Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-11-21
A REGRETTABLE TRIP

Tho more the country contenplates President Wilson's proposed
,r;n "a Europe TO attend the peace conference the more distastefui
H. ron becomes To sneak of running the Presidency of the United
States by cable is such a cheapening OF the ONCE ana a wer VI
the dignity of the position that it is notifying to even CONSIDER !.
Only one man can fulfill the duties of President; he Is the man
elected by the people. But there ire any number of men who can De
peace delegates. Why, then, should the only man who can perform M
duties of chief executive of the nation side-track those duties &c take
up the work that could be s easily delegated to othersf
AT the peace conference there will be but one general topic for
discussion. True, this topic has many different features to be taken
under consideration, but the whole thing is along one tram o. tnougns'
On the other hand, many important problems, each one entirely dn-
erent from the other, will arise in connection with running ,ms gov
erement for the next few months which will be largely up TO In res
ident to solve. 1t would seem, therefore, when 1t came to a choice
of running the government by cable r considering the matters that
come before the peace conference it would be much easier and more
satisfactory to use the cable for the latter.
Besider, the peace conference is not exclusively an American al
fair. France, Great Britain and Italy will have as much, if not more
to say than the United States in the final adjustment of European af-
fairs. But the running of the government here in America is ex-
clusvely up to the United States, hence it would seem that the Pres
ident should devote his time, first to the duties at Washington and IL
anything is to be handled in a secondary manner by cable, let it be
the matter in which others are as vitality interested as we and which
can be delegated to others to handle more easily than the affairs OF
the presidency.
The American people like to think of their President as a man
holding the highest position in the world, a position of great dignity
and honor commanding the utmost respect The unwrltten rule where
by it has been generally accepted that the President SHOULD not leave
the country during his term of office has been universally approved.
1t has seemed to add prestige to the office.
Now, to contemplate the President brushing aside all home at
fairs as secondary and hieing himself off to Europe to enter INTO DIS
cusions and possibly wrangle with a lot of delegates from practically
all the countries of the world, is such II radical departure from what
the American people have come to expect of their President such a
lowering of standards, that it Is not surprising that the feeling OF
opposition grows.
But it is not to be expected that the President will change his
nlon ~ matterv what the country thinks. In fact. his attitude hereto
the stronger become his determination to do a. he had set out to do.
The President will 90 abroad and be lionized in all the leading CAPT
tails. His personal vanity will be tckhed and, naturally, the people
back home will take some pride in the enthusiastic welcome that will
be universally accorded their President.
But when all is said and done we believe that the great majority
of the people of the country feel that the right place for the head Of
the nation, especially during the trying times OF the next year or two,
is at the White House leaving it to a delegation of capable men, of
whom there are many in this country, to represent the United States
around the great international peace table.