The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-09-19

OF the atmosphere aroused Mr.. Wilson
and he did what he had hitherto never
done--he started to fight the noise,
Usually in big auditoriums he had not
strained his voice or attempted to dc
more than extend his greetings. But
on this occasion he struck forth in his
argument and handled the Shantung
and the Irish questions and the matter
of Great Britain's six votes with a
clarity that quickly restored quiet and
respect. By the time he had finished
he may not have converted those who
came with preconceived hostility. but
he tanned the disturbers and Mr.. VIII
son may well consider it a triumph.
Applause came spontaneously toward
the end of his speech, for by sheer
power of oratorical appeal and per-
suasive argument the president had OBJ
tanned an attentive hearing. Survey
ing the effect in San Francisco, one can
briefly set down these things as fun
damental: Hiram Johnson is still the
Idol of California; he is still the strong
est political figure in the state, but the
people do not regard this as a personal
controversy between Mr. johnson and
Mr.. Wilson, and the latter wisely re-
Trained from saying anything that
might be so construed. But because
the people do rot consider it a per-
sonal issue, but a matter of foreign
policy on which two great men may
differ they have for the most part
turned for the moment from the john
sonsm to the Wisconsin philosophy.
Nothing He Might Say.
At the outset OF the debate, it is true
that the state was almost overwhelm-
ingly in favor of the league. Those
who follow Mr.. Johnson blfndly took up
the cudgels for him and for those who
do not necessarily follow him blindly
but liked his style of argument. The
Irish sympa thize1s are behind John
son as unit. Nothing Mr., Wilson
might say about Article XI of the
covenant and the opportunity 1t would
give Ireland to get a hearing would
satisfy great numbers of persons who
would be satisfied only if the president
were to say to Great Britain that un-
less Ireland is given complete indie
pendence America would go to war
about it, or at least stop all trade with
England or her colonies. Again and
again. l asked persons who knew of
the Irish agitation here an dts tre-
mendous potentially, just what kind
of declaration about the league
covenant would cause them to accept
the principle of a league of nations,
but the only answer obtainabe is inn
mediate freedom of Ireland at any cost,
even the complication of the United
States in a foreign war
The president has encountered hos
tility here and there on his journeys
in the northwest. He saw the scowls
of the |. W. w. and those who fear
the league of nations will crush bol-
shevism and the opportunity of the
demagogue to rouse the proletariat to
action. Here, further south on the
Pacific coast, Mr.. Wilson met the full
force Of Irish discomfort resident in
America, coupled with the distemper
of other foreign elements which would
have America make a separate peace
with Germany and desert the nations
with whom the United States was as
sociated in the war. They do not talk
OF reservation. but they talk of defeat
ing the treaty of peace and the league
Say What He Means.
1t begins to look as if the president
would have to say eventually just who
he means when he denounces the
hyphen ana as he proceeds on his trip
It may be expected that he will have
to meet more squarely than he has
yet-the main sources of opposition to
the peace treaty. Business men of
every party are eager for immediate
action by the senate. The more |
thoughtful classes of' opinion want a
league OF nations but the unrest in the |
masses at large who come to disturb !
public meetings and make physical !
1emnstratons against the passage of |
he treaty is not based upon any de- |
sire for common counsel at Washing |
on IN the settlement of a intricate /
natter OF foreign policy, but, as in |
seattle, it is an outcropping of spirit |
# unrest which would use the treaty |
II LEAGUE controversy or anything else ]
IS a prcto:,' for pubic disturbance.