The Washington herald., 1918-12-30
FRIGHT MAN IN RIGHT PLACE."
BRITISH VERDICT ON VII SON
vONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

there We're moments during the first
two years when some of US thought
his vessel was long in being launched
and that it was even in danger OF
being stuck in the chocks, but once
under way there could be no mis-
sivIngs about her fate, for she was
built to the measure of the big waves
in the periIous ocean she had to cross
and her captain was plainly on the
bridge.
That he was the right man there
and no other would have been right,
nobody i'm Europe whatever the feel
ing in America can have any doubt
now Of what made him right What
qualities of mind. or character. or
heart or temperament, control IL
make him Of all Americans. living or
dead. precisely the right man to
carry his country through this war?
The question seems hard, but the an
swPr is simple.
In a recent interview In the Lon
don Times. President Wilson spoke
Of himself as ESSENTIALLY Celtic and
seemed to account for something OF
his success in war by the inheritance
Of a steadfast optimism combined
with an unquenchable humor.
I am very sorry, but speaking as
a Celt, I feel compelled to reject his
explanation and deny myself his kim
ship as there is. as nearly as pos
sible. nothing of the CeIt in President
Wilson and there is only a half truth
in his definition of the dominant Gel
tic character. As surely as Lloyd
George was tho right man for Britain
Just because he was a CeIt and could
keep our souls alive in dark hours
with his heart of fire and tongue OF
flame. so sure Wilson. il he had been
a 'CelIt. would have been the wrong
man for America
True Son of America.
President Wilson is a true son OF
his great and various tOnGued cOun-
try, less disturbed by Hereditary racial
tendencies than almost any leader OF
his time. That ne is a man of genius
J. made clear by the searching light
Of his intellect. by his almost uncanny
power OF penetrating hidden mean
inEs and unmaskinE unsuspected mo-
tives. but with all his culture, his
genius is in the best sense the genius
of the common man.
That he has great spiritual passion
IS no less obvious in the HebraiC
fervOr and eXaltatiOn of his messages
and notes. but it is a spiritual pas
sion which lies deep under its love OF
material success in the Puritan foun-
datiOn Of the American character.
That he has a never-failing humor
we may readily believe. though we
have not yet been permitted to en-
JOY il, for that man would be a dole
some soul indeed who could be born
in America, or vet breathe for long
the heartsome air OF that bracing con-
tinent without catching the infection
OF its joyous spirit
That he has a deep we'll spring OF
humanity which bleeds at sight of in
justice Is as certain as that he is bred
Of people who beneath n gross indif.
ference to little Ills are at once the
most sensitive and sentimental nations
on the earth. There seems to be some
thing in the very soil of America
which makes il impossible for a man
TO live on it, whatever his descent,
without conforming to some of the
American gross Indifference and its
eharacteristics, and President Wilson's
character has cOnformed to the best
'of. them all.
Therefore, he is pre-eminently
American. not lOwland Scotch or
Irish. nor yet Cumbrian, although
TO the Cumberland dalesman of the
type OF Wordsworth. he has, I con-
hdently say, next closest affinity.
And IL the allied nations of Europe
are now receiving him with loud