SOME IMPRESSIONS OF THE GREAT PEACE CONFERENCE
For a month the writer listened to the heartbeat of nations as their
representatives were gathered in the city of Paris. No other city ever
had within its borders so many of the statesmen of nations. There were
worked out the beginnings of the great problems that will mean the life
of civilization.
Should the nations of the earth plan and make preparation for another
war the race is imperilled. It is either universal peace or universal
doom. Either some plan to stop war or preparation for the final
judgment. Quit fighting or quit living. Peace or death.
The late war revealed the possibilities of human genius. Man's power to
destroy has been discovered and across the sky can be seen in letters of
blood the warning, "Abolish war or perish." Some say the war ended six
months too soon, but had it continued that much longer, the probable
results are too awful to contemplate. The Angel of Destruction had the
sword lifted over Germany, but it was as though divine providence stayed
his hand.
American genius was just coming into play. For instance, we are told
that a gas had been discovered that is so deadly that a few bombs filled
with it and dropped upon a city would all but wipe it out of existence.
When the armistice was signed hundreds of tons of that gas were ready
for use and on the way to the battle front. Other inventions and
discoveries have since been brought out that are too deadly to even talk
about.
No one can describe the Peace Conference without giving great credit to
our president, for without him it seemed that the leaders were unable to
get anywhere. When he said that the time had come when the civilized
nations of the earth should form an organization to abolish war the
enthusiasm of the common people knew no bounds. A committee was at once
appointed to work out a constitution for such an organization and
President Wilson was made the chairman.
Some problems touch only the rich and others have to do with the poor
alone; some interest only the capitalist and others interest only those
who toil with their hands; some absorb the thought of only the white
race while others have to do with the black and yellow races; some have
to do only with the educated while others reach none but the ignorant;
but here is a problem that has to do with every family on the earth,
rich or poor, capitalist or laboring man, white, black and all other
colors and races--in fact, it touches every home and will do so as long
as people live upon the earth.
To abolish war would rejoice the heart of every mother who has gone into
the jaws of death to give birth to a son. It would bring gratitude from
the heart of every wife and sweetheart whose face has been bathed with
tears as the last good-bys were on their lips. It would be a blessing to
every child now living, as well as to the generations yet unborn. It
would thrill the heart of every lover of justice and mercy and would
answer the heart longings of millions who have prayed without ceasing
for the reign of peace on earth among men of good will.
When President Wilson enunciated the fourteen points some wiseacres
laughed and criticised, but these very points formed the basis of the
armistice and the Good Lord only knows how many American lives were
saved to say nothing of English, French, Italian and all the rest. No
one knows how many are alive and well today who would have been sleeping
in unknown and unmarked graves had the armistice been detained a single
week.
The American headquarters in Paris during the Peace Conference were in
the Hotel Grillion, which is on the Place de la Concorde in the heart of
the city. The room number 351 belonged to the suite occupied by Colonel
House and it was really the birth chamber of the League of Nations. The
nineteen men who made up the committee belonged to fourteen nations.
President Wilson, as chairman, called them together in this room. The
first meeting of this committee was held February third and was very
brief. In all, ten meetings were held and all were held in this room.
President Wilson presided at all but one of them. Each man brought his
suggestions in writing so there would be no chance for misunderstanding.
Full discussion of all points was always encouraged. When the entire
constitution was worked out it was agreed to unanimously and it was then
ready to be presented to the Peace Conference.
Until the Peace Treaty was ready to sign all meetings of the great
conference were held in the Foreign Ministry building in Paris. This is
across the river Seine from the Concorde. Many supposed all meetings
were held at Versailles but this is a mistake. Versailles is a city of
some sixty thousand people and about ten miles from Paris. The old
Palace is there but the great Hall of Mirrors where the treaty was
finally signed could not be comfortably heated in the winter time. So
for that as well as other reasons the meetings were held in Paris.
Through Mr. Ray Stannard Baker I received a pass to the Peace
Conference. These passes were only given to newspaper men and I
represented People's Popular Monthly. The great day was February
fourteenth, 1919. On this date eighty-four statesmen representing
twenty-seven nations, the combined population of which is more than
twelve hundred million people, were seated around one table. Clemenceau
was the chairman of the conference and sat at the head of the table. By
his side sat our own president, who at that time, towered head and
shoulders above the statesmen of the world. Let politicians rave and
senators criticize, yet the fact remains that Woodrow Wilson will have a
place in history by the side of the immortal Lincoln and Washington.
When he was introduced our president read the constitution, or covenant
as it was called, and then made some remarks concerning it. While I
stood listening to him as he thrilled the hearts and held almost
breathless this company of statesmen and noted their faces as he said:
"We are now seeing eye to eye and learning that after all, all men on
this earth are brothers," my eyes are swimming in tears and I don't know
yet whether it was the man speaking, what he said, or the way he
thrilled those men, that caused it. I do know, however, that it was one
of the greatest moments I ever lived.
Near the end of the table sat the black man from Liberia. How his face
shone and his eyes sparkled when he heard these words! When he reached
his homeland he no doubt told his people how the great American
president championed a plan to abolish war and told the statesmen of the
Peace Conference that the world is learning that all men on this earth
are brothers, and the very hills of that black land echoed with praises
for America.
Since that day the Chinese, who have never been warriors and love
America anyway, have talked in their tea rooms and joss houses about the
American President's plan to abolish war. In the villages of far away
India, in the homes of the Sea Islanders and in fact wherever human
beings have congregated they have talked of a world peace. But it was
the peoples of the downtrodden, war-stricken nations especially who
looked to our president as the great champion of liberty and freedom.
They believed that he was the "Big Brother" and that the country that he
represented would see that they were treated fairly.
Representing the great western giant whose genius, power and marvelous
accomplishments of a few short months filled all Europe with amazement
and far out-distanced anything they had done in the three years before,
standing at the head of the only unexhausted nation and which could
dictate the policies of the world--for this man to go to the Peace
Conference with a plan to forever abolish war, it simply won for himself
and our country the admiration and confidence of the statesmen of the
world. Nothing like it had ever been seen before and the gratitude of
all knew no bounds.
Then the modest, dignified, unselfish bearing of our president among
them turned gratitude into love and devotion. The words of far-sighted
wisdom spoken everywhere brought from the greatest statesmen the
recognition of leadership. Without a single effort on his part to put
himself forward, he became the natural leader of all.
A single instance of his thoughtfulness will be given. I was determined
to see the tomb where General Pershing stood when he uttered the famous
words: "Lafayette we have come," and which made the whole French nation
doff its hat and cheer. After hours of searching and miles of walking
and inquiries galore, the place was found, but the door to the enclosure
had to be unlocked with a silver key. When entrance was gained and the
spot finally reached, there on the tomb was a wreath of flowers nearly
as large as a wagon wheel and which, when they were fresh, must have
been beautiful beyond words to described. Upon it was a card on which
had been written in English the words: "The President of the United
States of America. In memory of the great Lafayette from a fellow
servant of liberty."
Then came the months of haggling, the work of selfish politicians both
at home and abroad, and finally the rejection by our own people of the
greatest piece of work since the beginning of the Christian era, all of
which makes one who knows the real situation hang his head in shame. Why
any living mortal in America could oppose a plan that has for its object
the abolition of war is simply amazing to the people of Europe. Just
before I left Paris in 1919 a French business man said to me: "I
understand that the cables are saying that you have some men in your
country who are opposing your president and this effort to abolish war.
What kind of men have you got over there, anyway? Go back and tell them
that it is not only the greatest thing for America that he came over
here but it is one of the greatest things for the whole world that ever
happened."
In the fall of 1921 I made another trip to Europe and the change was
beyond any power to describe. People who looked upon America as the one
great nation of the earth almost sneered when they mentioned our
attitude toward the League of Nations. They have almost lost confidence
in us and it will be hard to regain it. France is especially bitter.
Perhaps the result of the Disarmament Conference, which is practically
the same thing under another name, will help them to forget some things,
but the French will be slow to take up with it. We are all proud of the
part our leaders had in this great meeting in Washington, but had our
government stood enthusiastically for the League of Nations it would
have saved hundreds of millions of dollars that we now have to dig up in
taxes, and at the same time saved famine, fighting and hatred that it
will take a long time to overcome.