The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1919-10-04
LEAGUE CERTAIN
WILSON DECLARES
PREsIDENrllN OPENING SPEECH.
Es oF1ouR VOICES HIGH
WORLD WAITS FOR US
Future Free From War II America
Carries Out Her Pledges
Says Executive.


the great majority agree with him IN
his desire to end war forever, and that
| they will see TO 1t that the peace treaty
with its League of Nations inclusion
is ratified BY The Senate, President
Wilson is making successful way
! across the country on the long journey
Ithe has undertaken for the purpose Of
laying before the plain people a re-
! port Of his work in Paris and explain
| ing to them just what the League
means.
Thus far in his travels he has every
| where met with warm greetings, both
! in the great halls where he has spoken
formally and in the little cross-road
hamlets where his train has halted at
| times and he has exchanged words
| with the villagers who pressed for
ward to greet him. He feels, and does
not hesitate to say so when chatting
with his travelling companions, that
| the American people want no more of
| war and want to become part of the
| League so that there may be no more
| war He struck his. keynote when he
said in his first address, in Columbus,
! Ohio:
This treaty was not intended mere
| ly to end this single war. 1t is meant
as a notice to every government who
| in the future will attempt this thing
| (what Germany attempted) that man
| kind will unite to infiict the same pun
| ishment. There is no national triumph
! to be recorded in this treaty. There
! is no glory sought for any particular
nation. The thought of}the statesmen
collected around that table was of
! their people, of the sufferings they had
| gone through, of the losses they had
incurred, of that great throbbing heart
! which was so depressed, so forlorn, so
sad in every memory it had of the five
tragical years that have gone by. Let
us never forget those years, my fell
! low-countrymen let us never forget
the purpose high and disinterested,
with which America lent it's strength,
not for its own glory but for the de-
Tense of mankind.
las | said, this treaty was not in
tended merely to end this war. 1t was
intended to prevent any similar war.
l wonder if some of the opponents of
the League of Nations have forgotten
the promises we made our people be-
fore we went to that peace table. We
had taken by process of law the flower
| of our youth from every countryside,
from every household, and we told
those mothers and fathers and sisters
and wives and Sweethearts that we
\ We're taking those men to fight a war
J which HX0lid. end business of that sort,
| and If we do not end it. if we do not
do the best that human concert of ac-
| ton can do to end it, we are Of all
men the most unfaithful--the most I'M
| faithful to the loving hearts who suf-
fered in this war, the most unfaithful
| to those households bowed in grief and
vet lifted with the feeling that the lad
laid down his life for great thing,
| and, among other things, in order that
| other lads might never have to do the
| same thing.
THAT is what the League of Ma
| tons Is for-to end this war Justly
| and then not merely to serve notice on
| governments which could contemplate
| the same thing Germany contemplated
! that they will do so at their peril, but
also concerning the combination of
power which will prove to them that
they will do it at their peril. 1t is
! ideal to say that the, world will COM
| DlHC uSdlHol yOu DuL 10 IL DtISudN6
to say the world is combined against
you, The League of Nations is the
| only thing that can prevent the recur-
renee of this dreadful catastrophe and
| redeem. our promises"
A League of Nations would have
prevented the late conflict, the Presi-
dent asserted, explaining:
II did not meet single public man
| who did not admit these things; that
| Germany would not have gone into
| this war if she thought Great Britain
was going into it, and that she most
| certainly would never have gone into
| it had she dreamed America was going
| into it. And they all admit that a ma
ton before hand that the greatest pow
| ers of the world would combine to pre-
vent this sort of thing would prevent
| 1t absolutely"
| Applause and cheers greeted each
| declaration of the President that wars
| might be avoided in future by the OPP
| erations of the League.
He pointed out other important fea-
| lures of. the peace treaty-how it was
| the redemption of weak nations, CIV
| ing them freedom which otherwise
! they never could have won; how IL
| says these people have right to live
1 their own lives under governments
/ which they themselves choose" and
how 'that is the American principle
and ! was glad to fight for it, that
was the very heart of the treaty, he
said
He drew attention to the section of
/, the treaty which is a "magna charta of
labor, which shall dispose of the
hours, conditions and remunerauons
Of labor. 1T forecasts the day." he
said, (which ought to have come long
ago, when statesmen will realize that
no nation Is fortunate which is not
happy, whose people are not content
ed, contented in their lives and for
tunate in the circumstances of their
| lives"
In conclusion, the President said he
felt certain the treaty will be accept
ed, and was only impatient of the de-
| lay He added: do you realize, my
fellow citizens, that the whole world
is waiting on America? The only
country in the world that is trusted
| today is the United States, and the
world is waiting to see if its trust is
Justified"
Mr. Wilson's Indianapolis speech
was, like the one at Columbus, an ex-
PLANTATION of the League, an appeal for
its ratification, and prediction that
i ~ etas.a ", 1900 ssst,. Aot~.-