New-York tribune., 1918-12-02
Unity at a Discount


The net result of President Wilson'S
personally conducted' peace pro-
gramme has been to shatter American
unity. Yet national unity is no more
essential in making war than it is in
making peace
"a house divided against itself can
not stand" How, then, can a nation
divided against itself expect to have its
voice needed at the peace table?
President Wilson is acting as his own
peace commissioner The other agents
to whom he has issued credentials will
merely reflect his wishes and carry out
his instructions. The President has so
far taken no counsel with the Senate or
with the people in shaping American
peace policies. He has allowed neither
the Senate nor the people representa-
ton on the peace commission. He has
gone to the most imprudent extremes in
dissociating himself from the Senate
and the country in his function as a
treaty negotiator. To-day, for the first
time, he is going to give Congress and
the public an inkling of the ideas which
he intends to champion at the peace
conference. Yet Immediately thereafter
he is to betake himself far out of range
Of Congressional and public opinion.
Is it any wonder that most Americans
despair of anything like unified Ameri-
can action at Paris? The country does
not know Mr.. Wilson's mind about such
problems as the league Of nations and
the freedom Of the seas. 1t hardly
knows its own mind about them. 1t is
holding its judgment in allegiance until
concrete proposals can be submitted.
1t is, therefore, all the more indignant
that the President should not have de-
cided to remain at home Here he could
consult popular SENTIMENT as such SEN
timent was crystallizing. But in Paris
he is likely to commit himself prema-
turely and in a way which may operate
to shut the American people off from
the free discussion and final determina-
tion of issues in which they are intensely
concerned.
1t Is very sound instinct which has
set the public so firmly against the
Presidents trip to Paris. We all feel
that somehow he cannot retain his rep
resentative capacity if he goes to
France--that what he will do there will
much too strongly reflect his purely
personal opinions instead Of the voice
and thought Of the United States. AS
a true interpreter of American senti-
ment, which is still only beginning to
form, his place is in Washington, not in
Paris. Staying here would make for
unifcation. The trip to Paris makes for
disunity.
Is it any wonder, also, that the Sen
ate is incensed at being excluded from
"look IN at the peace conference?
The Senate must approve the treaty.
Ordinary political comfy would suggest
very close association between the Ex-
ecutive and the Senate in defining Amer
lean peace policies There has been no
association of that kind Now the Sen
ate is considering whether it ought not
to send committee to Paris to repre-
sent it in much the same manner as the
commissioners already named represent
the President
Such move would strikingly adver-
tise American discords. But it could
hardly overemphasize the lack of coop
Grafton and confidence which the Presi-
dents programme of secrecy and exclu-
siveness has actually produced.
Mr. Wilson's address to Congress to-
day may help to relieve the friction be-
tween him and his peace commission on
one side and Congress and the public
on the other. But it comes very late.
1t may come too late to reunite Ameri-
can sentiment and to insure the United
States the influence to which it is en-
titled az an underwater of world peace.