Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1919-02-27
Poudes Thing Report is That This Country is Trust
ed Throughout the World-No Nation Distrusts the
Purpose Of the United States
THE WORLD WAR WAS WON BY THE INSPIRATION OF lDEMs
Critics Invited to Test the Sentiments of the
I'VE SGT Out to Make Men Free and Now We Will Make
Them Free, and Sustain Them in Their Freedom

Il
wonderful fact in history-because
there is no nation in Europe that
suspects the motives OF the United
States.
Was there ever so wonderful a
thing seen before? Was there ever
so moving a thing? Was there ever
any fact that so bound the nation
that had won that esteem forever to
deserve It?
1 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. 1t is
impossible for men to forget those
sharp issues that were dra yn 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; they 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
different temper, they cannot for
get these things, and so they do not
resort to one another for a dispas-
sionate view of the matters in con-
troversy. They resort to that nation
! which has won the enviable distinc.
tion Of being regarded as the friend
Of mankind.
Whenever II is desired to send a
| small force OF soldiers to occupy a
piece OF territory where Il Is thought
nobody else will be welcome, they
ask for American soldiers And
where other soldiers would be looked
I: upon with suspicion, and perhaps
meet with resistance. the American
| soldier is welcomed with acclaim.
| Many Grounds for Pride.
! I have had so many grounds for
pride on the other side OF the water
that / 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 10 sub
tractins from the credit Of no one
else.
| / have been searching for the fun
damental fact that converted Europe
to believe In US. Before this war Eu-
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 of be-
cause we thought we could make more
by staying out than by going in. And
all OF sudden. in a short 1S months.
the whole verdict is reversed. There
can be but one explanation for t.
They saw what we did-that without
making single claim we put all our
mon and all our means at the dis.
posal or those who were fighting for
their homes. in the first instance, but
for cause, the cause OF human
rights and Justice. and that we went
In, not to support their national
claims. 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 partisans of those ideals.
Met Greek Scholars.
1 met group of scholars when I
was in Paris-some gentlemen from
| one OF the Greek universities who had
come to see, and in whose presence, or
rather In the presence OF those tradi.
tions OF learning. | felt very young
indeed.
told them that had one of the
delightful revenges that sometimes
comes to a man. All my life I had
heard men speak with sort OF con.
descension OF ideals and OF idealists.
and particularly those separated, en-.
cloisfered horizons whom they choose
to term academic who were In the
habit OF uttering ideals in the free
atmosphere when they clash with no.
body in particular
And I said I 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 livcs and their
country. and when these accents of
what II was all about reached them
| from America they lifted their heads,
(&hey raised their eyes 20 heaven.