The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-10-11
Declares He Quoted President
From Official Transcript.
StenO's Report Issued by White
House Not RefutatiOn.
DEFIES WILSON TO CONTRADICT
Had Said Wilson Promised
Army and Navy Abroad.
Transcript Contains No Such
Statement, Declares Author.

Washington. Oct. 1.-THE White
House today added another chapter
TO the controversy between President
Wilson and Senator Spencer, Missouri.
by making public a stenograpbic tran
script OF the presidents remarks at the
eighth plenary session of the peace
conference
Spencer charged that at this session
President Wilson promised America
military aid to Serbia and Rumania, ic
those two countries were attacked.
The president replied that Spencer's
statement was false" Republican
leaders and Senator Reed of Missouri,
Democrat. came to Spencer's sup
port.
Spencer Quoted President.
Spencer quoted the president as ad-
dressing Premier Bratiano of Rumania
as follows at the eighth session:
You must not forget that 1t is force
that is the final guarantee of public
peace. II the world is again troubled
the United States will send to this side
OF the ocean their army and their
! fleet
AS quoted in the transcript given
out here today, the president during
the course of his remarks concerning
guarantees of world peace:
Can power like the United States
for exampIe-for 1 can speak OF no
other-after signing this treaty IL IL
contains elements which they do not
believe will be permanent, go three
! thousand miles away across the sea
and report to its people that 1t has
| made settlement of the peace of the
| world? 1t cannot do so. And yet
there underlies all these transactions
the expectation on the part, for ex-
ample, of Rumania and of Czecho-
Slovakia. and of Serbia. that IL any
| covenants of this settlement are not
observed. the United States will send
her armies and her navies to see they
are observed"
Transcripts Made Public.
I Secretary Tumulty made public the
tran script of the presidents speech.
He announced It was voluntarily sent
to Charles Sven, the presidents per-
sonal. stenographer, by F. A. Carlson
of Chicago. the official shorthand re-
porter yho reported proceedings OF
the eighth plenary session
Tumulty's only comment was: The
letter speaks for itself"
Carlson said he had read Spencer's
and Reeds statements and then had
gone over his notes. He said:
''I can find no such statement as al
legged in the St. Louis dispatch" The
st. Louis dispatch was an account OF
a speech by Senator Spencer.
Says Wilson Misquoted.
Carlson wrote to Charles Sven. the
presidents stenographer:
Il wish j were in position to make
public what the president said, for 1
feel the president Is sadly misquoted,
but, of course, as the meeting was a
secret one, 1 can say nothing. But, II
necessary. 1 will be glad to swear to
the accuracy of the above transcript.
and / hope a complete refutatlon OF
the charges will be made"
Mere QuibbIing, Says Spencer.
st. Louis, Oct. 11.-Cnited States
Senator Selden p. Spencer. in formal
statement today in his controversy
with President Wilson. asserted there
1 was no substantial difference between
the report now made public by the
president and the official stenographic
report from which ! quoted"
1T is mere quibbling to attempt to
pick out slight verbal differences" the
senator declared in insisting that the
persident promis American military
aid to Rumania and Serbia should
those countries be invaded. The state
ment in part follows:
THE report Of Mr.. Carlson which
the president now publishes as to what
the president said on May 81. 1919. at
the eighth plenary session OF the peace
conference. fully bears out what was
said by Mr.. Herbert Adams Gibbons
and was supported by Frank H. Si-
mons. and what was written by Dr. n
]. Dillon. and what was supported by
Paul d. Cravath. Of New York, who
was one OF the expert advisers for the
United States in Paris.
II quoted what these gentlemen
said. and shall continue to do so.
There is no difference IN substance
between the report now make public
by the president and the official steno-
graphic report from which / quote.
The only difference is that this last
report surrounds the clear statement
Which the president made that an
American army and navy would DO
gent overseas when the occasion arose.
hv some general remarks which do not
in the least conceal the fact OF what
tthc nresfdort said