The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1919-02-28

Il would not have you understand
that the great men who represent the
other nations there in conference are
disesteemed by those who know them,
Quite the contrary. Put you under.
stand that the nations Of Europe have
again and again clashed with one an.
other in competitive interest. 1t is
impossible for men to forget those
sharp issues that were drawn between
them in times past. 1t is impossible
Tor men to believe that all ambitions
have all OF a sudden been %foregone.
They remember territory that was
co eted; they remember rights that it
was attempted to eXtOrt; they remem-
Der political ambitions which ii was
attempted to realize and, While they
believe that men nave come into a dil.
ferent temper, they cannot forget
these things, and so they do not resort
to one another for 4 dispassiOuate
view OF the matter in controversy
They resort to that nation which has
Won the enyiaDle distinction OF being
regarded as The friend of mankind.
Americans Popular,
Whenever IL is desired to send a
small force of soldiers to occupy a
piece OF territory where it is thought
nobody else will he welcome, they ASK
for American soldiers. And where
other soldiers would be looked upon
with suspicion and perhaps met with
resistance, the American soldier is
welcomed with acclaim.
II have had so many grounds for
pride OF the other side Of the water
that | am very thankful that they are
not grounds for personal pride. id be
the most stucilup man in the World.
You may be proud of the 26th Division,
but | commanded the 26th Division.
and see what they did under my direc.
ton, And everybody praises the
American soldier with the feeling that
in praising him he is ~subtracting from
the credit of no Il else. | have been
searching for the fundamental fact
that converted Europe to believe in
us. Before this war Europe did not
believe in us as she does now. She
did not believe in us throughout the
first three years Of the war. She
seems really to have believed that We
were holding off because we thought
we could make more by staying Out
than by going in. And all of a sud
den, in a short eighteen months, the
whole verdict is reversed. There can
be but one explanation for It. They
saw what we did-that without max.
ing a single claim we put all men
and all our means at the disposal OF
those who were fighting for their
homes. in the first instance.
And when they saw that America
not only had ideals, but acted ideals.
they were converted to America and
became firm partisans OF those ideals.
81 met a group of scholars when
was in Paris some gentlemen from
one OF the Greek universities who had
come to see ne, and in whose pres
ence, or rather in the presence OF
those traditions of learning, ! felt very
young indeed. | told them that ! had
one OF the delightful reYenges that
sometimes comes to q a All my
life had heard men speak with a
sort OF condescension ~ Ideals and OF
idealists, and particularly those sep,
arated. encloistered persons whom
they choose to term academical, who
were in the habit OF uttering ideals In
the free atmosphere when they clash
with nobody In particular.
American Ideals.
And | said | have had this sweet
revenge. Speaking with perfect frank
ness in the name OF the people Of the
United States, | have uttered as the
object Of this great war, ideals and
nothing but ideals, and the war ha.
been won by that inspiration. Men
were fighting with tense muscle and
lowered head until they came TO real
lze those things, feeling they were
fighting for their lives and their coun
try, and when these accents OF what
II was all about reached them from
America, they lifted their heads, they
raised their Eyes to heaven, wher
they saw men in khaki coming across
the sea in the spirit Of crusaders, ant
they found that these were strange
men. reckless of danger not only, but
reckless because they seemed to see
something that made that danger
worth while. Men have testified &c
me in Europe that our men were pos
sessed by something that they could
only call a religious feryOr. They were
not like any OF the other. soldiers
They had a vision, they had a dream
and they were fighting in the dream
and fighting in the dream they turned
the whole tide OF battle, ana Il nereI
came back.
zone Of our Anne lean h%unoristS
meeting the criticism that American
soldiers we're not trained long enough
said: IT takes only one-halt as long I,
train an American soldier as any
other, because YOU only have 10 train
him one way, and he did only go OF,
way, and he never came back until II,
could do it when ho pleased