New-York tribune., 1918-12-14
France Eager
10 Know the
Real Wilson
Most of Nation Sees Two
Distinct Men i'm the Per-
sonality of the President
By hampton Hunt
New York Tribune
Special Gable Serricc

Special Cable Service
Copyright, 1918, New York Tribune Incl
PARlS, Dec. 12-At the present mo-
ment President Wilson occupies in
French opinion a position somewhat
difficult to explain. Perhaps it can best
be put this way:
AS the average Frenchman sees Will
son his personality is composed of two
distinct men. First, there is the Will
son who is the chief magistrate of the
great Western Republic that came to
help France with such lavishness of
hour OF direst need.
Then there is the other Wilson-WiI-
son, the dreamer of utopias and the
idealist whom the circumstances of the
present moment would almost comnel
one to think to be the sternest kind of
realist, but who is associated in the
French mind with dubious proposals.
concerning the freedom of the seas and
the society of nations, which not even
their inventor appears to be clear
about.
Wilson will receive the overwhelming
and wholehearted support of Paris on
Saturday. The possibility of his sit
ting at the peace congress was regard
ed by the average Frenchman with mis-
giving and distrust Hence, Paris
heard with relief that Wilson has
definitely decided not to take part per-
sonally at the peace conference.
Socialists Praise Wilson
The second Wilson, however, pos
sesses certain number of admirers
here Unfortunately, they are of a
KIND which would make the President.
did he realize the fact, offer up fervent
petition to be saved from his friends.
NO greater damage could have been
done to Wilson personally in the ewes
OF the average Frenchman and French
woman than has been done him bv the
noisy crew of five or six kinds of diff
ferent Socialists who have been shout
ing their admiration for him durino
the past week. The French newspapers
generally have preserved rather s;o-
'niilcant silence Of the wait and see"
order The Socialists alone have print
ed columns of fulsome blither in praise
of Wilson.
The French Socialists are. of course.
very different from their fellow theore-
tlclans in either America or Britain.
have been trying for more than ten
years to find out exactly what their
programme Is, but as yet without sue
cess. French Socialist may belong to
one Of forty different kinds but is sure
to be at war with the other thirty-nine
They agree in only one thing and that
is as to the desirabilty of turning out
Whatever government may be in power
and put themselves in its place. Gail
laux is Socialist of a sort, Radical
Socialist. All the defeatists who nearly
brought France to ruin in 1915. 1915
and 1917, until Clemenceau took hold
of the helm and put things right.
traded under Socialist flags.
France Turns Against Socialists
Before the war Socialism in this
country, if it meant anything at all,
meant political discomfort and was able
to command hundred seats in the
Chamber. The war has taught France
her lesson, however. These one hun
dred self-styled Socialists are in the
Chamber only because there has been
no general election during the war. If
the signs of the times show one thing
clearer than anything else in France.
Cnnfianed oa, a,crt