Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-07-12
.ASQUlTH PRAISES
LEADERSHIP OF
PRESIDENT WILSON


of President Wilson's leadership n
of Nations after the war. was given
by Herbert H. Asquith, the former
premier, in an address last night at
the National Liberal Club. The oc-
casion was a Hospitality dinner to
American officers" at which 500
prominent Englishment were hosts.
The dinner resolved itself into a
meeting of ovation for the president.
Twice. Admiral Sinms, commander
of the American naval forces in the
war zone. paid tribute to the coop
Grafton of the British and American
navies and declared:
The submarine menace is now at
an end. for we are destroying them
faster than the Germans can build
them"
Major General Biddle, co:nrardcr
evoked long cheers when he an
nounced that American troops We're
stationed at from no 10 50 different
points in England and Scotland.
Former Premier Asquith, in the
course of a speech urging the i'm
portance of President Wilson's idea
Of a league of Nations as the most
urgent Of all peace problems, said
The United States as nation
has had the very good fortune that
in the supreme crisis Of her national
history the man whom she most
needed for inspiration and guild
ance has always appeared. Thus
came Washington and Lincoln.
Washington and Lincoln are lllustri-
Gus names which have passed into
history. We must not attempt to
anticipate history's judgement up
on men still living. but | will venture
+ to say that President Wilson has
/ been the head of the American gov
eminent in times no less trying than
any in its annals.
\ President Wilson has taken the
7 greatest decision of our age and
has carried his people with him in
it. Moreover, he has laid before the
world the grounds for his decision
| the reasons which justified and com
PEELED 1t and the spirit in which it
was adopted. He has done this in
state papers which are worthy to
live side by side with the most in
spring utterances Of his most fam
/ Gus predecessors.
\ 1t is one thing to embrace good
! cause. 1t is another to push it to a
victorious issue. If nation is to
hold its own on the battlefield these
! days It must be equipped on the sea
ana on land with the strongest bat
talLons, the best and fastest ships,
\ adequate organization of TRANSPORT
and supply and even a superiority
IN all the manifold mechanical de-
\ wees for aggression and defense
+ which the Hellish ingenuity of mod
4 ern warfare has devised.
America has had her difHcr1tiee
They have not stified but have stiro
Hl1ted her energy and we grac.) the
opportunity tonight Of acknowledy-
ing our Unboundcd admiration of tho
r1anniticent contribution America
las made. is making and viii contin-
ne 70 make IN every increasing
measure, Here again we gratefully
trace the guiding hand ana driv.n.,
viii Of tho President.
i Probably the world owes it's
greatest debt to President Wilson
for helping men whose vision has
been Blurred and blinded by tho
smoke Of the battleeld to lift up
then eyes and to look through it ana
! beyond it. II is very difficult IN time
of war to keep a steady head ana a
clean tongue. President Wilson does
both.
We cannot ask ourselves too or-
ten what we are fighting for. Presi-
dent Wilson has done more than any
other statesman to concentrate the
minds Of his own people, of the allies
and even Of enemy people upon a
league Of nations as our dominating
world aim.
\ There can he no clean peace
which does not clear away the
causes of war. 1t seems to me all
I important that both here and il
4 America we should realize and act as
\ though we realized it, that a LEAGUE
of nations is neither a vague poiit-
4 ical abstraction nor an empty rhcl-
crical formula, but concrete and d
definite ideal. This is a large step in
advance on the road of human pro-
I gress. but 1t can and must oe TAX
/ en- and when the goal is reached
! due honor will be paid to President
| Wilson as the greatest of its pio-
\ neerS.'
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