Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-12-30
,METEORIC CAREER
I Of THE PRESIDENT
! REVIEWED BY GAME:
More Rapid Rise 20 World
Wide Influence Than
Any Other.
OUTSIDE OF OWN COUNTRY
WAS PRACTICALLY UNKNOWN
Salvos Announce His Departure
and Salutes Greet His
Arrival.
PERSONIFTES GREAT AMERICA
Was Precisely the Right Man to
Garry Ills Country Through
Pcrils OF War.
OUTSIDE OF OWN COUNTRY
WAS PRACTICALLY UNKNOWN
rERsoNlETEs GREAT AMERICA
Garry Ills Country Through
Pcrils OF War.
ny sin uALL CAI>I:

Bi sir HALL. CAME
LONDON, December 29-The great
IA American who Is now the guest OF The
British nation has had Il more rapid
trlse. 10 world wide influence than any
other man in any other country for
100 years at least.
When the last edition OF the Ency-
eioped!a Bri;annica was published
toout ten years ago quarter Of 4
page was considered sufficient TO record
The facts OF his career. while two
paGes and even three were devoted 20
\ The .doings OF some Of his more recent
J predecessors who are now remembered
NO more
The ed;.orial encouragement; was no;
Y tbem lately retIred from 4 nrofcsnomni ,fce NAL
y position which he had sustained with
dignity. bu, without startling dlstinc-
IA treat tises on politics and Jurisprudence,
Z. which had Interested without arres;ing
e the public. He had published one n!og-
raphy. a~iife OF Washington. which was
Ifvid in portraiturc and excellent in
ystyle. He mad entered the outer courts
Nance. but he had laid no siege 10 pop
lnlar imaEination even in America. and
outside his own country he was p-ac-
iIcaliy unknown.
He could travel in foreign lands
to modest men from too much atten-
lion. lie was nowhere the observed
Of all observers lie spent several
Ing fells and cycling through valleys
wiihout provoking more comment than
with the bottoms OF his trousers tied
up by CLASP. But what Is the large
space he fills now in tho eyes of the
Whom at the beginning OF this
i month. he sailed from Amerfcan shores
ION (seiected surely by no accident of
ehoice), a sa,yo OF guns and salute
Statue OF Liberty. which rises from
The waters a the mouth Of H. AZ he
of American warships. commanded by
two rear-admtra went out TO meet
him and conduct him 10 his port or
debarkatoa.
GREAT LEADERS AND -.
THRONGs hid WELCOME
1 When he set foot on French soil he
was welcomed by the president of
the French republic. the French Pre-
mier and vast concourse Of French
people. For the better part OF week
thereafter he was the idol OF Paris and
1 the guest of France-lodced within
sight OF the Tomb OF Napoleon he was
\ attended every. day. and all day by
happy enough 10 be rewarded for their
saiutations by, his smile, And now his
visit TO the French nation being over
and his visit to the British nation haN-
ing begun, he is being received in Eng
land with the same riot OF rcJoiSsing:
Z and he is housed under the roottrce
of the King.
For the causes OF such dramatic
transformation scenes il is usually nee
essary to look beyond the man who
is the centra! figure in them. however
worthy he may be- TO the forces that
are work ing behind him. We are ac-
customcd to say that tho value of
lille is the value OF the man who
wears II. but it is much more true that
the Importance OF a public man is ac-
cording to the Importance of his pub
lie position. and during the past four
years President Wilson has attained
to an almost unparalleled celebrity,
and he has richly deserved it: But
II would be folly and rank f'attery
10 say that his rapturouS reception in
Europe is due mainly TO his personal
achievements.
pERSONIFIES THE GREAT
SPIRIT nF AMERICANS
AS president of Princeton University
he might without more than Il ripple
of academic interest have thought and
said sublime and stately things which
coming from the President of the United
states have stirred and thrilled the
world. 1t is above all else because he
personifiesj America: being at once
Spokesman and visible embodiment OF
i the American people. that the people
of Europe are now giving him such
~ a welcome as no prince of church or
state has ever. received in these islands
before.
But If authority counts for much
lin the making OF a meteoric reputa-
ton, opportunity counts for more. The
men who achieve world fame in IL few
years of their own life are those who
have been borne along on the world
tide. 1t was so with Robert Give
when he swept uD from his desk in the
trading office of India to become al
most before he could have been aware
Of &c founder and father Of our Indian
empire. II was so with the elder Pitt
when. caught uD by q wave of colos-
sal egotism. he declared in the dark est
hour England had yet known that
he could save her and nobody else could
and then did 1t, being carried along
with his country on mighty current
Of fortunate events. which politicians
called luck and historians have called
chance. but which students of the laws
OF life know to have been the roll
of the world waves which at great
moments OF human upheavaI sweep
nations to the height of their destiny
and lift men who stand for them to
dazzling eminencc.
ENTIRE WORLD TIDE
SWEEPING WfTII HIM
1t has been so with President VIII
son, and no previous American Prcsi-
dent, not even Lincoln, nor yet Wash
.Tipgton, though both took the helm Mt
| The top of the food and guided their
ship OF state through coast shoals as
difficult as Wilson found in his way
sfly with him. 1t was nearly impossi-
hIe to- be President. Of the United States
during~the past four years and not be
come n world figure after the war
To say this is to make no deduction
from the rIghtful reward OF President
Wilson's captaincy. Perhaps there were
moments during the first two years
when some OF us thought his vessel
| was long In being launched and tnnt
itywas even In danger of being stuck In
the schocks, but once under way,
there could be no misgiving about her