New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-05
Four Years More

Olilce under COnQllOHS SeiuOH cquaIlVu III
our political history A revolution in the
Republican party had swept that organl-
zation not merely out Of power, but into
chaos and disarray from which it has not
yet emerged There was a great willing
ness all over the nation that the expert
ment of Democratic rule should again be
tried and q great good will disclosed tow
ard the man who took office as a Demo-
cratic President.
Few will pretend that after four years
Mr.. Wilson has realized the hopes or JUS
titled the faith Of the country. In the
presence of the greatest opportunity that
anv man has had since Lincoln for brave
and real leadership. Mr.. Wilson has found
himself unable to lead, and nation which
demanded only that it might be led has
again and again found its most patriotic
impulses stifed by a President who con-
ceived that the duty of leader was to
follow.
1t is idle and it is, at the present mo-
ment, inexpedent to review the long and
humiliating history of the last four years.
Step by step we have descended the long
staircase until we find ourselves to-day
actually in the presence Of foreign attack
without preparation either materially or
morally; the will to defend our fellow
countrvmen and our inalienable rights
has become enfeebled; the courage and
the capacity to face things as they are
have been dissipated by the perpetual eff
fort to avoid action by minimizing or mis-
representing facts.
It may be that Mr.. Wilson has at last
emerged from the shadow Of past mis-
takes. 1t may be that the long and bitter
lessons Of the last four years have taught
him that there is no escape IN words from
action, and that in the presence of world
storm to temporize is to multiply not
10 reduce, the perils. Certainly there IS
given to few men the chance that Mr..
Wilson will have in the next four years to
atone for past failure, to undo the conse-
ouences of previous errors, TO rescue his
fellow countrymen from the quagmire into
which he has permitted them to sink.
Three years ago Mr.. Wilson told us that
it was wrong to prepare for the emergen-
cies that a new world Of war and storm
would inevitably bring. He babe ma
ton. as an act of moral elevation, to re-
frain from arming itself. He told a ma
ton that could not but be concerned when
q battle between civilization and barbar-
ism was going on in the world that the
issues Of the struggle could not interest
or affect us. In the presence Of that su-
preme crime which was the Lusitania he
uttered the memorable words TOO proud
to fight"
All that has happened since in Washing
ton and in the nation, the contemplate
spectacle Of the last days at the Capitol,
ere but inevitable consequences of Mr.. Will
sons course. His word and his act have
paralyzed the will and obscured the vision
Of millions Of his fellow countrymen. He
has been conquered by their fears instead
Of inspiring them by his own courage. lie
has accepted the influence Of the weak
and the blind, instead Of giving to the
\ brave and to the informed the inspiration
Of true leadership.
Yet for four years that are TO come Mr..
Wilson will remain the sign, the symbol
and the only possible force in national
and international affairs. he is the single
instrument through which we must work
TO accomplish what is to be accomplished.
However much of bitterness, Of humilia-
ton, of shame, his past failures have
brought upon US, the only chance that we
have now Of meeting the emergencies
thrust upon US is that Mr.. Wilson will
escape from the thradom Of his past folly
and undertake a new period Of Office with
new spirit and new vision.
If the four years that are 10 come dis
close Mr.. Wilson in the same posture as
the last. he will be in our history compare
bic only with James Buchanan, whose
weakness and timidity made the Civil
War inevitable. But if the four years
that are To come see Mr. Wilson at last
aroused 10 the realities Of the world in
which he lives and the duties and dangers
II his own nation, that which has been
written will be blotted out, that which
seems to-day unforgiyable will be forgot
Ton in the minds Of those who come here
after.
No man in human history charged with
treat responsibilities has made more
chastity mistakes than Woodrow Wilson
No man has more terribly failed IN
o,reat crisis 10 represent "A great nation
and lead a people faced with unexpected
and immeasurable perils than the Presi-
dent. As IL stands, hig record is the rec
ord Of a man who might have been an
average President in "A calmer age, but
was destroyed by the very opportunities
which great events brought 70 him.
II n easy % be- unjust in the moment
t.. A. ,Wtlaor bas NOT