The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-03-06
The Wilson That Was; A Memory
OF Other Speeches.

OF Other Speeches.
1t Is the fortune, good or Ill, Of a
prominent man that some of his
words do not depart from the public
memory. We remember WASHINGTON s
and LINCoLN's phrases. We remem-
her CLEVELAND and ROOSEVELT partly
for their eplgrams. The present
President has been more prolific in
speech than perhaps any other of the
American Chief Executives. He had
earnest listeners, for he spoke in years
when mems ears were keened for his
views on subjects Of the greatest i'm
portance to America. His most in.
teresting speeches have been made IN
the last four years. naturally. There
has not been time for the substance OF
them 10 fade from the peoples mem
DRY. In several parts of Mr.. WILSON'S
speech on Tuesday night there were
statements which could not have
failed to arouse in his hearers memo
rles of his past speeches; not neces-
sarily echoes, but reactions.
When the President announced his
purpose ito tell the people on the
other side of the water that an over
whelming majority Of the American
people is in favor of the League of
Nations" and later added that moth
Ing has to be explained to me In
America, least of all the sentiment Of
the American people, the mind Of
many of Mr.. WILSON'S auditors must
have returned to speech, made more
than a year after the war began, in
which the President almost wistfully
declared that he was trying to dis
cover the sentiment of America in re-
gard TO the European struggle; that
he wished to know how 1t was being
thought of at every American fireside.
These auditors remembered that this
cropping desire was expressed by a
man who had been in America all the
time, while the serene confidence of
Tuesday night came from President
who had been in the United States
only n few days since the proceedings
at Paris were begun.
Again, the President said that he
had heard nothing from the critics OF
his League plan except the question
"Will 1t not be dangerous for us to
help the world?" To this Mr.. WI.
SON replied, ut would be fatal to us
not to help 1t. From being what I
win venture to call the most famous
and the most powerful nation in the
world we would Of a sudden have
become the most contemplate" To
help" the world, of course, Is to
adopt the present plan of the League
Of Nations; the President makes nc
pretence otherwise. Yet those who
heard him apply the adjective ICON
temptible" to an America which might
and will-reject the scheme may
also recall what Mr.. WILSON said or
May 6, 1914, at the unwilling of the
Barry monument in Washington:
There are just as vital things
stirring now that concern the exist
ence of the nation as were stirring
then, and every man who worthIly
stands in this presence should exam
Inc himself and see whether he has
the full conception of what it means
that~-k Aerica--S ould live her own
life. WAsHINGToN saw il when he
wrote his Farewell Address It was
not merely because of passing and
transient circumstances that WASH
IHoToN said that we must keep from
entangling alliances. 1t was because
he saw that no country had yet set
its face in the same direction in
which America had set her face. We
cannot form alliances with those who
are not going our way: and in our
might and majesty and in the con-
fidence and dehnlteness of our own
purpose We need not and we should
not form alliances with any nation
in the world. Those who are right,
determining their policies those who
i. hold their honor higher than their
advantage. do not need alliances.
when We go out from this pres
ence we ought to take this.idea with
US that We. too are devoted to the
purpose OF enabling America TO live
her own life, 10 be the justest. tho
most progressive, the most honor
able. the most enlightened nation in
the world"
We do not assume that many OF hi.
auditors remembered that s.ieech-
the speech Of Knox or Lodge or Of
any American who to-day is jealou.