Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-02-25
PRESIDENT DECLARES HUMANITY
HAS IMPLICIT CONFIDENCE IN u. S.
Wilson, in His address at Boston, Challenges the Critics of Society Of Nations
Plan to Determine Sentiment of americans = Invites No Sueenr Conflict
Than the Issue Made Of ~ S. Purpose in World Far

that the great men who represent
the other nations there In conference
are disesteemed by those who know
them. Quite the contrary. But you
understand that the nations Of Eu.
rope have again ana again FLASHED
with n another in competitive In.
terest. It is impossible for men
TO forget those sharp issues that
were drawn between them In time
past. 1t is impossible for men to be.
lieve that all ambitions have all or
a sudden been forgone.
They remember territory that
was coveted; they remember rights
that It was attempted to extort; they
remember political ambitions which
It was attempted to realize-and,
while they believe that men have
come into a different temper. they
cannot forget these things, and so
they do not resort to n another
for a dispassionate view of the mat
ters in controversy. They resort to
that nation which has won the
enviable distinction of being re-
garded as the friend of mankind.
Grounds for National Pride
Whenever It is desired to send n
small force OF soldiers to occupy a
piece Of territory where It Is thought
nobody else will be welcome, they
ask for American soldiers. And
where other soldiers would be look.
ed upon with suspicion and perhaps
met with resistance, the American
soldier is welcomed with acclaim.
And It has been an infinite pleas
ure to me TO see those gallant sol
diers Of ours, of whom the Constitu.
ton Of the United States made me
the proud commander. You may be
proud OF the Twenty-sixth Division.
but I commanded the Twenty-sixth
Division-and see what they did
under my direction! And every.
body praises the American soldier
with the feeling that in praising him
he is s~ubstracting from the credit
Of no one else.
&. s. Actions Brought Belief
I have been searching for the
fundamental fact that converted
Europe to believe in us. Before this
war Europe did not believe in us as
she does now. She did not believe
in us throughout the first three
years Of the war. She seems really
to have believed that we were hold.
ing Off because we thought we could
mako more by staying out than by
coming in. And all Of q sudden, in
a short eighteen months, the whole
verdict Is reversed.
There can be but n explanation
for It. They saw what we did-that
without making q single claim we
put all our men and all our
at the disposal Of those who were
fighting for their homes, in the first
instance, but for q cause, the cause
Of human right and Justice, and we
went In, not to support their national
claims. but to support the great
cause which they held in common.
Ideaiists Now Upheld -.
And when they saw that America
not only held ideals, but acted ideals,
they were converted to America and
became firm partisans Of those
ideals.
met a group OF scholars when I
was in Paris. Some gentlemen from
cne Of the Greek universities. who
had come to see me and in whose
presence, or rather In the presence
of whose traditions of learning, l
felt very young indeed. / told them
that 1 had had one Of the delight
full revenges that sometimes comes
to a man. All my life r have heard
|. men speak with a sort OF condescen.
sion OF ldealists, and particularly
of those separated, encloistered per-
sons whom they choose to term
academic, who were In the habit
of uttering ideals in the free atmos.
phere when they clash with nobody
In particular.
Found Danger Worth While
And / have said l have had this
sweet revenge. Speaking with per.
feet frankness, in the name of the
United States, [ have uttered as the
objects of this great war ideals and
nothing but ideals, and the war has
been won by that inspiration.
Men were fighting with tense
muscle and lowered head until they
came to realize those things, feel.
ing they were fighting for their lives
and their country. and when these
accents OF what 1t was all about
reached them from America they
lifted their heads; they raised their
eyes to Heaven: then they saw men
in khaki coming across the sea in
the spirit OF crusaders, and they
found that these were strange men,
reckless OF danger not only, but
reckless because they seemed to see
something that made this danger
worth while.
United States Soldiers Had Vision
Men have testified to me in Europe
that u men were possessed by
something that they could only call
a religious fervor. They we're not
like any of the soldiers. They had u
v~isionj they had a dream, and they
were fighting In the dream, and