The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-05-16
AMERICA READY TO CAST
IT'S LOT WITH ALL THOSE
WHOSE LIBERTY is THREAT
ENED, WILSON DECLARES

Paris, May 10.-President Wilson,
in his address today to the French
Academy of Moral and Political
Sciences, entered strong disclaimer
of the idea that American people are
largely materialists or dollar wor-
shippers.
81 have had in recent months one
very deep sense Of privilege" the
President said. II have been keenly
aware that there have been times
when the people of Europe have not
understood the people of the United
States. We have been too often sup
posed to have been devoted chiefly, If
not, entirely, to material enterprises.
We have been supposed, in the COM
mon phrase, to worship the almighty
dollar.
eve have accumulated wealth, sir,
we have devoted ourselves to material
enterprises with extraordinary sue
cess, but there has underlain all of
that, all the time, common sense of
humanity and a common sympathy
with the high principle of justice
which has never grown dim in the
field even Of enterprise; and it has
been my very great joy in these re-
cent months to interpret the people
of the United States to the people of
the world.
81 have not done more, sir. | have
not uttered in my public capacity my
own private thoughts. / have uttered
what have known to be the thoughts
of the great people whom | represent.
l have uttered the things that have
been stored up in their hearts and pur-
pose from the time of our birth as a
nation"
Consecrated to Liberty
| 1t was at this point that the Pres
ident made his declaration that the
American people who came into the
world consecrated to liberty were
with the lot of those whose liberty is
Threatened whenever the cause Of lib
erty was seen to be imperiled.
"This is the spirit of the people of
the United States," he continued,
"and they have been privileged to send
10000 men over here to tell you so.
1t has been the great privilege, not
merely to tell you SO in words, but to
tell you so in men and material the
pouring out of their wealth and the
offering of their blood"
President Wilson alluded to his
studies in the field of political science
and of the attempts he had made ITO
put into the words of learning the
thoughts of nation, the attitude of
people toward public affairs"
Awkward German Thought
He continued: "a great many Of
my colleagues in American university
life got their training, even in politi-
cal science, as so many men in civil
life did, in German universities. l
have been obliged at various times to
read great deal of bad German, diff
ficult German, awkward German, and
/ have been aware that the thought
was as awkward as the phrase, that
the thought was rooted in fundamen-
tai misconception of the state and of
the political life of peoples.
"And it has been a portion of my
effort to disengage the thought of
American university teachers from
the misguided instruction which they
had received on this side of the sea.
Their American spirit anticipated
most of them, as a matter of course,
but the form of thought sometimes
misled them. They speak too often of
state as a thing which would ignore
the individual, as a thing which was
privileged to dominate the Fortunes of
men by a sort of inherent and sacred
authority.
"Now, as an utter democrat, |
have never been able to accept that
view of the state. My view of the
state is that it must stop and listen
to what l have to say, no matter how
humble am, and that each man has
the right to have his voice heard and
his counsel needed, in so far as it is
worthy of him.
Safety in Free Speech
81 have always been among those
who believe that the greatest free
dom of speech was the greatest safe
| ty, because, if a man is a fool, the
best thing to do is to encourage him
to advertise the fact by speaking. 1t
cannot be so easily discovered if you
allow him to remain silent and look
wise, but, if you let him speak, the
secret is out and the world knows that
he is fool.
$50 it is by exposure of folly that
it is defeated; not by the seclusion of
folly, and in this free air of free
i speech men get into that sort of COM
munication with one another which
constitutes the basis of all common
achievement. France, through many
vicissitudes and through many bitter
experiences, found the way to the sort
of freedom, and now she stands at the
front of the world as the representa-
tive of constitutional liberty"