The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1919-03-21

earlier utterances must have heard,
with varied emotions, this sentence
on Tuesday evening"
"The sweet revenge, therefore, is
this, that we believe in righteousness,
and now we are ready to make the
supreme sacrifice for it, the supreme
sacrifice of throwing in our fortunes
with the fortunes of men every
where"
The words relative to belief in
righteousness are from the same lips
that said, after the Prussians had in
,vaded Belgium and outraged its
women:- .-.-
Plea for Neutrality.
"The United States must be neutral
in fact as well as in name during
these days that are to try mems souls.
We must be impartial in thought. as
! well as in action, must put curb
upon our sentiments as we'll as upon
every transaction that might be cons
strued as a preference of one party
to the .stnrggle before another.",
They are the words of the Presi-
dent who said in an address to the
Congress sixteen months after the
war began
owe have stood apart, studiously
neutral. 1t was our manifest duty
to do so."s -.
The President who advocates
Throwing our fortunes in the for
tunes of men everywhere" is the
President who said to the Congress: !:
= Americans must have a conscious
ness different from the consciousness
of every other nation in the world. ~.
Tcan not get it out of my mind
that. Mr., Wilson is bending every
nerve Of heart and brain <to bring
about conditions which will seem to
justify his candidacy for a third term
inat the Presidency. The White House
becomes to its occupants an :enchant-
ed palace. Most men, and all women,
who get there wish to- remain. It
would be strange if the Wilson's prov;
ed aan exception 49,, 81 -,
!: The proposed League Of Nations
not. only flies, in the face Of our ira
ditions but involves far reaching
revolution of international relations.
1t will mo more promote world peace
than the advertised nostrums insure
bodily health. It is as -Borah says,
"a league Of diplomats" It will tie
our hands for exigeneies not hard to-
foresee. It will put us at the mercy
Of alien contingencies. It will, even
as Knox wisely tells us, make for
war, not for peace. 1t may be good
for France. It will be good for Eng
land. In differing ways each needs
breakwater against political floods.
But, with our continental peculiari-
ties, especially our Spanish-American
complexities, we need to be and we
want to be entirely foot loose and
fancy free. We gain nothing by the
acceptance of foreign obligations and
the dissemination of foreign infu-
ence. Why should we surrender any
part of our sovereignty blndfold?
Why. should we set out on a wild
goose chase after the millennium a
thousand years ahead of time? That
is all there is to this League of Ma
tions fanfare.
It is not true that my opinions are
coroled by any dislike of Mr.. Will
son. Of none am I conscious. But I
distrust his judgment and would COM
nit the future to the ambition of no
man. The President has the habit
once in while of making break.
He seems fond of experimentation.
It is a bad bent in the magisterial
head of a great nation and in historic
times has involved many people in
costly adventures. .,'.
Looking Toward 1920.
From now directly ahead all things
political with us will face toward
1920. The republicans have both
houses of Congress. That might prove
disadvantage. =. But in this fad Mr..
L.. l. -, ...,,o IN,