Evening star., 1919-09-19
PRESIDENT MUST
ANSWER 0PP0SERS,
SAYS LAWRENCE
Difficult to AnaIyze Applause
on Coast, Declares
Writer.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
EN- ROUTE WITH PRESIDENT.
WILSON TO SAN DIEGO. calif.. Sep
tember ls.-Crowds are always dimcuit
to analyze. Their applause is not al
ways conclusive. Their demonstrations
are not always spontaneous, and the
elements Of contagion and sneeest1on
enter into the psychology Of the mo-
ment. -.
Hut more Distinctive thAn ather saa,di-.
ences Oh the whole Journey have been
the three which President Wilson ad-
spectiye responses were different, their
denleailor so different.
Idealism Impresses.
First. Mr.. Wilson addressed an audi
ence OF several hundred women. There
were no male guests except newspaper
correspondents. The noise OF their com
bfnASi voices when cheering was merely
q feeble contrast to the lusty outbursts
of the mixed audiences to which we
faye crown accustomed, But their.
lamentations Of applause seemed 70 m
dicate that the ideahsm OF the Presi.
dent. as expressed In his advocacy OF a
league Of nations made a deep impress
sion as contrasted with the alternative
noiicy OF the political isolation defended
Nv Hiram johnson, the junior senator
from this state.
Favorable Comment.
No more attentive audience ever lis.
tened to a Wilson speech. And the
Presidents tracing of the historical
background of the Shantung settle
ment was SO effective that heard ia
vorable comment on every side as the
women left the banquet nan; nid .ns
fo 20 to war to take Shantung from
Japan and to fight Great Britain" ana
France, who pledged themselves TO
support Japan on the Shantung ques.
This was Mr. Wilson's query. And the
women answered with a chorus of
'noes" that was unmistakable.
But II the audience at the luncheon
given by the w;.it Gn ens Sam nrss aay
cisco was friendly and sympathetic 1t
did not begin to compare with the
demonstration of enthusiasm which
interrupted his speech again and
tended by the Advertising Club. the
Commonwealth Club. the Downtown
Association, the Rotary Club. the
Home Industry League and the
League to Enforce Peace.
Gives Business Argument.
Business men. they were. to whom
the President said frankly, ne oeneveo
with telling effect he read the
heures telling the horrible cost of.the
late war in men. money and vitality.
The hundreds of men present nterany
rasped as the President reminded
them that the direct cost OF the Econ. con.
To one or another of the belligerent1
was slS6, 900 900. 900. And he said that
the more than $500. 900 men that had
died on the field of battle. was
j, l,O0o, 900 more than had been killed
year 1898.
the enormous number of manned and
wounded, add to that the vitality of
future generations which had been
subtracted from the world by the re-
cent war. and it staggers the imagi-
nation.
Could Have Avoided.
And all of It, insists the President,
could have been avoided If the proc
ess of arbitration or nine months
discussion, now provided for in the
covenant. had been, compulsory in
1914.
The men Shouted their approval and
rose from their seats in an .outbuFst
Of applause that was the climax of
the whole reception. Interruptions of
cheering were frequent. but none
more effective than that which fol-
lowed Mr.. Wilson's description Of the
war cost, unless it was his nat state
ment that America would be a mem
ber of The league of nations regard
less of the counsels of the opposition,
for the crowd took to that with zest
and cheered and demonstrated noisily
and happily.
Might Meeting Different.
But IL these two luncheon addresses
were plainly evidence of the sympa-
thetic and the friendly interest Of man
and woman voters 1t cannot be said that
the hig mass meeting in the auditorium
at night was the same. Rarely haye
the circumstances been 30 difncult for
speaking and rarely has crowd. been
CONTINUED on Tenth Pa9e.l