The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1919-09-19
HOW 1T LOOKS TO HIN.

In private letter the junior pub
Usher of the Gazette has the following
comments upon President Wilson's
direct appeal to the people and the
league of nations in general, and
Judging from the trend of public opin-
ion as heard expressed upon the
streets his views corresponds with
those of vast number Of people:
CAS- to the president and his pro-
gress, am worrying a lot less about
rthe results now that he is under way
than l did before he started. 1t seems
to me that the very character of his
speeches is a confession of the weak
ness of his cause. He persistently re-
fuses to enlighten or explain, and de-
ponds entirely upon far-fetched argu-
ments and what l consider downright
untruths. Assertions and emotional
appeals will not convince men re-
turned from France who want facts,
and when the senators follow him
with facts, what sentiment he has ex-
cited will dwindle, l feel sure. / be-
| lieve his whole attitude is convincing
the public that there are many things
that he does not dare let the light of
"pittiless publicity" shine upon and
that is one reason why he does not try
to convince with reason, but instead
depends upon dust raising generali-
ties and false accusations. He can't
get away with the declaration that the
opposition to his pet document Is pro-
German. The fact Is that the general
disapproval, such as there has existed
of the radical opposition was and is
so far based on the idea that 1t is too
pro-American; to provincially Amer
lean; that it arises from a strict nat
ionalism, possibly little too narrow
in it's outlook for present day states
manship. BY declaring that 1t is pro-
German, the president is going to
arouse resentment like that which
greeted his demand for personally
subservient congress of democratic
partisans at the height of the war
What stampede he has started SO far
has been one of detection in his own
ranks in Washington and that is the
most healthy sign that has arisen
since he became our president.
you know that when | came back
from France | was not altogether
sure of my attitude toward the league
of nations; that l was not little dis
posed to accept 1t on its face value.
The effect the presidents course has
had upon me from the time l have
been in a position to get the news, has
been to create growing distrust OF
the whole thing and conviction that
he traded off, probably unwittingly but
none the less disastrously, the best
and highest interests of America and
the worlds fondest hopes, to secure
an empty shell, or worse, dangerous
set of complications.
'He is now assuming that the Amer
lean people will take his word on this
against that of any and
all Others In that he is mistaken.
There was time when he could I'M
pose upon our credulity. but that was
before che kept us out Of war" long |
enough to be elected. That was before |
We demonstrated to him and to the |
world that we were not too proud to |
light" 1t was before we learned that
he IA points were not principles to
,e fought for but marketable mer-
.handise to be bartered and traded
long with our birthright for mess
# pottage.
"Wilsonian rhetoric once swayed us
ecause we did not stop to analyze the
phrases; we were content
O enjoy the music of their cadences.
But we have long since learned that
here is wide difference between his
words and his deeds, and that even
here is a constant conflict between
his utterances on different occasions
and not infrequently contradiction in
the same paragraphs Of his graceful
and flowing periods.
81 believe that America has become
satiated with polished language, that
our taste for honeyed words is cloyed. |
Of trying to conduct the affairs of |
state by notes and messages and let
ters and speeches. We have broken
the spell and want now more than
anything else common sense and
practical programs. We want leaders
or administrators who have their feet
upon the solid ground and their heads
erect under the sun where they can
see and hear facts instead of dreaMily
gazing at visions and eagerly listening
for voices in the air. As nation we
do not wear our hearts upon our
sleeves like wrist watches to be wound
up and tempered with by peripatetic
president at his will. The hearts Of the
world are not breaking over the COW
enant. The hearts of the world were
broken when America failed to show
the courage and the craftsmanship TO
declare herself at the outbreak Of the
war and thereby lost the opportunity
that the president now confesses it
then had to prevent the slaughter and
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