Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1918-02-08
The PrOgrGmms Of an TdsaIist.

We spoke last week Of how
closely the war aims expressed in
the historic addresses by the Brit.
ish Premier and the American
President correspondent, says The
Youths Companion. Yet although
it is true that on every essential
matter Mr.. Lloyd George and Mr..
Wilson agreed, there was a subtle
difference between the speeches:
in their peace programmes the two
men did not by any means empha-
size the same points
Mr.. Wilson spoke out firmly for
a real "freedom of the sea'-not
the misleading thing that the Ger.
man naval party demands, and
that means only German supremacy
on the sea; he urged that commerce
be free on the ocean in war as well
in peace, subject to no interference
except from an international force
organized to maintain international
Law against an offending nation;
he pleaded for the overthrow of all
possible barriers that Obstruot a
free and friendly commerce be-
tween nations; and he declared
that America would not desert
Russia, however difficult and dis
couraging the situation Of Russia
might be, but that it would assist
in every way it could to establish
a free and independent nation on
the ruins Of the empire.
On all those points he spoke as
an idealist-as q visionary, his
critics will say. Mr.. Lloyd George
was more practical. He did not
promise any world wide freedom
Of trade or any abdication by
Britain of its pre- eminent place
upon the sea. No doubt he felt
that if he made such a promise
Great Britain would not follow
him unitedly. He was even ready
to give up the case of Russia with
a sigh Of regret. ut is too bad, :"
he said in effect. "We should
have been glad to help; but our
help isn't wanted, and Russia, if
it wants to play the game alone,
must play it alone
His attitude, although in every
respect straightforward and high
minded, is more cautious than
hat of the President. He has
lived for years in the close atmos
phere of European politics, and
for three years in a cloud of pas
sion and suffering such as we do
not yet comprehend. 1t is not
strange that he did not reach the
heights on which the President
took his stand.
/ There are many persons even in
our country who doubt that it is
possible at present to realize all
the ideals that the President pro
claimed. They feel that literal
freedom of the sea and literal free.
dom of trade between the nations
are things for another generation
to achieve, and that Russia must
90 through a long and painful
struggle before it can attain the
freedom and unity we should all
rejoice to see it attain tomorrow.
They question, perhaps, the prac.
ticability Of the League of Nations,
which is the central fact in that
new world which the President
hopes to see built on the ruins
this war has caused. But there is
no difference ofopinion concerning
the nobility of those ideals, or con.
corning the force and dignity with
which the President expressed
them. There was not a single one
Of the fourteen war aims that the
President specified that the cOun-
try does not avow with pride. 1t
is appropriate that the President
should speak like an idealist, for
the nation fights, not for its own
selfish interest, but for an ideal
for a world in which peace and
Justice and generosity shall have
the honor that violence and wrong
Iuow claim for themselves. The
future happiness of the world will
be in exact proportion to the de.
gree of success we have in bring.
ing that idoal to pass at the peace
conference.
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