Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-11-20

dTetliHeFS. Il ne ncart OIL the people is
not found in ledgers. their aspirations
are not expressed in profits. aud never
at any time have schemes OF purely
( material advancement possessed the
/ largest appeal.
This Is the explanation OF Woodrow
wilson. To attempt an Interpretation
/ Of his hold npon the popular imaKi-
| nation In terms OF strict mentality Is
| to commit ones self to the patent ali
surdity THAT he is the first President
with brains. Others have matched him
In intellectual grasp and what sets
him apart, even as II set Lincoln apart,
is nothing else than an exact COM
prehension of passionate idealism as
the animating impulse of America.
vision. spirit, ideals. without the clue
afforded by these dream words Wood
row Wilson Is a blank. the United
States stammerng and unintclligibl BILE
! Democracy never has been. and never
can be. other than Il theory OF spiritual
progress and those WHO view II AZ a
mere program OF prosperity place their
feet In arblind path.
What larger confirmation is needed
than the present impregnable position
OF Woodrow Wilson? lie lacks color
exhibits no mastery of spccta ular
values. makes no dramatic tours, con-
| tributes little TO the thing called
human Interest," that queer newspaper
tional Incident: yet no man since LIN
| coin has niched himself so internationally
! in the confidence Of the people.
| He has had the vision to sec beneath
the stagnancics of materialism down to
the well-sprnGs of an intense spiritu-
ality. Ho doea mot mistake back
waters for the living stream. The in
+! sistcnce that he Is the last word In
well -ordered intellect, n personality as
cold and remote as though Rants
! "Critique OF Pure Reason" were gull
vanizcd into action, is tho stupidity OF
| muddlcrs who have lost all touch with
the elemental simplicities. AS one fol-
! lows the man from his entrance into
public life. the thing machine" theory
becomes increasingly absurd, for at
every point there is plain indication
of whitehead passion, and indu bitG lie
evidence of an Instructive devotion 10
democratic ideals far more dominating
than the mere convictions that proceed
from conscious thought.
! For purposes OF striking illustration.
| the European conflict could not have
been precipitated at a more dramatic
: time. What the Mexican problem was
to the United States, the Balkan prob
lam was to Europe. and at the moment
when frank idealism has safeguardcd
against the horrors OF needless war
European materialls,n has dragged Old
World civilization back 10 tho Jungle
stage.
| Across the sea the youth and nower
OF great races are being rushed 60
death. Millions of precious lives. rich
In possibilities OF creation and produc-
| ton. are being blown away on the
Winds OF vast destruction and tho
march of human progress ends In
bloody trenches. In the red light that
streams from this death grapple II has
become possible FOR the people OF
America to sec clearly old paths ana
new roads, to mark the abysscs that
have been edged and the heights that
may be gained
There can be small doubt that n prac-
tical President would have recognized
liuerta- for 1t was obviously the course
dictated by self Interest as well as by
the surface ferment OF public opinion.
Backed by the approval Of the United
States. the dictator could have
strengthened himself in such manner
as to restore n semblancc OF peace and
to protect American concessions. reuui-
sites that would have permitted Presi-
dent Wilson to wash his hands in an
proved PLATE style.
Nothing could have been more skill
full than the fashion In which these
concesslonnaires. working through a
venal press and equally venal public
men. identified thoir threntenea> profits
with "the nations honor" Jlngoes
diOuSeu. llhcNlSC lNOSc "h"Se
only estimate of national greatness lies
in military achievement. also the youth
of the country, with youths usual reclt-
4 less passion for the hazards of adj
venture.
There Is every certainty that in the
beginning intervention would have
been supported unstntcdly by the peo-
pie. Even as we have seen the Social
lists of Europe, pledged to peace. SWEPT
away by high tides OF racial feeling,
so would every pacfcist protest in
the United States been drowned out by
the boom OF the first American gun
| War is always glorious until the lists
OF dead an3 wounded begin to come,
i and 1t must be remembered also that
for years 1t has been the custom for
public men to soothe the people with
the laudanum of brag and buster.
Judged by every fact in the case.
Woodrow Wilson's reputation OF HUI
erta was in no sense the result OF n
Enthusiastically the instructive recoil OF
tho democratic spirit Mental pro-
cesses are never tree from the i'm
pingements Of self-interest. 1t Is only
In the unthinking passions of idealism
that there is found the courage to do
the right thing rather than that which
is expeIicnt and opportunistic.
The issue Of the Tanama Canal tolls
controversy had already given plain
indication that the people of the
United States were responding tot
merged Ideals.
1t Is true enough that there were no
its In that clause In the Hay-Paunce-
fotc treaty which said that "the canal
shall BIO free and open to vessels of