New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-26
THE SCHOOLMASTER ABROAD
His Lofty Dream with a Slant Toward
Prussianism Is Rejected
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir, The President was quito right "her
he said in his address to the Senate, referring
to the termination of the war and the treat
les and agreements which must bring 1t to ar
end" that I'VE shall have no voice in deter
mining what these terms shall be-"
Yet, does he not speak with an unmistaka
BILE voice in an effort to determine what tnoSe
terms shall be, under the pain and penalty OF
an American refusal 10 share in themE AS
suming to be an interpreter ok"both groups
he says their statements agree In the impii'
cation that there must be peace without
victory"l Do they thus agree? What have
the Entente Allies declared to be essential Ia
future peace? Mr.. Wilson cannot or VIII no'
recognize the Iron hand beneath Mr. Balfour's
velvet glove writing that no victory winch
should crush the German people was IN
tended, but leaving 1t clear that the Hohen-
zollern treaty breaker and blatant militsrist
must be overthrown.
How did il happen that two Of the three
concrete illustrations Of what would be "ac-
ceptable" to the "schoolmaster abroad" were
only Just those which might have been Sc
lected by q special pleader for the German
Emperor-shibboeth in his press campaign,
though he had deigned no reply to the Presi-
dents request for his terms of peace-"the
autonomous Poland" and "the freedom Of the
seas"? While the third illustrations neu-
tralized outlet to the open seas-seemed TO
challenge the Entente obligations to Russia
Cor did Mr.. Wilson have the Kiel Canal in
mindO How about the claims OF Belgium
and Alsace-Lorraine, Rumania, Serbia and
Armenia for wrongs to be righted? Were
they not even better illustrations OF indis-
pensable adjustments?
A ray of real light and leading eliminates
the extraordinary deliverance--the assurance
that the alienation of our "heel Of Achilles"
the Philippine Islands, must follow any de-
mand for the incorporation of the Monroe
Doctrine with international law. II We de-
mand and obtain control Of the Western Hem
isphere we can hardly maintain our violent
intrusion into the Eastern.
We might say again upon this new revela-
ton of the Presidents ideaity, were it not
for its strong slant TO Prussianism, Behold
this dreamer cometh," with a great measure
of enthusiasm for the loftiness Of his thought
and expression. But why does he not in
dulge in the dream of the prophets Of old,
the long delayed fulflment Of which might
soon be grasped-the establishment of an in
ternational agreement after the war for a
gradual progress to free exchanges between
the nations of the world, the sanctions Of an
economic and lasting peace, superseding ZEN
tangling alliances" and any league Of force
with its enormous expense and inevitable and
hopeless complications.
Mr.. Wilson has hitched his wagon 10 star.
For the present it must stay hitched. When
the awful but necessary work of clearing the
road has been accomplished perhaps it can
be unhtched and driven somewhere so that
we can all get on to it.
ERvING WINSLOW.
Boston, Mass Jan. "a, 1917.