Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-02-05
SECURE PEACE MUST REFLECT
THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE!

Mo ITERATION Of the fervent collective
hope OF mankind can he excessive. No
repetition OF the worlds passionate desire
to put an end to cynical pact traficking
can be vain.
When President Wilson told the French
Chamber OF Deputies that the rulers OF the
world had been thinking Of international
dealings when what they ought to have
been thinking Of was the fortunes Of the
men and women and the safety OF the
home and the care that they should take
that their people should be happy because
they were safe" he was ccholng the spirit
of many of his previous utterances.
This driving insistence on the same
theme constitutes the true element OF
grandeur in his endeavors to secure a just
peace. The concept cannot be dropped
without the prospect Of appalling peril
akin to that which millions pledged their
! lives, fortunes and honor to crush.
Lovers of freedom everywhere demand
the application of that solvent TO the mon-
strous war evil. They rejoice when any
of their spokesmen urge it. No word on
| the subject can be superhuous. Repetition
makes for strength. for there are still re.
dictionaries loath TO yield save under the
most persistent pressure
| 1t is most heartening fact therefore
| that the President displays the utmost
zeal to repeat himself. He has hammered
away at the same thought in Milan and
Manchester and London He led the
nation into war with the same affirmations
on his lips. They are not original. for
they have been the inspiration Of ali cru.
saders for liberty since men first caught u
feeting glimpse Of the star.eyed goddess.
Their essential spirit stirred Thomas
Jefferson when he penned the "Declara-
ton" in the house at Seventh and Market
streets, and Lincoln when he pencied the
Gettysburg address on the way TO the
battlefield.
Fate. personal shortcomings, countless
influences, subtle and direct, bestrew the
path of any statesman with errors. On
mapy subjects Mr. Wilson has provoked a
mixed chorus of praise and blame, but his
championship of one specific polcy-the
most important which the collective world
simultaneously ever considered-is utterly
unsullied by inconsistency.
His address to the Deputies pays de.
served and felicitous compliments to
French valor and French civilization, duly
emphasizing the links which bind the
Of that same ideal in the New World
But throughout all the stately sen.
tences there is evident the persistent in.
tention to turn away from the govern.
| mental aspects of reconstruction to the
structure of all nationalites-the people
| themselves.
"As we sit from day TO day at the Quai
| d'Orsay," confessed the President, II think
| to myself we might, IL we could gain an
audience Of the free peoples Of the world,
adapt the language of General Pershing
] and say: Friends, men, humble women,
! little children. we are here. We are here
as your champions. your friends, as your
| representatives
Ill tall -.
Vienna In 1914, nor in Berlin in 1873. Then,
! as now, the real issue-recognition OF the
peoples rights-though complicated in the
adjustment of details, was in principle ex.
ceedingly simple. Anything so plain how.
ever, was deliberately ignored in favor OF
the web OF dynastic or selfishly nationals
tic fantasies woven by diplomatists.
Forces operating in the same direction
are observable in Paris, but as the con.
ference progresses there is an auspicious
and perceptible relaxation Of their energy
perhaps not invariably with the same en-.
thusiasm, are hearing voices"
Georges Clemenceau stopped his ears
when he prated OF the balance OF power"
but that Endorsement Of a discredited and
iniqutous system has not been repeated.
French men and women as well as
American constitute huge psychic power.
The British populace is more and more
assertive of its desire that it's commits.
sioners In Paris serve as representatives
| IL a u-oat nsfituancx af r,lalp r,eor,Ia siol.