Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1920-01-02

part in the organization of the League
Of Nations.
Meantime the peace conference was
| endeavoring to reach a solution of
several other vexing problems. A bit
ter dispute had arisen between Italy
| and the new Jugo-Slav state as TO the
| possession of the eastern coast of the
Adriatic. The Italians demanded pos
session of the city of Fiume on the
| ground that its population was largely
| Italian, while the Jugo-Slavs main
tanned that possession of this port was
| essential if their newly organized ma
| ton was to have access to the sea.
The japanese delegates also gave
| an early indication of their attitude
| by insisting upon Japan's right to re-
! tain the Marshall and Caroline islands,
which she had taken from Germany.
after spending little more than a week
in the United States. With his arrival
in France on March IA the peace con
ference began consideration of recon-
meDdations by various committees,
and the peace treaty began to take
definite shape.
On March "a the council of ten
which had been considering the chief
problems before the peace conference
was replaced by council of four, con-
sisting of President Wilson and Pre-
| miers Lloyd George, Clemenceau and
Orlando. From that time up to the
actual signing of the peace treaty all
of the problems arising were disposed
of by this council of four, in which,
at times, the premier of Japan also
participated.
The revised covenant of the League
of Nations was presented at a plenary
session Of the peace conference on
April %. President Wilson, as chair
man of the commission which framed
the covenant, explained the changes
that had been made, mostly as result
of criticism in the United States. One
of the most important of the amend
ments made was that providing that
the covenant should not affect existing
understandings for maintaining peace
While 1t was not so stated specifically,
this amendment was designed to pre-
vent the League of Nations covenant
from interfering with the Monroe doc
trine. The revised covenant was
adopted by the unanimous vote of the
peace conference.
On April 80 the council of four,
which by this time had been reduced
to a council of three by the with
drawal of the Italians, agreed to
transfer to Japan the German posses
sion of Kiau-Chau The Chinese dele
CATION objected strenuously to this set
Element, although Japan agreed ulti-
mately to restore the territory to
China On May 6 the council deter
mined that Great Britain and her colo
MES and dominions should become
mandatory for the islands north of the
equator.
By May the treaty had finally been
completed and on that date 1t was
presented to the German plenipoten-
tiaries at Versailles. The pact, while
it represented chiefly the deliberations
of the council of four, had been adopt
ed by q conference In which 81 allied
and associated powers were represent
ed. At the same time it was an
nounced that President Wilson and
Premier Lloyd George had negotiated
treaties with France providing that
the United States and Great Britain
would come Immediately to the assist
ance Of France in case of any future
unprovoked attack by Germany. When
the peace treaty was submitted to the
Germans the Italian delegates were
present, having returned to Paris in
response to an invitation extended by
President Wilson and Premiers Lloyd
George and CIemenceau.
The German delegates were not per-
mitted to discdsssthe peace treaty with
the conference but were given fifteen
days in which to submit their reply in
writing. Announcement Of the terms
of the treaty caused storm in Ger
many. The terms were denCGnfed by
President Ebert of Germany O., being
the most severe ever Imposed upon
vanquished people, Several cGmmu-
nications requesting changes in the
treaty were submitted by the German
delegates and these We're given cOnsid-
Grafton by the council of five. AS a
result some parts of the treaty were
made more lenient toward Germany
The revised terms were presented to
Count Brockdorff-R antzau, head of the
German delegation on June 16 and the
Germans were given seven days in
which to sign. The German national
assembly on June %, by a vote of 237
to 1873, authorized the government to
sign the treaty. On June % the
treaty was signed at Versailles by rep
resentatives of Germany and Of the
allied and associated powers. The
Chinese delegates alone refused to
sign because of the Shantung settle
| ment.
On June % President Wilson sailed
from France and returned to the
United States after an absence of
more than six months. On July 10 he
presented the treaty to the senate and
there at once developed bitter oppo-
sition to its adoption without change
or reservation.
On September 10 Senator Lodge sub
mitted the majority report of the COM
mittee on foreign relations, proposing
amendments and four reservations to
! the peace treaty. Senator Hitchcock