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PRESIDENT WILSON'S FINAL ANNUAL MESSAGE

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UPPORTED by his "third leg," as he called his cane, President Wilson, receiving committees of The House and Senate under the chairnanship of Senator Lodge, was notified on Monday, December 6, that Congress ad convened. Instead of responding y a visit to the Capitol in person, as as been his general custom, the Presilent, still physically weakened by his serious illness, sent his Message on Tuesday to be read, as the Messages of most other Presidents have been.

There is a pathetic interest in this communication, inasmuch as it comes from one who within a few months was greeted throughout western Europe as the spokesman of a new age and who has since not only suffered physically from illness but has seen his Adminis ration rejected and his party defeated it the polls.

On the very day on which his Mesage was delivered came the news that he Norwegian Storthing's Committee nad awarded to him-the third Amerian recipient, Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Root being the other two-the Nobel Peace Prize.

Quoting the sentence of Lincoln's, Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us do our uty as we understand it," President Wilson gave his tribute to the faith that won the war, and pronounced it to De "the mission upon which democracy came into the world." He defined democracy in the following sentence:

Democracy is an assertion of the right of the individual to live and to be treated justly as against any attempt on the part of any combination of individuals to make laws which will overburden him or which will destroy his equality among his fellows in the matter of right or privilege, and I think we all realize that the day has come when democracy is being put upon its final test.

Declaring that the Old World was suffering from a wanton rejection of the principles of democracy, leaving it uncertain whether he referred to Bolshevism or to some other aspect of European development, the President stated that there were two ways by which the United States could lead in the attempt to make the spirit of democracy prevail: first, by giving an example of the

DECEMBER 15, 1920

will and power of democracy to make and enforce just and equal laws; and, second, by standing for right and jus

tice toward other nations, particularly the weak.

The specific legislative recommendations which he made for legislation he offered as a means for showing the offered as a means for showing the recuperative force of a great government of the people.'

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Among these recommendations are a budget system, free from the Constitutional objection which led him to veto the Budget Bill at the last session of Congress; rigid economy made necessary by the fact that seven and a half billions of war indebtedness matures within the next two and a half years and that the hundreds of millions of dollars paid to the railways is a drain upon the treasury; revision of the tax laws particularly in the matter of simplification; measures for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims of the war; laws for the control of storage of food, and even for the labeling of storage food with price marks; a loan to Armenia to be expended by a commission to see that the money should not go for revolutionary purposes; and the granting of independence to the Philippines.

The President did not mention the League of Nations in his Message or express any condemnation of those who have opposed him.

As in many other instances, the President's statements of general principles are likely to be accepted or rejected as they are applied to particular cases. It is not certain exactly what the President had in mind in some of these general statements, but his ability to phrase his statements in persuasive language is evident in this Message, as in many other of his utterances.

It is doubtful whether Congress will agree with all his recommendations, though none of them, except perhaps his recommendation of Philippine independence, partake of a partisan character.

On the subject of Philippine independence the recommendation of the President was made doubtless without expectation that his advice would be followed, for that is a policy especially advocated by the Democratic party, and after its defeat it does not party, and after its defeat it does not seem likely that its policy on this subject will be followed by its opponents.

SENATOR HARDING IN
PANAMA

Panama has performed a real ser-
ENATOR HARDING by his trip to

vice to America. Of course he went to Panama as a Senator of the United States upon recreation bent. But the overshadowing responsibility of his coming office gave to his trip an aspect of National importance. While he observed all the niceties of his present official position, he was in truth really an ambassador of the coming Administration to the sensitive little Republic through whose territory passes the great Panama Canal.

Apparently Senator Harding found the authorities of this Republic disturbed over the fear that their sovereignty would ultimately be destroyed by the encroachments of the United States. Reports from Panama indicate that Senator Harding, without in any way transgressing the bounds of convention, did much to allay this fear and to help establish a more cordial feeling in Panama towards America.

One of the problems which will confront Mr. Harding's Administration is the strengthening of the defenses of the Panama Canal. Absolutely necessary for the defense of the Canal is the possession and fortification by American forces of Taboga Island, which lies off the Pacific entrance of the Canal some fifteen miles. Panama has so far refused to cede or lease this island to the United States. As a tangible result of Senator Harding's visit the next Administration may find it easier to secure the desired rights to this island in a manner acceptable to the just pride of the Panama Government and without creating ill feeling to react upon our whole relationship with Latin America.

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his trip to the Panama Canal Zone, went to the Capitol on the reassembling of the Senate for the short session which ends on the 4th of next March Those who have visited the Senate galleries know the quiet and dignified informality in which Senators move into the Senate chamber from the cloak-rooms and stroll out again. Senator Harding on this occasion appeared as informally as other Senators gathering for the roll-call. He was greeted by applause from both the galleries and from his fellow-Senators, and, contrary to the usual procedure, those participating were not called to order by the presiding officer.

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At the suggestion of Senator Lodge, the leader of the majority in the Senate, Senator Harding was asked to address the Senate. His speech was very simple. It lacked both oratorical display, on the one hand, and on the other all affectation of modesty. He expressed his reluctance at leaving the Senate, and his personal preference for membership in it to any other office in the Republic. "I like the freedom," he said, "the association, the patriotic sense of responsibility which abides here."

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He promised as President to be mindful of the Senate's responsibilities, but to be equally insistent about the responsibilities of the Executive. "Our Governmental good fortune," he explained, "does not lie in any surrender at either end of the avenue, but in the co-ordination and co-operation which becomes the two in a great and truly representative popular government." He termed the alleged "Senatorial oligarchy a bit of highly imaginative and harmless fiction." He asked for the co-operation of the members of the Senate on both sides of the house. Recognizing the right of the opposing party to be sometimes insistently wrong," he expressed his hope for helpfulness of the opposite side, which he had found one of the sources of delight in his past service in the Senate.

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He asked in particular that the remaining three months of the present Administration should be made by the House and the Senate" fruitful rather than wasteful months."

Among the signs of promise for better days ahead not the least is the partly instinctive and partly deliberative intent of Mr. Harding to foster in public action the spirit of co-operation.

THE DUTY OF CONGRESS

SENATOR, HARDING 'PO Plewa fonot at all

ENATOR HARDING's plea for a fruit

a conventional request. Ordinarily the

short session of Congress that marks the close of a defeated party's Administration accomplishes little except the passage of the necessary appropriation, bills for the ensuing fiscal year. There is reason, however, for hoping that other measures of significance will now be debated, put into shape, and passed.

In the first place, on the opening day the House Immigration Com

mittee ordered an immediately favor

able report on the bill introduced by Representative Albert Johnson prohibiting iminigration into the United States for a period of two years, the measure to become effective sixty days. after the enactment.

Second, on the following day a resolution was reported to the Senate asking for the revival of the War Finance Corporation and the authorization of action by the Federal Reserve Board, both permitting the extension of liberal credits to farmers. The present distress existing among the farmers because of their inability to market their products at prices equaling the cost of products at prices equaling the cost of production and the inability of banks further to extend credit will cause attention to be paid to this resolution.

Third, there is the budget bill. It is true that in the House of Representatives the first act was a report concerning the formation of the single Budget Committee authorized at the last session, and this Committee will do much in co-ordinating the annual budget as submitted by the Secretary of the Treasury. But when we consider the complicated character of the budget submitted by Secretary Houston, the immediate necessity of having, not merely a Budget Committee, but a scientific budget system with its consequent clarification and economy, is evident. Senator Smoot, an authority on finance, declares that a billion dollars can be taken out of the Administration's estimates, and Mr. Fordney, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, says that he could " go down the list of estimates and chop out a billion and a quarter, approximately, as unnecessary."

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In the next place, Congress may and should also repeal certain war legislation now obsolete. Many war-time laws, such as the Trading-with-the-Enemy Act, must continue in force until we are formally at peace with Germany. But Congress should provide that all possible restrictive legislation deemed necfor the war be done away with, essary so that the Nation's trade and commerce can be adjusted to actual peace conditions.

Finally, there is the dreadful tax situation. Perhaps a tax measure cannot

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THE "OPEN DOOR"

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AINBRIDGE COLBY, the present See retary of State, thus defines a principle animating the Government:

It is of the utmost importance to the future peace of the world that alien territory, transferred as a result of the should be held and administered in such a way as to assure equal treatment to the commerce and to the citizens of all nations.

On November 20 Mr. Colby replied to the note of August 9 from Earl Curzon, British Foreign Secretary. Lord Curzon had discussed the equality of commercial treatment in Mesopo tamia. Sovereignty over Mesopotamis had been transferred by treaty from Turkey to the League of Nations, and the League gave a mandate to Great Britain for its administration. Lord Curzon maintained that the British Government had refrained from ex ploiting the oil resources of Mesop tamia; instead it had conducted oper tions for purely military purposes under army supervision and at army expense. He declared that the resources were to be secured to the people of the state to be established there.

Mr. Colby now inquires as to the agreement entered into by the Powers last April at San Remo (by which, of the prospective oil output in Mesopo tamia, approximately half would go to Great Britain, a quarter to France, and a quarter to the future Arab state). He asks how any "equal treatment statement harmonizes with Lord Cur zon's other statement that concessions under the former Turkish régime "still remain in their pre-war position and have yet to receive with the establish ment of the Arab state the equitable consideration promised by his Majesty's Government"? Finally, he inquires concerning the statement that "any private company which may develop the Mesopotamian oil-fields shall be under permanent British control." He concludes as to these things:

I have alluded to them in order to correct confusing inferences, liable arise from certain departures, which I believe I discern in your Lordship's communication, from the underlying principles of a mandate as evolved and sought to be applied by the Allied and Associated Powers to the territories brought under their temporary do

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GIOLITTI (ITALY'S PREMIER) IS PICTURED AS SAYING, APROPOS OF THE TERMS OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE
MANUFACTURERS AND THE SYNDICALISTS: "WITH MY WELL-KNOWN IMPARTIALITY I AM SOLVING THE PROBLEM"

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WLENIN

1920

IN MILAN, MANTUA, BRESCIA, ETC., DURING

THE AUSTRIAN OCCUPATION

IN TURIN, AFTER A CENTURY OF AUSTRIAN DOMINATION,
DURING THE OCCUPATION BY WORKINGMEN

(A cartoon suggested by the murder of a schoolboy by Syndicalists. The crossed Vs in the pictures stand for Viva!)

Turati, the Italian Socialist leader (quoting Dante to the radical extremists who are turning from the sun of Socialism to the specter
of Bolshevism and want), says: Comrades, remember that 'he who leaves the old way for the new finds himself betrayed""

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TREBIZONĎ

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BITLISS

BITLISO

TURKEY

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Van VAN

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TURKISH AND RUSSIAN ARMENIA

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has sent

to the note, the Germans tried another method of getting attention. This was to announce that they did not wish membership in a league where they would not be sympathetically received, and that they were already aware of the implacable opposition of certain of the members; at the same time they recognized that the League in order to be effective must be universal- -a peace league pure and simple, not a league for the imposition of force.

This excited still less interest. Hence, whether instigated by Germany or not, the coincidence is curious that the German conception of a peace league pure and simple, against a league to en

THE German Government bably of force the lessailles Treaty, should have

the League of Nations, now in session at Geneva. The Government declares that it no longer considers itself bound to the clause of the Versailles Treaty by which it surrenders German colonies to the Allies. Its reason is that it has not been admitted to the League councils at any time, and consequently has taken no part in the allotment of the mandates for the colonies! If the German Government had a sense of humor, it might have noted that a precedent condition of membership in the League, as laid down in the League charter, prescribed that each state shall give "effective guaranties of its sincere intention to observe its international obligations." Germany's record in this respect is hardly impressive! Even if it were good, the Government might have read that clause in the Versailles Treaty by which Germany renounces in favor of the Allies all her rights and titles over her overseas possessions. The German colonies were not transferred to the League, but specifically to the Allies.

As the Assembly paid no attention

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THE TURK ON TOP AGAIN

USTAPHA KEMAL PASHA is a ma

M who does things. Long before i

Turkish treaty was signed at Semes anticipating its destruction of the Tu ish Empire, he undertook to rally the irreconcilables to his rebel standard. opposition to the Government of Co stantinople he established his own G ernment at Angora, in Asia Minor. proceeded to fight the troops sent o by the Government, and also the Britis troops in the north of Asia Minor and the Greek troops in the east. Discon fited by them, he attacked the French in the south with greater success the Armenians in the east with a plete success. He drove the Armenians eastward out of Turkish Armenia chiefly the provinces of Erzerum, Bitlis and Van.

Comment on this action is interesting. The German press threw off all disguise. The "Deutsche-Zeitung professed that other nations would soon follow "the example set by this honorable and independent challenge to the tyranny of Great Britain," and the Berlin "Tages-Zeitung declared: "The League now stands revealed in all its nakedness. Millerand, Leygues, Lloyd George, Curzon, and the rest can proclaim themselves an unholy alliance for the prevention of the real reconstruction of the world."

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At the other extreme, the London "Chronicle," which generally reflects

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As their condition appealed to ge eral sympathy, the Assembly invite the Council of the League, which is l in session at Geneva, to arrive at understanding with the Powers with view to intrusting to a Power the task of taking necessary measures to stay the Armenian slaughter. Assuring that its proposal involved no repetit of the invitation to accept a mandate for the administration of Armenia, the Council thereupon offe: ed to Preside Wilson the opportunicy of undertaking the special task proposed by the Ass bly. The President accepted and plied:

I am without authorization to offer or employ the military forces of the United States. . . I am willing, how

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