Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-05-12
WILSON HITS
idea j. S. IS
MONEY MAD
Denies People are dollar
Worshippers"- s"-Love
Liberty Above All.

Paris, Saturday, May 1o-Presi-
dent Wilson, in his address today
to the French academy of moral
and political sciences, entered a
strong disclaimer of the idea that
/ the American people were largely
Ihaterialists or dollar worshippers.
Il have had in recent months
one very deep sense of privilege
the president said. II have been
keenly aware that there have been
! times when the people of Europe
have not understood the people of
! the United States. We have been
/ too often supposed to have been
devoted chiefly if not entirely TO
material enterprises We have
| supposed. to have been in the COM
mon, to worship the mighty dol
/ lar
Justice yUnderIies Money Making.
''WR have accumulated wealth.
s;rs. we have devoted ourselves
/ to material enterprises with extra
ordinary success, but there has un-
derlain that all the time. the COM
mon sense of humanity and a COM
/ mon sympathy with the hypothesis
! of justice which has never grown
small and l have had a very great
| Joy in these recent months to IN
terpret the people of the United
| States to the people of the world.
Il have not done more, sirs.
| have not uttered in my public ca
pacity my own private thoughts.
| have uttered what I have known
tC be the thoughts of the great
people whom 1 represent. l have
uttered the feelings that have been
stored up in their hearts from the
time of our birth as a nation"
In War for Liberty.
1t was at this point that the
president made his declaration that
the American people who came
into the world war to consecrate
liberty. were ready TO cast in their
lot in common with Lhe lot of those
who were struggling for liberty,
and liberty was seen to be i'm
periled.
This is the spirit of the people
of the United States he continued.
'and they have been privileged to
send 100000 men over here to
tell you so. The great privilege
not merely to tell you so in words
but to tell you so in men and ma
terial-the pouring out of their
wealth and the offering of their
blood"
Tells of Study of People.
President Wilson alluded to his
studies in the field of political sci
ence and of the atmosphere he had
adopted 'to put towards learning
the thought of a nation. the attitude
of a people toward public affairs"
He continued:
"A great many of my colleagues !
in American university life got
their training, even in political |
science, as so many men in civil |
circles did, in German universities. |
l have been obliged at various |
times to read a great deal of bad |
German, difficult German, awkward |
German and 1 have been aware |
that the thoughts were as awkward |
as the prase, that the tongue was |
rooted in a fundamental miscon- |
ception of the political life of peo-
pies. 1t has been a portion of my |
effort to disengage the thought of |
American university teachers from |
the misguided instruction which |
they had received on this side of |
the sea. Their American spirit an
ticipated most of them, as a mat
ter of course, but the form of |
thought sometimes misled them.
They speak too often of state as a
thing which would ignore the indi-
viduaI, as a thing which was priv |
ileged to dominate the fortune of
men by a sort of inherent and sa-
cred authority.
individual Before State.
NOW as an utter democrat I
have never been able to accept that
view of the state. My view of the
state is that it must stop and listen
to what / have to say, no matter
how humble l am, and that each
man has the right to have his voice
heard and his counsel needed, inso-
far as it is worthy of hearing.
81 have always been among those
who believe that the greatest free
dom of speech was the greatest
safety. because if a man is a fool
the best thing to do is to encourage
him to advertise the fact by speak
ing. 1t can not be so easily discov-
cred if you allow him to remain si- !
lent and look wise, but if you let
him speak, the secret is out and
the world knows that he is a fool. ,
$50 it is by exposure of folly ,
that it is defeated; not by the sup I
preston of 1t but by giving 1t free !
dom. France through many viscis- I
situdes and through many bitter '
found the way to this E
sort of freedom and now she stands 3
1t the front of the world as the :
of constitutional lib :
rty. q