New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-29


his countrymen. He believed that the re-
ward Of politics was to be had by keeping
the nation out OF war-at any sacrlfce
of national honor and national dignity lie
believed that his countrymen would be
satisfied with a pretended championship
of American and neutral rights; he be-
lieyed and he acted upon the belief that
what Americans held dearest were dollars
and safety. His decision killed at the very
outset the patriotic spirit and the intense
Americanism that we all remember on the
morning Of the Lusitania.
Now, after many months, it begins to
be plain that Mr. Wilson chose wrongly
It becomes clearer day by day that 1t was
not only less honorable but less profitable
politically to appeal TO the selfshness
rather than to the idealism Of the Amerl-
can people. After long months 1t begins
TO be plain that from one end Of this ma
ton to the other there is rising national
resentment. bitterness, anger at the be-
travail Of Americanism which has been
Mr.. Wilson's policy and has been the basis
Of al his acts. A people which all too
slowly appreciated the fact has at last
begun TO understand, and its passion IS no
longer mistakable.
After all, it is dangerous thing 70.
handler TO the vices Of millions OF men
and women. 1t is a dangerous thing to
traffic in their sefshness and seek to
make personal political capital out OF IN
dulging their greed for gain. Because, II
there is in all men a love for comfort ana
for ease and for prosperity, there IS also
a spirit which is wholly different, a no
bilitv and an unselfshness. which, given
the opportunity. will sweep all the selfish
to one side. There never was anything
more certain than that the millions of
American people, looking out upon the
courage. the devotion. the sacrifice of the
men and women of Europe, would one day
rise against the domination in America OF
the base and the sordid.
1t was false notion altogether that
some millions Of Americans, shut of by
the ocean from Europe, could live in ease
and beyond the influence of noble deeds
and gallant aspirations. It was always
certain that the Great War, which was the
largest human fact since the French Revo-
luton. would assume for Americans a
meaning which was devoid of dollars or
of other profits. Unless the American
people were wholly degenerate and cor
rupt. nothing was more certain than that
millions of Americans would one day de-
mand that America should perform her
duty and play her part in the remaking
of the world. They were not corrupt, they
were not degenerate, and their demand Is.
now audible throughout the continent.
1t is not a pleasant thing for men Of a
nation of a hundred million population to.
reflect that when the menace of tyranny
end violence was hurled at Belgium with
its eight millions Belgium answered with
her manhood. It is not pleasant for the
people Of a Republic become the greatest
of world nations in wealth and corcentrat-I
ed population to realize that its govern
ment ran away. skulked, flunked before a
smaller threat than that which three mill.
ions of American colonsts faced, arms in.
Land. nearly a century and half ago. 1t
is not a pleasant thing 10 know that their
government skulked because it believed
that to-day one hundred million Americans
prefer dollars to all else and would be sat
isfied with any ignominy, provided their
comfort and ease were not destroyed.
But this is what the American govern
rent believed This is what Mr.. Wilson
believed. There is no explanation under
Heaven for the things that have been
done in Washington in the last seventeen
months if it is not to be found in the asser-
ton that Mr.. Wilson believed that the
American people were selfish, sordid, des-.
titute of all idealism and devoted to the.
pursuit of money at the expense Of ma
tional honor and national dignity. In.
/ eleving this Mr.. Wilson failed us. failed
America at a critical moment. the most
critical in our recent history. His oppor-.
tunlty was that OF Lincoln; ms obligation
and his opportunity were those of 1861.
But he told us TO be "too proud to fight
and we should be richer than ever in our.
history and prosperous beyond all that had
ever been. In addition he taught us to.
telieve that by words we could preserved
our honor and our profits. He taught US
to flee our duty, but, as we fed, to pro-
claim our championship Of human liberty
and neutral rights.
And now, as the year ends, there is no
reason why any American should mistake
the estate to which his country has fallen.
There is no reason why he should misun-
derstand the contempt and loathing felt
for the United States abroad, felt by men
and women who are daring all and endur-
ing all for the principles we continue to
a. IL, 80 H.