Omaha daily bee., 1919-03-06
PRESIDENT. PEACE ANp THE PEOPLE.

PRESIDENT, PEACE AND THE PEOPLE.
In at least one of his assertions at New
York, the president is eminently accurate, Not
alone a majority of the American people, but
every right-thinking individual throughout the
world ardently, yea, devoutly hopes that the
negotiations at Paris will produce durable peace.
They know that such peace can be established
only on justice, and that il will endure only so
long as justice is done TO all And the world
is ready to accept for trial any reasonable plan,
the workings of which will produce the har-
monious tranquility so poignantly desired.
But this scarcely justihes Mr.. Wilson in his
attitude towards the men who differ from him,
who decline to accept without question or COM
ment otherwise than favorable the dictum he
presents. His career as president of the United
States does not warrant such assumption on
his part. Take his utterances, from the speech
he made in Philadelphia, after the Lusitana at
fair in May 1915, when he sought to quiet the
righteous anger of the American people with
the plea that generally increased indignation,
1--WE are too proud to fight" on down to his
latest words, delivered to a selected audience at
the Metropolitan Opera house, and we find a
continual shifting of position, He has moved
from stand to stand, through all the moods of
paci6sm into and out of belligerency, and now
demands that he be given unquestioning
acquiescence in whatever he proposes. Such a
review will convince the candid person that the
president has put considerable of strain on
free people accustomed to dealing directly with
its own affairs
In October, 1916, at Omaha Mr.. Wilson
l.. j Al. +.
cause they had not yet found which side was
in the right; they could not yet tell for which
cause they wanted to fight. Contrast this with
the tenor of his address at New York Tuesday
night, when he in effect insisted that Americans
are ready and eager to take on not only the
burdens of Europe, but the cares of the world
as we'll One may not wholly coincide with
this broad and all-inclusive philanthropy, and
yet be free from the accusation of being "sepa-
rated from the general currents of the thought
of mankind"
Mr.. Wilson especially scorns those who "set
up doctrine of careful selhshness" for the pro-
lection of America, which might be contrasted
against the attitude he took a few years ago,
when he specifically and persistently declined
to protect American citizens in Mexico because
such protection might result in war with
Mexico.
The men who are now asking that the con-
stitution of the League of Nations be modified
in particulars essential to American interests
have motives no less patriotic, philanthropic or
beneficial than do those who are ready to take
on not only the white mans burden, but all the
other cares and troubles of disturbed world.
They observe, however, that France, Italy,'
Japan, and other nations great and small, are
asking for better protection than the tentative
draft promises and can see no good reason why
this boon should be denied to America I'm
questioning acceptance of the presidents per-
sonal views, especially when they are presented
in manner so indicative of irritation and dis
pleasure, is not final test of devotion to the
countrys welfare.