Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1919-07-17
RHETORIC WITHOUT FACTS

| cation, through It's president, Hon.
Jonathan Bourne, Jr., gave out the
following statement from its Wash
ingron headquarters:
| Keyed up to high pitch OF in
, terest at the prospect OF receiving
at last from the hand of the president
some concrete facts in support Of the
peace treaty and some tangible rea-
sons why the United States should
! forsake its traditional policies and
a5opt the league covenant, the pep
/ lie have sunk back once more into
their habitual condition. OF hopeless
ness Of ever hearing from the pres;-
| den; Il single definite, nnedUivocsl
"a; emeu, of our foreign policy in
/ .hG iu:ure. Like all OF his previous
addresses dealing with the league
AID t. sa,y, Mr.. Wills ,r's speech -
the senate was utterly devoid If any.
taiay in the nature of specific arsu
&C. nj his remarks were merely a
flow of beautiful language, aeollec-
ton of empty platitudes, and mon
strous repetition of the Wilsonian
conception of Americas duty toward
humanity.
"Mr Wilson began his speech by
clothing in new words his frequent
ly emphasized declaration that we
did not go to war because of any
thing that concerned the United
States particularly. but that our vic
torious army was inspired by it's love
for humanity in general. His clos
| ing paragraph practically asserted
that he was the agent of Divinity in
| framing the league of nations and
regulating the future of the world.
1.-THE stage is set,' he declared. the
destiny is disclosed. 1t has come
about by no plan of our eonceiving
but by the hand of God who led us
into this way In the Declaration
of Independence the forefathers pro-
claimed that we had been endowed
by our Creator with liberty. Can it
be that same Creator purposes now
to use Mr.. Wilson as His agency in
depriving us of that liberty? -.
$50 insistent is the president on
impressing upon his countrymen his
conception of what brought us into
the war that he repeated again and
again throughout his remarkable ad-
dress that it was the woes of human
ity that goaded us to fight, and dis
tinctly repudiated the idea that Ger
man aggression upon the United
States had anything to do with 1t.
We entered it, said he, not because
our material interests were directly
threatened And again, We entered
the war as the disinterested cham
pions of right and we interested
ourselves in the terms of peace in no
other capacity. And yet again, 1T
was universally recognized that Am
erica had entered the war to pro-
mote no private or peculiar interest
of her own, but only as the champion
of rights which she was glad to share
with free men and lovers OF justice
everywhere Where is the Ameri-
can whose blood does not boil at
such statements, bad enough when
coming from the ordinary citizen,
but far worse when uttered by the
man whom our constitution placed
at the head of our armies?
"And a touch of amusement was
not lacking. When the president
soberly remarked that You have
been daily cognizant of what was go-
ing on thereof the problems with
which the peace conference had to
DEAL 1t was hard for his hearers to
repress their smiles when they re-
membered the complete censorship
that had denied senators knowledge
of the treaty, although copies OF 1t
were in the hands of the presidents
personal friends in Wall Street
weeks before.
Taken as a whole the speech was
huge disappointment, but in that
respect precisely like all the other
utterances of Mr.. Wilson. If the
utter lack of any definite informa-
ton conveyed in it is an indication
of the character of his remarks on
his tour of the country, the people
have in store for them free course
in English rhetoric, but of the
league of nations and its effect upon
America they will learn nothing. 1t
remains for the senate to enlighten
them on that subject"