Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1919-05-15
WILSON DENIES US.
WORSH|P|NG DOLLAR
Tells French Americans Have
High Sense of Justice.
SAYS HUN IDEA ALL WRONG
President Declares Freedom of Speech
Is Greatest Safety Valve, Because
When Man Is a Fool, Best to
Let Him Advertise 1t.


Paris, May 13.-President Wilson,
In his address to the French Academy
OF Moral and Political Sciences, Wig
orously denied that the American
people were largely materialists or
dollar Worshipers.
i 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 peoples Of Europe have not under
stood the people of the United States.
We have been too often supposed to
have been devoted chiefly if not en-
t1reiy to material enterprises. We have
been supposed, in the common phrase,
to worship the almighty dollar.
I'VE have accumulated wealth, we
nave devoted ourselves to material en-
terprises with extraordinary success,
but there has underlain all of that,
all the time, common sense of hui
manlty and common sympathy with
the high principles of justice which
has never grown dim in the field even
OF enterprise, and it has been my
very great joy in these recent months
to interpret the people of the United
States to the people of world
Il have not done more, l have not
uttered in my public capacity my own
private thoughts. I have uttered what
/ have known to be the thoughts of
the great people whom I represent.
l have uttered the things that have
been stored up in their hearts and
purpose from the time Of our birth
as nation"
German Ideas Fundamentally Wrong.
President Wilson alluded to his
studies in the field of political science
and the attempts he had made "to
put into the words of learning the
thought of nation, the attitude of
people toward public affairs" He con-
tinued:
"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. I have been
obliged at various times to read q
great deal of bad German, difficult
German, awkward German, and l
have been aware that the thought was
as awkward as the phrases that the
thought was rooted in a fundamental
misconception Of the state and of the
political life of peoples. And it has
been portion of my effort to dis
engage the thought of American uni
versity teachers from the misguided
instruction which they had received
on this side of the sea. Their Ameri-
can spirit anticipated most of them,
as matter Of course, bEt the form
of thought sometimes misled them.
They speak too often Of state as q
thing which would ignore the indivd
ual, as a thing which was privileged
to dominate the fortune of men by
sort of inherent and sacred author
ity.
''NOW as an utter democrat, / have
never been able to accept that view Of
the state. My view Of the state is
that it must stop and listen to WRat
I have to say, no matter how humble
I am, and that each man has the
right to have his voice heard and his
counsel needed in SO far as it is
worthy Of him.
"Safety in Freedom of Speech"
"I have always been among those
who believe that the greatest freedom
Of speech is the greatest safety, be-
cause if a man is a fool, the best |
thing to do is to encourage him to
advertise the fact by speaking. 1t
cannot be so easily discovered IL you
allow him to remain silent 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
il is defeated not by the seclusion
of folly, and in this free air OF free
speech men get into that sort of COM
munication with one another, which |
constitutes the basis of all common |
achievement. France, through many |
yicissitudes, and through many bitter !
experiences, found the way to this
sort of freedom, and now she stands
Int the front of the world as the rep
oP. constitutional IihePfv - /