Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1919-02-27
Proudest Thing Report is That This Great Country Trust
ed Throughout the World-NO Nation Distrusts the
Purpose of the United States.
THE WORLD var WAS Won BY the INSPIRATION OF ideals
Critics Invited to Test the Sentiments Of the American Nation
1--WE Set Out to Make Men Free and Now We Will Make
Them Free and Sustain Them in Their Freedom"

wonderful fact in history-because
there Ia no nation in Europe that
suspects the motives OF the United
States.
Was there ever SO wonderful q
thing seen before? Was there ever
SO moving thing? Was there ever
any fact that so bound the nation
that had won that esteem forever to
deserve it?
would not have you understand
that the great men who represent the
other nations there in conference are
disesteemed by those who know them.
Quit the contrary. But you under.
stand that the nations OF Europe have
again and again clashed with one an.
other in competitive interest. It is
impossible for men to forget those
sharp issues that were drawn between
them in times past. 1t is impossible
for men to believe that all ambitions
have all of a sudden been foregone.
They remember territory that was
coveted; trey remember rights that
it was attempted to extort; they re
member political ambitions which it
was attempted to realize-and while
they believe that men have come into
; a different temper, they cannot for
get these things, and so they do not
resort to one another for a dspas
sionate view of the matters in con-
troversy. They resort to that nation
which has won the enviable distinc-
ton Of being regarded as the friend
of mankind.
Whenever 1t is desired to send 8
small force Of soldiers to occupy a
piece Of territory where 1t is thought
nobody else will be welcome, they
ask for American soldiers. And
l where other soldiers would be looked
upon with suspicion, and perhaps
meet with resistance, the American
soldier Is welcomed with acclaim.
w Many Grounds for Pride.
. I have had so many grounds for
, pride on the other side of the water
that I am very thankful that they
are not grounds for personal pride
I'd be the most stuck-up man in the
world. And it has been an infinite
pleasure to me to see those gallant
soldiers of ours, of whom the con,
, stitution Of the United States made
: me the proud commander. You may
be proud OF the Twenty-sixth division,
, but commanded the Twenty-sixth
, division, and see what they did
under my direction, and everybody
praises the American soldier with the
feeling that In praising him he is sub.
tracing from the credit Of no one
else.
have been searching for the fun.
damental fact that converted Europe
to believe in u.s. Before this war Eau.
rope 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 be-
| cause we thought we could make more
/ by staying out than by going in. And
! all OF a sudden, in short IS months,
the whole verdict is reversed. There
can be but one explanation for it
, They saw what we did-that without
making a single claim we put all our
( men and all our means at the dis.
( posal of those who were fighting for
! their homes, in the first instance, but
for cause, the cause Of human
4, rights and Justice and that we went
, In, not to support their national
: cIIms, but to support the great cause
/ which they held In common.
And when they saw that America
not only held ideals. but acted ideals,
: they were converted to America and
} became firm rartisans Of those ideals.
: Met Greek Scholars.
met group of scholars when I
, was in Paris-some gentlemen from
J one Of the Greek universities who had
come to see, and in whose presence, or
rather in the presence of those tradi.
ticns OF learning, felt very young
indeed.
: told them that I had one OF the
: delightful revenges that sometimes
! comes to a man. All my life | had
J heard men speak with sort of con-
} descension of ideals and of idealists,
, and particularly those separated, en-.
} clustered horizons whom they choose
to term academic, who were in the
| habit Of uttering ideals in the free
atmosphere wheQ they clash with no
, body in particular.
And said have had this sweet
revenge. Speaking with perfect
frankness, in the name of the people
Of the United States, | have uttered
as the objects Of this great war ideals,
and nothing but ideals, and the war
has been won by that Inspiration.
Men were fighting with tense muscle
! and lowered head until they came to
realize those things, feeling they
were fighting for their lives and their
country, and when these accents Of
what II was all about reached them
from America the, lifted their heads,
they s4iscd thar evrs 20 beaver
81 /.