New Britain herald., 1920-10-11
WHITE HOUSE GIVES
 ANSWER TO SPENCER
"0fiCial Version" of Peace Con-
 ference Statement Published


 PressD The White House made pub l lie today what was described as an official version of President Will sons address at the eighth plenary session of the Paris peace conference. The. exact wording of this address. directed to the representatives of Ru- mania, Serbia and Czccho- -Slovakia, has been the subject Of a controversy between the president and Senator Spencer of Missouri.
 The senator has declared in a po- litical speech that the president had promised Rumania anI Serbia that If any nation ever invaded their terri tory he would send tho American army across the seas to defend their boundary lines"
 Spcnccr's Version.
 Mir. Wilson in a telegram to the senator said that this statement was false" In reply Senator Spencer called for the official record, saying that the statement to which he had referred was in the "stcnographic notes" of the eighth plenary session, in which the president was reported tu have said:
 You must not forget that it is force that is the final guaranty of inc peace of the world. If the world is ngnin troubled the United States will send 10 this side of the ocean their army and their fleet"
 The presidents words as given in the official version follow:
 What Wilson said.
 ':fiow can power like the United States. for example-ard I can speak for no other--after signing this treaty. if tt contains clements which they do not believe will he permanent, 20 three thousan nd miles away across the sea and report to its people that it has made a settlement of the peace of the world? 1t cannot do so.
 And yet there underlies all of these trahsactions the expectation on the part for example. of Rumania and of Czocho-Slovakia and of Serbia. that if any covenants of this settle ment are not observed, the United States will send her armies and her navies to sec that they observed
 Stcnographcr Gives Text.
 The official version of the full text of the presidents address was fur nished to the White House last week by, Frod A. Carlson of Chicago who was an official stenoErapher with the American peace delegation and who wrote that he would "be glad to swear to tho accuracy Of the transcript.
 .fMr. Carlson's letter was addressed to Charles l.. rSwem. stenographer to the president He explained that he had read Senator -Spencer's reply to the president in the Chicago newspa- pers: that he had just gone over his notes and that he could find mo such statemcnt' as that attributed to Mir. Wilson by the senator. He added that it was barely possible that the | quotation was from a translation into English of M. Mantoux's transla- ton Into French Of the presidents remarks. and. as you know, the trans lations sometimes mix things up a | bit'' H
 Meeting Was Secret.
 'I wish were in a position to make public what the president said," wrote Mir. Carlson, for I feel that tho president Is sadly misauoted but of course as the meeting was a secret one. I can say nothing"
 MT. Carlson's letter was made pub | lie hys Secretary Tumulty with this comment:
 '"This letter speaks for itself
 Senator Spencer in his reply to President Wilson's telegram said that which he had attributed to the president was made upon the floor of the senate on February 2, 1920. by senator Reed and so far as | have learned has never been de- nicd until now"
 In his speech of February ,. Sem ator Reed quoted from copyrighted syndicatcd article by Frank IT. Si- monds. which purported to give the text of the presidents address at the eighth pIenary session and which Senator Johnson. republican, Cali fornia. caused to be inserted in the Congressional Record on December |, 1919. Along with Mr. Carison's transcript tho White House issued in parallel columns flor comparison" the version of the presidents speech as given in MT. simond's article as it appears in tho Congressional Record.
 In the opposite column from the nnlciaI version of the presidents words as previously quoted. appears the following:
 StIlI Another Version.
 How could the government of the United States go before tho congress and the people of the United States and pretend 1t had assisted in In- surfing the peace Of the world. If 1t believed that the settlement agreed upon here contained unstable or dangerous alignmentS? If tho world should he troubled again. if the con ditions which we all regard as fun damental arc challenged, the guaran- ties which will he given you will pledge that tho United States will send it's army and fleet across the ocean. Is t surprising under such conditions that it should desire to