The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-12-03
President wilson's Farewell Address.

President Wilson'S Farewell Address.
The spoken message delivered TO
the Congress yesterday by the Presl-
dent of the United States is not a
farewell address in the exact sense In
which the term Is applied to GEORGE
wAsH1yeroN's memorable utterance.
WASHINGTON was quitting office for
ever; WILSON Is merely quitting his
appointed post Of duty. WASHINGTON
used the solemn occasion to impart
to his fellow countrymen advice as 10
the avoidance Of ENHANCEMENT in for
eign affairs-advice which shaped the
policy of the United States Govern
ment for more than century. Will
SON uses the present occasion to IN
dictate vaguely to his fellow citizens n
future of par; 'ripation In the affairs
or foreign nations, illimitable in its
extent, unbounded in Its possibilities,
Unreasonable in its dangers. 1t is not
a strain Of language TO speak Of this
momentous speech at the Capitol as
a farewell address, for President
WILSON is bidding good-by to many
things as he sails sway with his ex.
pensive retinue into the unknown on
q ship which the irony of accident has
named the George Washington.
He Is bidding farewell, among
other things. to even the slenderest
pretence that either the people Of the
United States, of whom he again
says he Is the servant, or the Senators
of the United States, his constitu-
tional partners in treaty making, are
entitled to the least enlightenment con-
corning his real reasons for going
abroad or his purposes while abroad
MS the bearer OF the Wilson fourteen.
Any expectation that he might, at
the last moment, take the people and
the Senate into his confidence has
been rudely shattered when the con-
Guiding paragraph of his address has
been read. He plays with fair words
that carry no meaning. The denial
of information TO the nation is abso-
lutte; the servant goes out slammlng
the door In the face of the acknowl-
edged master, standing in dumb sur
prise and awaiting an explanation of
the errand. The refusal of informa-
ton to the Senate, his senior partner
in the treaty business in which he is
engaged, is so marked in the cynicism
Of the ignoring as TO come nigh to
the edge Of insult.
This is the outstanding fact about
an address which viii be read to-day
with amazement everywhere, with
honest indignation in many quarters.
Styling himself the servant of the
nation, Mr.. WILSON is proceeding pre-
cisely as IL he were its master. as If
the arrangement Of the nations poll
cies and destinies rested exclusively
with him, with his Independent and
uncontrolled judgment. He vouch-
safes to the Congress and to the peo-
pie no fit explanation of his departure,
no declaration Of his intentions except
so far as they are suggested in the
fourteen generallties formulated in
his individual mind and enunciated
on his individual authority. Let US
see what his prospectus is.
He realizes "the great inconyen-
fences" that will attend his leaving
the country at this time, but has
come, In his capacity as an Individual
temporarily holding office under n
government Of law, to the conclusion
that 1t is his paramount duty" to
instruct the Allied Governments ne
10 the Interpretation and application
of the fourteen generalitles which he
has individually framed. He goes
not because the Constitution pre-
scribcs IT. not because any clearly seen
feature OF the situation requires 1t.
but because he wishes 10 explain and
enforce certain general principles Of
world Interest which represent no au-