Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-11
Wilson May Accept
Nobel Prize in Person
fsy Frederic j. Ha xxi,

! Washington, ID. e., Dec. S.-A feature
Of President Wilson's trip 10 Europe VIII
| be the awarding Of the Nobel peace prlze,
| Of which he is the winner for the current
! year. According to Nobels directions, the
/ prize will be tremendously presented by
! committee of five persons elected by the
! Storthinp the parliamentary body oi
/ Norway.
| II is stipulation OF the conditions on
: which the peace prize rs awarded that the
! winner appear at hristian q within SIX
! months after accepting it and lecture on
the subject of peace. Al another time,
i this requirement would undoubtedly be
/ entirely Withdrawn in Mr. Wilson's case.
/ But as the President is to be in Europe
! when he receives the award, Norway has
/ especially invited him to come TO Christi
| ania, if possible. and believes that he will
: consider the Nobel prize an international
/ honor Of sufficient Importance TO keep to
the traditions surrounding the award.
Rcsides the honor OF being proclaimed
I the person who has best advanced the
! interests of peace, the prize winner re-
+ ccvcs a gold medal and . sum OF money
amounting to about 10000.
WAS SWEDISH CHEMIST
| Alfred Bernhard Nobel, the founder Of
| the peace prize that bears MS name, was
| Swedish chemist. who from bOyhood
worked with Instruments Of destruction.
IA a bov, he saw his brother killed and
i his father parayzed by the explosive re-
! suit of highly successful experiment with
! nitroeiycerine Vet he continued 10 work
! with nitroglvcerine until he secured
/ more powerful explosive than dynamite
| With his trunks packed with this cX-
pIosive instead Of wardrobe, he came 70
/ New York to narkct his invention. As no
/ hotel would take the risk of harboring
enough powder to blow up city square,
+. ne soon left for san Francisco, where he
! started q factory to manufacture high ex-
! plosives according 70 the formulas he had
i perfected He later evolved the smokelcsS
/ powder. known as ballstite and through
| this and his other explosives, gained large
| fortune.
The inoongruity Of the inventor of the
! most powerful explosive hat ever added
! 10 the terrors Of war being the founder OF
F.! prize % promote peace would not have
+! been apparent 70 Nobel It was not until
! the last years OF his life that he vas Ton
/ over to the doctrines Of peace, but even
then he viewed his inventions as instru-
ments which would make for peace. His
argument was that bT making war I'M
hearable. II would become an imposslbllity.
Nobel probably forgot that IN modern
times makers Of war usually take part IN
fighting b. proxv. and also that gwen
motive sufficiently strong the apparently
unbearable - borne.
GAyK Away $s.0vO.0o0.
Possibly NJ els attitude wa7 assumed
! as justification for his position as inventor
and manufacturer OF material so clearly
related 10 uar and destruction Certainly
his endownents were an attempt - prove
his desire 10 promote civilization rather
than impede it, progress ~ It was
Nohels hrm belief that = fortune IN
/ herlted uaS curse, and not q blessing,
+ il vas inevitable that ne should dispose
of the sum OF ss.000.0pO which made up
htS fortune at the time of Ills death. By be-
slowing II upon some institution already
+ IN existence. or 10 ne founded.
HIS will ordered that the eight million
dollars should be invested and the interest
divided each year among I'VE persons.
without reference 70 nationality, who had
made NEST progress in medicine. physics,
chemistry. ldeallstIc literature and pro-
motion Of peace. This direction mas not
been literally carried out, a. Nobel Instr
tsltcs never dream al Dy Nobel himself
have absorbed Fiart ol tho principal II
tEeir buildings and upkecp.
The reason gwen for the existence OF
tEesc hbranes and laboratories is that
II Is necessary for the judges - investigate
the claims OF the candidates IN order -
distribute the swards more fairly. More
of the principal ha> been used ID salaries
and general administration expenses.
As a result ut hiz icsoening OF the iund
the prizes are only about half oi what the.
might have been i "incidcnt@ls had not
crept IN In some years, too, when no
suitable candidate Is named for one OF the
pri1eS. he prize money can be used for sd-
ministratIon purposes according % pro
vision Of \obels Will.
~ COODIY GIFT