Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-01-06

President Wilson kept on h's oe"K
Al rsr,a. during tho Peace Conference,
q large steel document box. with
srr,ns look. l have sccn him MT tho
clos.. of the dAy, after the sesston OF
ths Council ~ Four. mcthodically rut
into this hox all the papers and mern-
or~,,dA witch had come To him In the
coursc of the days proceedings. From
t,mr 10. time. as the hcx nlled up. ana
the documents were no longer re-
uu,red. they were removed To larger
bcs~a and trunks. ono OF them heau-
TRULY made by the ships carpenter
W tho George Washington" All OF
thsse were brought home with him 70
ths white Housc.
In tho winter Of la2o-ls2i Great
pveasurw was brought 10 bear upon
th~ Preaid~ut 20 gtve his own account
of what happened AZ Paris. He had
hc~n under long and bitter-attack, ana
his friends. confident that the best re-
sronsc to ,herc criticisms was n true
and complete account of tho Confer
sncc. urged him both hy letter and by
word OF mouth 10 present tho his
tory of tho events. using actual
records and documents.
HUT the President. who had been
desperately ill. WAS weighed down
with the burdens NJ his closing ad-
mini-,ration. Moreover, no man VINO
ever nat In tho White Mouse was 80
little SELF explanatory as Mr.. Wilson.
n~ rarely defended hmaclf when at
tackled. nor gave hia friends the am
munitior for such y defense. His end
~ ~ personal controversy was silence
tie some ~ his cnsnaies. nm infuriet-
tina silence. Nc seemed Incapable or
presenting or drarass,,,nr his own
actions. A student Of his voluminous
sr~cchsa and writings will nnd few
ras~s devoted 60 telling what he did,
how he ala Il, or why. He has been a
rrest actor upon tho worlds stage.
tho chlef nEure IN supreme events;
tu, he doc. not readily visualize either
events or rersonaiitlca. hir character
,s,,c and instructive interest IL In
IDEAS. fIe cnn toll what he thinks and
hopes sna hsilcve~--no livi,,x man can
do 4, h,,tcr--hui he ha- NO rcnius for
Ulling what ho did.
IN December. 1880. he wrote 10 me
sW follows;
~ ls clear to me that +. wi,l
not No possible fw mo 60 write
ANYTHING such a- YOU suggest. but
hrl'e that YOU could DO " ad-
mlrnnlv. have trunk
full ~ papers. rnd the rcxt timc
you ar. down herc ] would Ike
Co have you 60 through them and
nee what they are and what the
best usa IL that can he fnadc ~
them. plunked them into the
trunk IN Paris and have not had
the time ~ physical energy ev~n
20 sort or arrange them. I am
looking forward With great salts
faction 20 tho work you are pro-
posing 20 DO"
IN January. 1921. hcesn working
upon ,hcse documents AT the White
House. They were n two trunks
and three steel boxes and for the no-'
part had rot boon touched since the
President put them aside In Paris
They car be grouped IN three cate
ecri~e;
rtru,, Tho complete M,rutes from
April 18th to Juno cath. 1919. Of the
Council OF Four (which consisted OF
the T'resident ~ the United States
Mr. Lloyd George. the Prime Minister
of Great Britain, NJ. Clemenceau
r~csitIcN, of the Council Of France
and sienor Orlando. Premier Of italy
vc,uminous Records Kept
A Widespread belief has existed tina,
no records were kept of the crucially
important meetings Of the Four II
n true thnt the nrs. two or three
weeks of these conferences from about
Nlarch - 20 April 10. were entirely In
formal: and while no Official minutes
Vr~re made of the actual converse
sscna. shis period IL excellently docu-
usented with memoranda. letters. re-
rsrta. and copies of resolutions; and
there exist informal records. such Al
uv own. Of daily conversations with
the President. which oil the gap. After
April ;sth. however. and until the
close ~ tho Conference. n remarkably
~omplcte and methodical record o;
the entire proceedings was kept. II
ono or two instances exact stenogra-
phic reporte Of the converse tlon are
n extstcnce: hut for the most part
the rvlcord was made in English b,
Dir Maurice Hankey OF tho British
Foreign Once. who WINS the Secretar,
Of ths -Four. He was sometimes thu
only man present with the Four OF
che Three: but usually Mantaux, The
French interpreter. was there and
when Orlando attended he also had
hia secretary. Count Aldrovandi. with
A.. .l..lu. l. -. -
the Four who epoke no English. While
Hanasy's minutes are not verba tim
hut arc written in the English style
es indirect narrative. reporting
opeeches and discussion in the third
petSon. they reach. with the ap.
pendices. the rather tremendous bull
sf some l.koo ,ypewrit,cn pages. leg~
Gae. probably not far short OF three
quarters of a million words. and Civ,
q remarkably faithful. and Otter
NM. account OF the discussions from
ny 20 day. HAnxey was one OF thoss
incPe1ibiy able and efYic!ent men O.
- super -secvstArial type. who cam,
INTO prumlnenos at the Peace Con
tUru0ob. MAntoux was another, o
whom h.ppe 90 speak again.
This record Of the Council Of -Four
to0ethsr With the Minutes Of III,
Council Of Ter consisting OF the nv,
chlsf representative of the Grea
poWerw America. France. Grea
2g1tair. Italy and Japan--eac ac
.oempaatsd by his foreign minister
ffrom January IL. 1919. 70 June l7ti
(aloaeslgh the Ten. after March IL
uoe iHfpoqusutly). and the so-calle,