Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-10

stituted comprehensive response to
the resolution; a response by the divi-
sion as by a body of experts, and with
all the necessary evidence
1T Is not the abstract and index OF
the evidence which the resolution calls
for. On the other hand. 1t is something
more, for 1t Is discussion CT evidence.
1t became so in the compilers' en-
deavor to determine the value and bear
ing Of the testimony (the records. etc.
constituting the evidence, and the
validity OF certain contentious. It
therefore, includes numerous references
and conclusions which imply the ap-
plication OF critical Judgment. And in
an inquiry so ,momentous as this che
critical Judgment Of one man. however
conscientious. upon survey so hasty OF
evidence as yet incomplete will not sat
isfy either history or the disputants OF
today.
In our belief the time Is not yet
ripe for exhaustive inquiry. Should
the Senate desire to institute one and
constitute for the purpose body OF
experts competent to undertake 1t, all
this preliminary apparatus will be at
their disposal"
Tansill Gives Conclusions.
Objective examination Of all avail
able material in 1925, in response to a
Senate resolution, showed clearly that
Germany was not solely responsible for
tie World War. DR.. Tansill said today.
At the time the Owen resolution was
adopted by the Senate, Dr. Tansill was
acting director of the legislative ref
erence service OF the Library OF Con.
Rress, whose duty it is to comply with
all requests for information from the
House and Senate.
Realizing the importance Of the task
and the enormous amount OF fnterna-
tiona1 political dynamite involved, DR.
Tansill attended to this request in per-
son. He worked at 1t, he said today
for the greater part OF year. 1t
involved the examination Of more than
l,200 books. He con7ulted all the avail
able memoirs Of statesmen and soldiers
involved in the war, all the oficial re-
ports of the various governments. and
an immense amount OF current news
paper material.
When the work was nearly completed
he said. he left the Library Of Congress,
For all practical purposes, the report
was ready for submission, he said, but
one small section which still required
a little attention may have furnished
an exIuse for never letting the docu-
ment out of the hands of the library
Since that time. he asserted. there
has been O great accumulation OF evil
dence unavailable while the report was
being prepared which only strengthens
his conclusions. While working on the
report he was furnished with much
hitherto unavailable information from
the German archives. brought to Wa\h-
ington by q Dr. Wegener. who cah'S
here as an off1cial representative Of the
German government.
Distributes Blame.
ct undertook this work." DR.. Tansill
said, with completely objective at
titude. NV conclusion stated in the re-
port was that it was very speculative to
assess the World War blame on any
one nation Different ones were so in
volved that 1t was quite impossible to
make any fractional assessment Of the
blame / made no effort to excuse the
entente powers, but let the actual EVIL
dence stand for itself"
It Is possible, DR.. Tansill said. that
the Library of Congress was loath to as
sumo the responsibility Of the report
whsn he no longer was connected with
that institution. since 1t was bound to
arouse much discussion.
Since that time, DR.. Tansill said
many other responsible historians, work.
ing independently with the accu Eulat-
ing evidence, have reached approximate
ly the same conclusions.