Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-29
OUR COURSE IN EUROPE
Is SPLENDID-AND PERILOUS
The Occasion Demands Calm Analysis Rather
Than Blame or Untempered Praise
For the President

sOhlhg now so terribly necessary, pollti-
cal leaders on both sides at Washington
and elsewhere are drifting toward the
gravest days in the history of the repub-
lie. Headlong and bitter criticism of the
Administration is common, on the one
hand. On the other is an almost religious
disposition to approve every new move
and development in Mr.. Wilson's policy
Of internatonalism. Yet this is not a
time for wild blame or mere praise. 1t
is time for analysis.
Few of the men upon whom the nation
is accustomed to depend for guidance
seem willing or able to realize the i'm
mensity of the decisions which we soon
must make in defining our future rela-
tions with Europe. They will not take
time to consider and discuss in all justice
the factors actually involved. They
quibble like Mr.. Wickersham or rail like
Colonel Roosevelt or worship blindly like
Senator Lewis, and ask no questions.
The Presidents course is splendid and
it is perilous. The sooner both parties
admit this the better it will be for the
country.
Calm thinking has become a pressing
patriotic duty of the hour. And yet you
will find men who are supposed to inter
pref political reactions serving their
parties, cropping about for issues and per-
sonalities for 1920, magnifying episodes,
filling the air with clamor, confusing the
public mind. The causes and the men
-.
still invisible in the twilight of the
future. They need not concern US now.
What we need to realize is that the
country is confronted squarely in Europe
with the necessity for decision that will
profoundly affect all our future days for
good or i'll.
Can we serve America best by serving
mankind as President Wilson wishes to
do? Is it necessary for our own welfare
that we attempt to be dominant moral
force in Europe?
Mr.. Wilson is the frank and sincere
propagandist of radical political theories
conceived in all beneficence. The Pres-
dent is going forward with the assump-
ton that the nations of the earth have
been drawn together against their will
into a new community of interest. He
believes that whatever good he can do
in Europe will react to the benefit of the
United States. He is assured, appar-
emily, that we cannot altogether dis
sociate our interests from those of
European peoples. The Presidents
critics will not admit that there is much
sound logic in this general belief, and
that Mr.. Wilson's singular course has
been in many ways forced upon him.
Certainly America would lose tragi-
cally by further devastating wars in
Europe or by the overthrow of enlight-
ened governments. Civilization itself
would be threatened if upheaval is per-
mitted to follow upheaval. Mr.. Wilson
has been charged with an ambition to
sublimate his party. Yet, as a matter
of fact, there can be little doubt
that he is perfectly willing to leave his
party in wreckage if he can but attain
his ends-which are new national rela-
tionships throughout the world and
assured justice among all peoples.
Opposed to the Presidents adven-
turous idealism is the collective opinion
founded on all previous political expert
ence here and in Europe. The maturer
experience of statesmen as sincere if less
gifted than the President convinces them
That America may be stronger, safer and
a surer power for good in the world and
as potent moral force in world politics
| if it can find way to withdraw from
Europe and to resume its old spiritual
isolation and its independence of action.
1t is utterly idle and foolish to deny that
each of these two widely opposed views
has a powerful appeal to the American
mind and the American imagination.
But which is mainly right and just and
safe? And how shall we decide between
the two?
1t is possible to look to Europe now
| for some signs of guidance. They aren't
altogether hopeful for those who have
faith in the Presidents ability to con-
vert the rest of mankind to his own point
of view.
The British navy is the foundation of
the empire. 1t is tradition. 1t sym
bolizes the spirit of race. Can it be
put aside?
1t is conceivable that at the peace
conference Mr.. Wilson will endeavor to
make eliminating appeal to the con-
science of all humanity and to establish
basis for agreements that shall be fixed
permanently by the force of an unde-
niable morality. II he is unable to do this
America were better out of Europe. A
failure in this respect must keep us in
the midst of perpetual brawls. We
should face the certainty of new and
bitter enemies and perhaps powerful
qrcips Ct enemies.