to sign first, and nc
precedence was given Nj. Clemenceau
President Wilson or Mr.. Lloyd George
who In the peace treaty appear only
as members of the respective delega
tons and discard the dignities and re
sponsibilities which during the nego
tiations were summed up in the phrase
'the big three"
The two German delegates aros'
without word at Nj. Clemenceau''
bidding and placed upon the treaty the
sign manuals which German govern
ment leaders declared until recently
never would be appended to it.
Wilson Signs First for Allie.
When they regained their seat
after signing, President Wilson imne
dlately arose, and, followed by thu
other American plenipotentiarles
moved around the two sides of thu
great horseshoe to the signature tables
President Wilson, and not NJ. Clemen
ceau, thus had the honor of signing
first of all the leaders of the worlt
alliance.
So many spectators had, in one man