Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-10-28
TEXT OF
WILSON'S
SPEECH

ons statement read to a delegatio
pro-league Republicans at tn
Ihite House today follows:
My fellow countrymen:
1t is to be feared that the Su-
preme issue presented for your
consideration in the present cam
oaign is growing more obscure
, rather than clearer by reason of
the many arbitrary turns the
discussion of it has taken. The
editors and publishers of the
country would render a great
service if they would publish the
full text of the covenant of the
League of Nations, because, hav-
ing read that text, you would be
able to judge for yourselves a
great many things in which you
are now in danger Of being mis-
. led. I hope sincerely that it
will be very widely and general
" published entire. 1t is with a
desire to clarity the issue and to
assist your judgment that I take
he liberty of stating again the
rase submitted to you, in as SIM
lie terms as possible.
Refers to War
Three years ago it was nv
Iuty to summon you to the con-
cert of war, to join the free ma
lions of the world in meeting
and ending the most sinister per-
il that had ever been develoned
in the irresponsible politics of
the Old World. Your response
to that call really settled the
fortunes of war. You will re-
member that the morale of the
German people broke down long
before the strength of the Ger
man armies was broken. That
was obviously because they felt
that a great moral force which
they could not look In the face
had come into the contest, and
that thenceforth all their profess
sions of right were discredited
and they were unable to pre-
tend that their continuation of
the war was not the support of a
government that had violated ev-
Fry principle of right and every
consideration of humanity.
1t is my privilege to summon
YOU now to the concert of peace
md the completion of the great
moral achievement on your part
which he war represented and in
he presence of which the world
found reinsurance and a recov-
cry of force which it could have
experienced in no other way. We
inferred the war, as you remem-
YER, not merely to beat Ger
many, but to end the possibility
# the renewal of such iniquitous
chemes as Germany entertain
ID. The war will have been
ought in vain and our immense
acrifices thrown away unless we
omplete the work we then be-
an, and 1 ask you to consider
hat there is only one way to as
ure the world of peace: That is
y making it so dangerous to
freak The peace that no other
lation will have the audacity to
lttempt 1t. We should not be de-
:eived into supposlng that i'm
per.aliStic schemes ended with
the defeat of Germany, or that
ierlnary is the only nation that
Entertained such schemes or was
moved by sinister ambitions and
ongstanding jealousies to attack
he very structure of civilization.
here are other nations which
re likely to be powerfully moved
r are already moved by COM
1ercial jealousy, by the desire
dominate and to have their
wn way inIpolitics, and in enter
rise, and it is necessary to
heck them and to apprise them
lat the world will be united
rainst them as it was against
errnany if they attempt any
11lar thing.
Must Consider Mothers
The mothers and sisters and
ives of the country know the
lcrifice of war. They will feel
hat we have misled them and
compelled them to make an en-
-irely unnecessary sacrifice Oh
their beloved ones If we do not
make it as certain as it can be
made that no similar sacrifice
will be demanded of mothers and
sisters and wives in the future.
This duty is SO plain that 1t
Gems to me to constitute a prl-
nary demand upon the conscience
If every one Of us. 1t is 1ncon-
,eiyable to most of us that any
men should have been so false or
so heartless as to declare that
the women of the country would
again have to suffer the intoler-
bile burden and privation of war
if the League of Nations were
.dopted. The League Of Nations
is the well-considered effort of
the whole group Of nations who
we're opposed to Germany to Sc
cure themselves and the rest OF
mankind against repetition OF
the war. 1t will have back Of 1t
The Watchfulness and materia!
force of all these nations, and
Is such a guarantee of a peace
tul future as no well-informed
man can question who does not
doubt the whole spirit with which
the war was conducted against
Germany.
The great moral influence OF
the United States will be abso-
Iutely thrown away If he do not
complete the task which our sol
diers and sailors so heroically
undertook to execute.
One thing ought to be said,
and said very clearly. about Ar
ticle x of the covenant of the
League of Nations. 1t is the spe-
cific pledge of the members of
the league that they will unite
to resist exactly the things
which Germany attempted, no
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