Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1919-07-19
WELCOME HOME

WELOUNIE HUME
1t is doubtful whether the National
Capital has ever, in all history, given
to any one so generous and spontan-
eous a welcome as that which was ex-
tended to President Wilson upon his
return to this country. For once the
Folks just went down to the train and
waited and it was long wait, for
the belated train did not pull into the
train shed until midnight. Finally the
President and Mrs. Wilson arrived, and
as usual, they were whisked by through
the crowds, with the usual amount Of
cheering, and the President bowing to
right and left from his speedily NOV
ing automobile. Down the Avenue,
with more crowds, and more cheering.
and then through the gates to the
White House-Home again!
10 the initiated the event might
have seemed like very ordinary form
OF greeting to the head of the Nation.
But those who have been in Washing
ton long years know that no President
ever received such welcome from the
Capital. The reasons are two-fold.
and prosaically stated, the party of the
first part is the public" +" which rubs
elbows daily with the great and near
great, and comes to the inevitable con-
clusion that all men and women are
made Of the same kind of clay, and
possessed of the same foibles and vir-
tues as all the other people. With this
sort of pessimistic outlook on life,
the PresldSat is not apt to become as
famous" in Washington as the aver
age Congressman back home, where
his identity is impressed upon the mass
es once or twice a year.
President Wilson. as party of the Sc
cond part, has not been a popular
hero" in Washington. He never has
mixed, as did Mr.. Taft and Colonel
Roosevelt, and his aloofness has not
served to make him personally popular.
Likely. had Washington been an en-
franchised part of the United States in
the last election, Mr.. Hughes would
have had "a landslide. When the ar
mistice was arranged, the opposition
to Mr.. Wilson was terrific.
1t may be large task to interpret
the feelings nd sentiments of crowd,
especially in heterogeneous Washing
ton; but as the correspondent of the
-----------..---- watched this great event,
it seemed that here was an instance
where men and women from all over
the country gathered to quietly express
their approval of the efforts made for
the highest ideals of civilization. In
their minds politics was adjourned"
Critical Washington did not mean to
say that it unreservedly approved the
work of the Peace Conference, and the
plan of the League of Nations. But
what this great welcome home express
ed emphatically was the confidence of
the people, and immeasurable respect
for the way in which the President has
handled the biggest problems that have
ever been put up to any human being
in the history of the world. Ii was
Americanism of the fin
est kind; for this exacting crowd stood
more than any | have ever seen be-
fore, for the finest ideals that Amer
lea can hope to achieve. 1t was that
rarest of rare things; the heart Of the
Capital of the Nation expressing itself.
In the Subsequent events much has
happened ID will happen that will
change the attitude of our public,
as party of the first part, and our Pres
ident, as party Of the second part;
but the two never got closer to, each
other than they did on the night of the
Homecoming of Woodrow Wilson.
RAILROADS COST ELEVEN AND
A HALF MILLIONS A DAY
The combined administrative and
legislative agencies of the Government
are engaged in an attempt to solve one
of the biggest mathematical problems
ever before the country.
It has been definitely ascertained
that the average operating expenses of