Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-12-06
rs the President Embarks.

II mentous mission to Europe he carries
- with him the hearty good wishes and
confidence of the American people He goes
in a cause that has no parallel in the nations
history. How meaningless to protest that he
is violating precedent when the matter with
which he is dealing is altogether unprecedent-
ed! To wise men, new occasions teach new
duties" and it is the chief glory of states
manship to blaze fresh paths in problems from
which old trails afford no emergence. In COM
mon with many of his fellow countrymen, we
have felt some misgiyings over the Presidents
extraordinary journey and have wished that
il were possible for the results upon which his
heart is set to be accomplished without the
venture he is taking But surely he who has
sounded the depths and shoals of the situa-
ton and knows from Ions watching the
omens of its vast tides can judge best of its
duties where he himself is concerned. He is
making this three-thousand-mile trans-Atlan-
tic trip for the sufficient reason that he deems
it essential to the good of the national and
international cause for which he stands. AS
he phrased il in his address to Congress, 1t
is now my duty to play my full part in making
good what they (America's soldiers) offered
their life's blood to obtain
And certainly, having sent more than two
million men to France to help win righteous
wal We can afford to send one man to help
establish a righteous peace. We are as vitality
concerned in what is to be done at Versailles
as We were in what was done at Chateau
Thierry and St. Mihiel and Argonne. At Yer
saiIles will be written the worlds destiny for
-
ress or reaction, of bitter or glorious future
will be determined at that unexampled gath
ering of nations. Is not the occasion worthy
of Americas utmost effort and of the pres
ence of her highest leadership? There is
nothing concealed or dubious in that leader
ship, though some OF the Presidents critics
have sought to create the contrary impression.
Congress and the people know for just what
principles of Deace he stands, and the Allied
Governments and Allied peoples also know
Repeatedly and in explicit terms, he has stated
his views on the fundamental questions in
volved, has stated them for the obvious pur-
pose of discovering whether they accorded
with those of the American people and of the
Allies That they rightly interpret this ma
TONS general thought is evidenced in the we'll
nigh unanimous approval with which open
minded journals and publicists greeted his
fourteen peace conditions. And what more
emphatic Endorsement could these conditions
have received than to have been accepted, in
the main, by each and every one of the Allies
as the basis of the armistice and the starting
point for the deliberations of the coming con-
ference? The President has not undertaken
-, ha hot he
ticulars of the peace discussion will be, for the
good reason that he does not know; nor will
anyone know until the discussion is under
way But he has left no doubt as to the broad
essentials for which our Government will
stand. On those matters he has taken the
country fully into his confidence, has sought
its counsel and has spoken so plainly that the
whole world understands.
But the critical problem of the peace con-
ference lies in reducing these principles to
workable plans. eff to do were as easy as to
know what were good to do, chapels had been
churches and poor mems cottages princes
palaces" AS statesman who to an extraor-
binary degree combines with breadth of vision,
firmness of grasp and facility in execution,
President Wilson can be of great service at
Versailles. He can be of great service, not to
America alone, but also to the Allies and to
the worlds common interests. BY being per-
sonally present at the initial and decisive
stages of the conference he can clear up many
a doubt, adjust many difference and prevent
many a misunderstanding. He can meet,
from Americas standpoint, the problems of
detail as they rise and thus expedite the diff
cult work of turning general principles into
a practical formula.
Now, those unhappy gentlemen of Congress
and of the press to whom President Wilson
is invariably dissatisfying and who proceed
always upon the theory that whatever is, is
wrong, can see no necessity or warrant for his
going TO Europe. But British and French and
Italian leaders have considered his personal
participation in the conference so much to be
wished that they have urged him to come; and
they are more competent judges, we take 1t,
than are the practitioners of that school OF
politics which is, to say the least, tiresomely |
provincial. The President goes to our COM |
rade nations across the sea in world spirit |
and, therefore, as world figure. He goes as
the bearer of a new gospel of goodwill from
America to mankind. He goes as the living |
pledge of widened purposes in our own ma |
tion's heart and as an interpreter OF quicken |
ing hopes amongst all peoples. The affections
of his countrymen follow him, and the warm |
est welcomes of the lands to which he jour
neys await him.