Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-03

thing, why put the league OF nations
covenant in it? The Peace Conference
almost broke up into war on this sub
ject. Some said wisely, Because when
that preliminary gets signed that will
be about all. We shall all bcat'it for
home, leaving thS professors to do the
rest
II was great discovery. The pre-
liminary treaty of peace is the real
treaty of peace. The trouble with it
was that it did not go far enough. In
these fast times the real treaty of peace
is the armistice. The. rest of il is n job
for the professors, or should be. The
mistake Mr.. Wilson made when he
thought cheerfully of making Germany
"sign here was in not realizing this.
When it comes to job for the profess
sors, Germany, the land of the profess
sors, is as good as the best OF them.
81 Best Terms i'm Armistice
Under modern conditions your best
time to get terms from the foe is
while your armies are winning. when
the armistice is signed. The Germans
saw this first. Hence Spa. Hence the
great German offensive Of 1919.
What importance attaches to the Ger =
man threats not to sign the peace treaty
being made at Paris, which have sent
shivers of dismay down the spine OF
Lloyd George and Wilson? The Ger =
mans have said that they would not
pay big indemnity, although this is
the sorest point in England and France
The amount of reparations has been
left blank after the claims of the British
and French representatives on this com
mission have been steadily whitfield
down from 500. 900 .O0O. 900 to little
more than $40 ,OOO, ,OOO,O0
Germans Block Claims
The Germans have said they would
not sign n peace which gave Poland
Danzig and a corridor across Germany
And the Poles, at this writing. are moi
going to be granted their full claims
The Germans have sald that they would
not sign peace that alienated any
German territory across the Rhine. And
the French claim to the Saar Valley was
speedily converted into claim for Goa
from the Saar Valley to compensate
them for the loss of French coal through
wanton German distraction of the mines
of Lens.
Every time >Bernstorff. Brockdorff
Scheidemann and Erzberger spoke
| Wilson and Lloyd George revised thcil
peace treaty, which was being writer
always according to the most sacred
principles of justice. In this process.
the fourteen points were rediscovered
Their rediscovery was one of the anus
ing incidents of the recent days of tn,
conference.
House Uses Texas Methods.
While Wilson was away Colone
House arranged a peace. Presumabl
he kept Wilson informed about it b.
cable. House is used to trading rea
estate in Texas. When you have rea
estate in Texas you have no fourteen
points. You plough few furrows an,
call it street; you nail up few sign
boards and your street is named. .Yo,
print map and you call it Househurst
and you sell it as tlourishing tow
to the fellow who hasn't got time t
look at anything but map, or VIII
doesn t care, because he knows ther
is market, for the world is full O
people with faith in maps.
Wilson's absence was the map max
ing period of this conference. House
Clemenceau and Balfour made a ma
and called it peace" The west side O
the Rhine, split off from Germany
achieved "Freedom.' the first two let
ters of which word were likely to be
retained by it, the others being change
got highway across Germany, splittin
the empire in two parts.
Look for "14 Points"
Lloyd George was away during thi
Texas real estate period of the con
ference. So was Wilson. Wilso
got back. So did Lloyd George. Th
Briton said this map is not in accor
with the fourteen points. This sounde
to Wilson like reflection on Texas
He arose in theSbig ten and said SC
AS the author of the fourteen points
he protested the right to interrrct them
For moment it looked as il the Peac
Conference was going to turn out afte
, all to be wastebasket incident.
You understand how wastebaske
may upset the peace of the world? Whe
you have put something into you
wastebasket and regard it as dispose
of and the other fellow digs it up an