New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-31
Shying at Utopia.

vaguest way, the terms on which Amerl-
can mediation is to be sought and the prin-
ciples which must be accepted by the bel
lieerents if the United States is to par
ticipate in a general peace settlement
This shyness is natural, since most OF the
Presidents supporters have been acclaim
ing It as his greatest achievement that he
has kept this country out Of the European
conflict, that he has made good his re-
peated assertions about this war being a
,lr with which we have nothing to do"
and "whose causes cannot touch US"
Having accustomed themselves to that
idea Mr.. Wilson's followers find it diff
cult TO grow enthusiastic over the PROPOSE
ton that the United States shall not only
concern itself with the causes and the out
come of Europe's quarrel, but shall un-
Gertake, if invited to mediate, to prescribe
the principles on which the new world
order, following the war, shall be based.
Such an amazing reversal Of opinion must
be very painful TO those who sincerely
svmpathized with Mr.. Wilson's previous
efforts to preserve a frigid and cautious
neutrality and to avoid any assertion by
the United States of concern with the
causes of the war or with the issues TO
settle which it was being fought. Even
to Mr.. Wilson's partisans the intellectual
effrontery Of his demand on the beliger-
ents must be disagreeably manifest 1t
is as II an innocent bystander, in quar-
rel after hieing himself to safety and
loudly proclaiming his moral disapproval
of the contestants and his absolute indif-
ference to their affairs, should emerge
from his bomb proof at the last moment,
offer his services as an arbitrator and
then insist on making peace on his own
terms, regardless of the meaning of the
dispute or the composition of it acceptable
to the two partially exhausted fighters.
Mr. Wilson lays down as one of the con-
ditions precedent to a general peace the
!. recognition Of the right Of every people to
\ choose the sovereignty under which they
shall live. Europe could not accept such a
principle without shattering its whole po-
litcal system. To accept it would set the
world back economically for generations
perhaps for centuries. Every colonial de-
tendency. every subject people, would have
to be sloughed Off, and if the second prin-
ciple of guaranteeing the territorial in
tegrity and political independence Of every
existing nation and every newly consti-
tuted nation we're also TO be accepted, a
perpetual license would he given to misgov-
crnment in all the backward portions of
the world.
President Wilson himself has recently
violated the sovereignty Of Hayti and Mex
ico Why did he not withdraw American
soldiers from Mexico and American ma
rines from Hayti before setting out to
coerce Europe into freeing all the peoples
or racial groups aspiring to govern them
SELVES and then guaranteeing their terri
torial integrity and political independence
Administration newspapers do not dis
cuss this proposition. Nor do they discuss
the proposition to guarantee the freedom
Of the seas-which, if it means anything,
means that blockades are to be abolished
and all warfare on the seas is to be put
under the ban. Sea power is TO disappear
and the nations which are strong at sea are
TO be shackled for the benefit of the ma
lions which are strong on land.
1t is useless TO ask the powers which
have fought the European war to make a
peace which would establish such condi-
tons and thus leave them, one and all, i'm
potent in the future. Mr.. Wilson will never
do that, whatever rhetorical extravagances
he may indulge in in Washington and else
where while the Presidential campaign
lasts.
Maybe his newspaper supporters realize
that they would be wasting time in taking
too seriously his fantastic peace speech.
Yet that speech deserves their attention.
II will not escape the attention Of the
country. Never before in briefer compass
has Mr.. Wilson exhibited the essential
faults of his political leadership-its lack
Of background, its fightiness, its Deepen
dence on happy appropriations for the
guidance which should come from mas
terry of the fundamentals Of American
craftsmanship. In this great crisis in the
worlds history the leader who can serve
us must not have his mind full of Serving
mankind and peopling internationally