"Therefore the United States would feel that its part in this war should be played in vain if there ensued upon it abortive European settlements. It would feel that it could not take part in guaranteeing those European settlements unless that guaranty involved the continuous superintendence of the peace of the world by the associated nations of the world."
To make the League of Nations a vital thing, said Mr. Wilson, it must continue to function, there must be no intermission of its watchfulness and of its labor; it should be the eye of the nations to keep watch upon the common interest.
The select classes of mankind, said President Wilson, were no longer governors of mankind. The fortunes of mankind were now in the hands of the plain people of the whole world. "Satisfy them and you have justified their confidence not only, but have established peace. Fail to satisfy them and no arrangement that you can make will either set up or steady the peace of the world." In the United States the great project of a League of Nations was regarded as the keynote of the whole. "If we returned to the United States without having made every effort in our power to realize this program, we should return to meet the merited scorn of our fellow citizens.... We have no choice but to observe their mandate. But it is with the greatest pleasure and enthusiasm that we accept that mandate. And because this is the keynote of the whole fabric, we have pledged our every purpose to it, as we have to every item of the fabric. We would not dare abate a single item of the program which constitutes our instructions; we would not dare to compromise upon any matter as the champions of this thing—the peace of the world, this attitude of justice, this principle, that we are the masters of no peoples, but are here to see that every people in the world shall choose its own masters and govern its own destinies, not as we wish, but as they wish.
"We are here to see, in short, that the very foundations of this war are swept away. Those foundations were the private choice of a small coterie of civil rulers, of military staffs. Those foundations were the aggression of great Powers upon the small. Those foundations were the holding together of empires of unwilling subjects by the duress of arms. Those foundations were the power of small bodies of men to wield their will and use mankind as pawns in the game. And nothing less than the emancipation of the world from these things will accomplish peace...."
Mr. Lloyd-George, the British premier, and Signor Orlando, premier of Italy, followed President Wilson, and made eloquent speeches in support of the resolution. After Leon Bourgeois, a French delegate, and representatives of China, Poland, and Belgium had expressed their adherence to the plan for a League of Nations the resolution was unanimously adopted.
It was decided at the conference to appoint a commission in regard to reparation for war damage to consist of representatives from Belgium, Greece, Poland, Rumania, and Serbia who would report on the amount of reparation which the enemy countries ought to pay, on what they are capable of paying, and on the method, form, and time within which payment should be made.
A resolution in regard to international legislation on industrial and labor questions was also passed. This provided for the appointment of two representatives apiece from the five great Powers and five representatives to be elected by the other Powers represented at the Peace Conference to inquire into the conditions of employment from the international aspect and to recommend the form of a permanent agency, to continue such inquiry in cooperation with and under the direction of the League of Nations. The conference also adopted a resolution to appoint a commission to inquire and report upon the international régime of ports, waterways, and railways.
The supreme council at its session on January 27, 1919, prepared a program of work and the constitution of new committees for economic and financial questions and those relating to private and maritime laws. The question of the former German colonies was discussed on the following day. At the two sessions of the supreme council on January 29, 1919, reports were heard from delegates on the Polish situation and Polish claims, and the Czecho-Slovak delegates gave their views.
The question of Kiauchau and the Pacific Islands created sharp differences between the delegates of China and Japan. China finally agreed that Kiauchau should be left to the disposal of Japan, to be restored to China on condition that it was opened as a commercial port.
At the meeting of the supreme council on January 30, 1919, the question of the German colonies in the Pacific and in Africa and the occupied territory in Turkey was discussed. Provisional arrangements were made to incorporate in the constitution of the League of Nation a plan for administering the German colonies by which the league should assign them to various powers for administration. This was opposed by the representative of Australia, who insisted on the annexation of New Guinea to Australia.