New-York tribune., 1918-12-03
Bursfed Bubble
BY Grace Ellery Claiming

IN III the departure of President
wv Wilson to Europe bursts one ot
the bright bubbles Of historic nc-
ton, and people of hundred million.
ls relieved from one portion Of the indict,
ment under which it has lain for four and
half years
The charge against US has been not only
chat for two years and a half we proved
mentally and spiritually incompetent to
grasp the issues Of a war which was burn.
ing up the world and into which we bavs
eventually flung "alI we are and have" bn.
II mas been generally accepted the world
over that 1t was we, the American peonle
who held back idealistic President fror'
plunging US into the fray. Over here =
IS true, there was time a slogan which
served the basis of an election ram.
paign (Don Marquis suggests that General
Leonard Wood may now be niurmuring il
to Theodore Roosevelt), He kept US out =,
war; But "over there" the legend is read
differently and runs, "They kept him on.
of war;
The one excuse or explanation oFer.d
for our belated entrance has alwavs besn
that eloquently restated by The Timesn
IN its editorial of yesterday, namely. that
nation sunk in prejudices and prece-
Dents and (in spots) 'contentedy feeding
on the husks of racifsm7 could not bo
reused to vision of it's duty Througbou,
that memorably painful period we are told
Mr.. Wilson, Combining a long patience
with iron resolution" and "careless of the
censure Of Hotspurs, labored and waited
for the unihcation of rational sentiment
with forbearance, with wisdom. with
matchiess penetration of the causes of di
vision" (suppose this means Germans, while
behind the shelter Of Great Britain's feet
and the sacrficial armies of France Britain
Italy and Belgium we grew national soul
and will. Theh, and not till then. did or
could the conscientious head Of a repre-
sentative government Of the people bv the
people presume to dispose of the destinies
Of that people in war
Nobody viii deny that Mr.. Wilson waited
and 1t is on record how he labored; for
that we do not have to take anybodv's
after-the-event opinion or narrative; II ia
all down in Mr.. Wilson's own typewritte,
word There let it remain for the monen.
for, though the war is said to be over. peacs
is not as yet
But this, as "The Times" tells it. is the
legend for which all Europe-and even
some Americans-"fell" when. imrnedjatel,-
after April &, it began everywhere to BE-
disseminated and Mr.. Wilson's liberated
sympathles were at last free to be com
munlcated to the public in all their ardor
This is also the legend which it has never
been permissible for humble Americans
publicly to assail since that fateful Anr;I
date made US all soldiers under one com
mander in chief To-day Mr.. Wilson him
self destroys it for all time with one swift
autocratic gesture.
For four years and half ago we were
told and believed, he could not lead rs
TO France because the mandate which alone
could Justify him lacking a unifca-
ton of national sentiment To-day Nj
Wilson goes to France-Mr Wilson goes
to the peace conference, his own chosen
delegate, IN spite of a unifcation of na-
tional sentiment amounting Git is THE
Times" who says it,, to "a very general if
not Substantially unanimo11s, disapproval
Of his going. Never at its worst moment
""S S1iiS SOuiltIS dTTdyeQ against the war.
as 1t has been arrayed against this trip on
the part of its own Executive. Does that
worry Mr. Wilson? Does it DELAY him T.
he showing any signs of stopping to labcr
with US now, of waiting? 1t is the same
American people-and the same Mr.. vii
son; only the iron resolution points now
another way
Mr. Wilson goes to France, and with
him goes much more than the shattering
of legend. Henceforth Europe will under
stand as well we that, whatever kent
Mr. Wilson out of war, it was not the
American people, since Mr. Wilson himself
furnishes the absolute proof that the Amer
lean people can keep him out of ,,ofb5nc-.
not even by the unitication of a national
sentiment raised to the point of "substar-
tial unanimity."
Truly, as THE Times" says. there are
times when we do "seem not to be people."
Perhaps that is why Mr. Wilson has
stopped taking mandates from Us.
0tiveIxy Wa1.o =