Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-10


, had to fight something. What? why
naturally. intrenChcd reaction. the ol
, regime. the diplomacy that had mad
! Europe an armed camp for d century
the balance of power theory. You rec
, ognizc our ancient enemies of the gram
guignol' of our political conscienCcs
: the Cannons and Aldrichcs of Europe
reaction against progress?
CIemenceau A Rcactionary
w. Clemcncoau furnished Mr.. Wilson
his antagonist for the purposes Of thi
fight which is So necessary in our ro
mantle politics. NJ. Clcmcnceau is, for
tunatcly, old. very old. He personiic'
reaction inimitnbly. He talks as h,
looks, and he rushed into print almoS
on the day Of the Presidents arriva
! with tho best European equivalent of al
| Uncle Joe Cannon rcaCtiOnary spcCCl
| Imaginable The great iutcrnationa
movi" began. France never knew why
! it was east as the villain of the Peace
! Conference. never realized why it was
necessary TO have romano" in the drama
of America in Europe to hold America 5
attention fixed upon Paris until Amer
| lea got used TO being in Europe.
Having staged the contest. the Amer
ican propaganda was relentless. France
was the foe of progress. For tho first
time in history tho methods of our do T.
mcstic politics developed and perfected
by Roosevelt were applied TO inter
national affairs. 1t was cruel to
France. which did not understand the
romance of international relations. Rut
il worked II was the drama that
served to hold interest in the idcaliStic
formula under which Mr.. Wilson brought
America into Europe.
Mr. Wilson not only worked on com
ing to Europe with sort OF religious
fcrvOr. lie not only turned world poll
tics into drama of the sort familiar
to American political consciousness, a
struggle between the reluctant past
and the not to be denied future. But
he made il peculiarly fattrrIng TO our
national pride. We ar" a religious
people in a broad sens" of the word
as TO make it clearer. We arc compared
to the French a believing people. There
fore he made our coming to Europe an
act of faith. We are simple imag
NATIVE people. Therefore hc made it
bit of poetry. revolving around tho
over dear fable of Jack and the giant.
We arc a naturally proud people.
Therefore he promised when he came
hero TO make Europe American.
United States of World
The League of Nations was OF the
American model. 1t was to spread to
all the world the system of American
fcudaliSm. 1t hattcrcd us to think
Europe should take and apply in its
hour of need lesson from American
experience. He was going TO found
United States of the World.
lie arrived in n Europe ready to lis
ten to anything American. wanting a
supcrman and ready to believe that any
thing from across the water was of the
super order.
Paris. for example. believes that all
Americans arc rich. 1t charges Amcri
cans high prices. not from any grasp
ing spirit, but because it believes that
all Americans ar" RockcfclIcrs and OK
pcct TO pay high prices. 'Vous avcz
Fair richc' tho French girl assures
the American civilian she picks up on
the Boulcvards "You have the air of
wealth. The air of wealth consists in
wedring a fiat brimmcd hat. instead of
queer little curly brimmcd one such as
the French man affects. a loose over
coat instead of ono beltcd on tight lust
under the wish bone and in having no
on the face. In other words, if
you merely dress like an American you
have the air richie"
Mr.. Wilson's $ league Of nations pro-
gramme, his universal federalism had
the "air richie" to Europe. 1t was
American and was not America rich,
peaceful, and a recent worker of Won
ders?
Europe Can't Understand Prayers
The trouble with applying American
experience to European needs was from
the European point Of view that the
American system overlooked the diff
fercnCcs of Europe. You could not
make France believe that Germany
could be trusted to behave to her the
way New York behaves to Pcnnsylva
mia. Moreover, the American system
was tHousul out SOnClnlnS llkr con
tury before Bolshevism appeared. Will
son slowly lost ground hero as he faced
Bolshevism and could suggest nothing.
Europe wanted America, but could not
see why we should be so solemn about
coming in, why We should utter so many
formulariCs, why we should say so many
prayers.
Four months of Mr.. Wilson has left
Europe bored and skrptical. History
may say he invented the only way of
getting isolation loving America into
European affairs. History may say
that he was not entirely conscious of
the motives which led him to adopt the
league of nations, to come here per
sonalIy and dramatic our entrance
into world affairs. Great men often are
unconscious of their controlling motives,
America cuts greater figure in the
world today than ever before. Europc's
sense of our national prcdominancc is
heightened. Wilson cuts smaller
figure than on his arrival in December.
Europe's estimate of him has lowered
as it has measured his words in their
content. All of which provcs-wcll
the theory of the unconsciousness of the
motives controlling our great men?
LEI n EOp CINkINE CIIccCY