davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23

league of nations, and he created the league
of nations, and it may be that this con-
centration will prove in the end of great
and lasting benefit to mankind.
On the other hand, it is essential to face
the thing it is in Paris. Mr. Wilson is,
we understand coming back in three weeks
with what purpose man knows. He can
no longer at once exercise the same in
fluence. There has been, am told, draw
ing back in England among the English
people, comparable q little to the change
in France, and in both cases growing out of
increasing eagerness to have done with this
war. of which the peace negotiations have
become not the least burdensome detail.
If Mr.. Wilson should come back from
America resolved to exercise his influence
in the direction of quick settlement based
upon a reasoned and comprehending esti-
mate of the facts in the present situation,
if he should come back determined to finish
the war with Germany by making q new
German attack impossible, if he should
come back as champion of French security,
as a defender of Polish existence, as the
spokesman of o-Slovak integrity, as
the proponent of Jugo-Slavic independence,
as friend of Rumania, his service may yet
be the greatest of any living man in the
making of just peace.
But, by contrast, if Mr.. Wilson comes
back in the same mood in which he came to
Europe more than two months ago, sur
rounded by the people for whom the single
question was not what the situation really
was, but what the President thought it to
be, if he should come back still dedicated
to the pursuit of the abstract, and, above
all, if his coming back results in the post
ponement of settlement with Germany,
which has been too long postponed already,
we shall have another feeling in Paris, and
we shall again have to face, possibly, the
fact that what was won the battlefield
may be lost around the green table.
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
frances Expectancy for His Aid in Quashing Ger
many; Her Disappointment at His Neglect--Ilis
Prestige Founded ON the League Alone

machinery to bring about annexation Of
seven million Austrians to Germany. and
once more on all German sides there was
raised the question of Alsace- Lorraine.
In some, particularly in France, there had
been expectation that Mr.. Wilson, whose
leadership at Paris was unchallenged.
whose power far surpassed that of anv
other person, would exert this power, not
simply and exclusively to construction of
that great experiment which is the league
of nations, but at the same time to render
Germany alike powerless to repeat her past
crimes and to resist payment for those
crimes, which was essential to the future
life of France.
One may not say to what extent circum
stances were responsible, rather than de-
sign, in the case Of the policy pursued bv
Mr.. Wilson in France. Certainly his nolicv
would from the outset have been impossible
had he not received from Britain Immediate
support Like Mr.. Wilson, the British rem
resentatives at Paris were willing to con-
centrate their attention first upon the
league of nations; like him. they consented
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23

different set of faces from those found at
the refugee station in the Care de PEST
"Io the front and back again" might be
the collective title of the artists last three
pictures. The first of the three shows a
French way station at which an American
troop train has just arrived. Red Cross
canteen workers are busy handing up
steaming cups of coffee, chocolate and
sandwiches to American doughboys, who
hang with outstretched hands from the
doors and windows of third class" French
railway cars. They are on their way to
the front and their faces tell the story.
They have chalked letters on the sides of
the cars which read Berlin or Bust" and
Heaven, He'll or Hoboken by Xmas" and
the expression on the various ruddy counte-
nances gives you to know that these boasts
arc nc. made "a vSi5. The ,--.a rl;t-lc
have been laid at Chalons, Epernay, Meaux
or any railway, station of like size on
French railway systems. They are all the
same, and at almost every one our relief
workers have fed hundreds of thousands
of doughboys and poilus as they passed
through to the battle fields
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23

1914-16 so many champions sprang up, but
with a spring drought in 1917, while the
Allied offensive was on at the Western front,
it lost favor entirely as a subject for argu-
ment. 1t is SO in this country, not only
relative to rainfall and gunfire, but as to
weather changes and the phases of the
moon, and also the suppositon that our
climate is changing; under the suggestion
of an instructive belief, one is involuntarily
led to note only the favorable coincidence,
and thus become more and more confirmed
in the belief.
AS we have not received an unusual
amount of rainfall during the war the pub
lie has not had an opportunity to express
its views. The rainfall here during 1916
and 1913 was considerably below normal,
being two of the lightest annual falls among
those of the last forty-cght years
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
MININA
History of the Red Cross-Painted, Not Write

eron, Secretary of War during the Rebel
lion and "father' Of the Republican ma
chine in Pennsylvania, which is still goirg
strong
Burnside was born in London, studied art
there in the London County Council school
at fee Of about 81 year, and eventually
exhibited his paintings in the s, Ions Of the
London Academy. Later he lived in New
York, and eventually came to Paris to join
the American artists colony One of his
paintings won a medal at the San Fran
cisco Exposition. When the draft law be-
came effective it caught Burnside in
Madrid He registered at the American EN-
bassy there and returned to Paris.
physical examination designated him for
Red Cross work, and he was assigned to a
warehouse in Paris, where he shifted and
piled boxes of supplies constantly arriving
from America until he became i'll.
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
Bandages for
The Front

The surgical dressing station in the Rue
st. Ddier was the next subject tackled by
Burnside. Here he has shown a great cam
vas walled room filled with white garbed
volunteer workers rolling bandages and as
sembllng surgical packages for the fighting
line. You see here faces of young women
who, with different garb, would be New
York society debutantes, or perhaps, spoiled
children of some of Americas best families,
For that is exactly what many of these
bandage rollers were before Uncle Sam
came into the war and provided them with
tasks in which they could be extremely use
full and still maintain fashionable self-re-
spect. When Burnside sat down with his
easel and brushes in the old tent
tennis court of the Rue St. Didier he also
found other types among the workers. There
is the dowager of Paris's American colony
doing her bit daintily and dressed for the
occasion in her most immaculate white
gown and sem-nurse cap--the same in
which she intends to appear at tea with
some other dowager later in the afternoon,
where relative war work will be discussed
In all thrilling detail. And there are also
in the picture motherly looking women who
are giving long hours to it, apparently
with pride in the number of bandagcs
rolled for the boys "out there mt the front"
during single working day. In this paint
ing the artist seems to have again touched
character with certain vividness.-a wholly
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
Waiting for
The League

One should be fair in stating the facts.
| doubt if any one ever worked harder at
any task than Mr.. Wilson has worked at
his self-imposed duty at the Paris confer
ence. He has neither spared himself nor
II any degree avoided the responsibilities
CT his position. He has worked for his
league of nations with singleness of pur-
pose which will remain noteworthy He has
not labored for a specific plan for the
league of nations. AS I have frequently
said the document which has arrived owes
far more to the English than to Americans,
but for the idea of the league of nations
he has labored necessarily and arduously.
II the league of nations shall prove a sue
cess, do not think later historical estimate
will subtract anything from the, credit due
TO Mr.. Wilson.
But, on the other hand, am anxious to
give some idea Of what has actually hap
pened in Paris, what disturbing and con-
ficting currents of opinion have been
loosed what dangers have been risked.
alike within and without the conference
and what great problems remain not only
unsolved, but daily, through postponement
of the solution, become more menacng.
Mr.. Wilson came to Europe, hailed in
France and England and Italy as no for
eigner has ever been welcomed. | do not
think his best friends would feel that he
goes away carrying with him the same in
fuence in any of these three great
allied countries, do I think this change
is due to any essential hostility to Mr.. Will
sons idea of the league of nations, but
rather to growing apprehension that the
force of Mr.. Wilson's personality and ths
accident of his power at the present time
are combining 70 bring about in fact, a
fundamental problem, which is to have
done with Germany, to have peace with
Germany which will not be a prelude to
another war like the past, to prevent Ger
many from winning the last war by emerg-
ing from it greater in territory and popu-
lation, having inflicted fatal injuries upon
her enemies, injuries fatal because she her.
self is spared the cost Of her devastations
and her destruction.
Copyright, 1919, By the Mcclure Nesos.
paper Sy,,dicote.)
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
President Stands Falls by the League Of Nations

intolerance of the French view. The French
passion for protection against another COM
ing of the Germans was easily translated
into the renaissance of French chauvinism
and French materalism, while on the
French side there was silence, then sus-
picion, and at last profound disappointment
q feeling that America had changed her po-
sition with respect to France.
This French feeling was intensified by
the fact that the British, without reserva-
ton, bent their efforts and their energies
to the realization Of the league of nations,
and supported Mr.. Wilson, or seemed to
support him, in at least temporarily set
ting aside those questions which for France.
and France alone, were questions of life
and death. Into French feeling and into
French life there crept very clear sense,
not only Of isolation, but of desertion.
France, with her terrible wounds still
open, had feeling that her great Allies,
without whose aid nothing was possible.
had turned their attention in another d-
rection
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23

ing the former record in 1881 by degrees
What strange coincidence that the low
est and highest temperature ever known
here should occur within only less than
eight months of each other. The fact that
this happened during the war gives open
ing for opinion that the conflict was in
some way or other responsible for these
abnormalities. The mental attitude of the
public toward a theory of this nature is
always of great psychological interest, and
the writer and other scientists expected to
hear that these phenomena would generally
be attributed to the war. Reliable scien-
fists, however, have not been able to find
any connection between the weather and
gunfire, the use of gases liquid fire, etc
The alleged connection between rainfall
and gunfire is a we'll worn controversy in
Europe, where during the wet periods in
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
Many
Problems Yet

All the many problems that confront the
peace conference on the material and polit-
ical sides remain to be met. The frontiers
of Poland are not even Professionally de-
fined. Poland and Bohemia are at odds in
Silesia, Rumania and Serbia in Banat, the
old question between the southern Slavs
and the Italians is embittered as delay fol-
lows delay. Syria has been permitted to
become a real wedge between British and
French opinion.
The German has followed the course of
the Paris conference and changed his tone
from whine to a threat in less than three
months after Hndenburg had recommended
an unconditional surrender as the sole ave-
nue. of escape from supreme disaster.
1t will be unfair and unjust to hold Presi-
dent Wilson exclusively or mainly respon-
sibe for what has happened. He could had
he chosen, have brought the world to I'M
pose just but levellng peace upon Ger
many; he could, had he chosen, have pro-
cured provisional accommodations in case
of the gravest of the difficulties before the
to lead, the British were committed to fol
low, and had he elected to lead in the direc-
tion of terminating the war with Germany
on q basis of reparation, restitution and
guarantee against future dangers, the
French would have followed him as they
tory But he decided to stake all upon the
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
The Sn0wless Record of This Weird Winter

vert deep snow, ice and frozen ground into
sush and mud but "Jack Frost" would fol-
low so quick on Jupiter's heels that the
soft and Liquid mixtures would soon be re-
converted into dangerous and damaging ice.
In fact, General Weather" did his utmost
to hold up ammunition and supplies and
foods of all kinds, to produce suffering
among us by delaying coal transportation,
and to incur additional damage and incon-
venience by storms, accompanied by gale,
winds and rivers choked with ice, and in
some Instances completely frozen over
The most remarkable phenomenon during
all these abnormalities was the coolest
known in the history of New York City,
when the mercury fell to 13 below zero on
December 80, 1917, the former record hav-
Ing been below zero. In fact, the entire
month of December was the coldest on rec
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
Blasted
Hopes

In the meantime, accentuating this French
sentiment, there arose the impressive spec
tacle of Germany reordering her affairs,
reorganizing her resources, daily becoming
more defiant in the presence of her con-
querors, and alike in Austria and in Po-
land pursuing her old materialistic ambi-
tions in her old imperalistic spirit While
the Allies argued over questions and man.
datories in Asia Minor. or Central Africa.
German armies advanced into Posen, Ger
man agents seized upon Austrian political
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23

still tense, faces that are tense by nerve
power alone, because the slouch of those
who file away to drink the beverage out
of line shows that bodily fatigue is there
men ready to drink and fall, almost in their
tracks, asleep. Every man carries his gun
over his shoulder and tin hats are on heads
at rakish angles, because in battle positions
or in the zone of fire men seldom observe
dress parade regulations Mud clings to
their uniforms and many are wet The
little candle gives all the light for this
painting and it shines in an uncanny, flick
erlng way on the canteen worker-a man
in this zone, whose face also tells you that
he is tired because he has been pouring
coffee into army mess cups for many hours
1t is portrayal of war and history
The last painting takes you to a tent
hospital at the Auteul racecourse. near
Paris. 1t is summer, and nurses, outside in
the sunshine, mingle with American bows
on crutches or olling about in positions
which tell you of their weakness during
convalescence. Battles are being refought
here. The main group in the foreground
is one of several, recounting thrilling
details of Germans he killed before one
got him. 1t isn't hard to imagine the
story 1t has been told by every American
doughboy in every hospital in France the
first moment his returning strength has
allowed him to talk freely Your imaeina-
ton, as you glance at the painting, will tell
you which of those of the group were
wounded in actual closeup combat and
those who stopped a stray piece of she'll
many kilometres from the first line. There
is knowing look on the countenances of
some, while others are drinking in every
word.
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23

ord, and there have been but few Januarvs
and Februarys colder than December, 1917,
whereas normally they would be consider
ably colder. In other words, New York City
experienced even colder weather than is
normal for Buffalo, Rochester and ALBANY.
and about the same that usually occur
ring at Lake George, N. Y, and Eastport,
Nc.
What a contrast this is with the
month of December, 1918, which has been
one of the mldcst of record and practically
snowless. But, dear Mr.. Reader, do you re-
member August this year, when you were
confined in your office or store, or even on
your vacation, that it was impossible to
lind cool spot anywhere outside of your
bathtub or the ocean? This day was the
warmest in the history of the city, the
mercury registering 1O2 degrees and break
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
By Frank H. Simonds

to the practical ignoring of German facts
which no Frenchman could ignore. The re-
sponsibility for this ignoring of the prob
lem of making peace with Germany. as con-
trasted with the information of the league
of nations, is, at least, as much British as
American.
Yet, we have to face the fact that because
MI Wilson came to Europe, not merely or
primarily, but almost exclusively interested
IN the league of nations, because he had
neither time nor apparently the necessary
interest to go to the ravaged areas, because
IN all this course he was supported by the
British In Paris, there developed not only
codness toward the President in France
but clear division in the peace confer
ence itself.
have said in my first dispatch to America
that President Wilson's coming had a great
and abiding value in that it stirred idealism
all over Europe, and in addition, particularly
In the case of England, was a positive and
perhaps permanent contribution to ANGLO
American friendship. This l think remains
true, but it remains true with many modifi-
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23

cations and qualifications since the time
when l wrote it. Since then we have framed
the league of nations, which may or may not
make future impossible, and a repeti-
ton of the suffering of the last four and
half years out of the question: But, while
we have been framing that league of nations,
Germany has risen from defeat defiant and
determined, and as preliminary to the dis
cussion of that league of nations, we Allied
powers of the West have abdicated in
Russia, leaving it for the future to decide
whether the former Romanoff state shall
hereafter be Bolshevik or Boche At the
same time failure to take definite action
has fatally handicapped Poland, which must
after all be one of the cornerstones of New
Europe, and permitted it, already assailed
by Bolsheviks, Ukrainians and Germans to
become involved in tragic dispute with
the Czecho-Slovaks. Poland has been neg
lected and the task of the creation of
Polish state, whose value to future peace
is so great, has been made difficult in the
extreme. We have sent food to Germany,
fearful of German Bolshevks, but we have
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
He Never
Went to See

single incident determined largely the
current of French feeling. 1t was the hope
Of all France that Mr.. Wilson would go to
the northern provinces and see with his
own eyes not alone the destruction of bat
lie, but the wanton and selfish devastation
OF the German soldiers, whose single pur-
pose 1t was to eliminate France and Bel
gum from the economic life of the world
and then to take the place made vacant.
inns Dir. Wilson never did. AS a result,
americans, and particularly American cor
respondents IN Europe reporting the peace
conference, similarly failed to examine this
phase of the French case.
Even more than this, if not in the case
% Mr. Wilson, in the case of some of those
closely associated with him in his mission.
'aere developed a certain impatience and
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
"NOf a Cent
Extra"

Not a cent extra" was the reply HE
could have made just as much money piling
crates and boxes out there in the Chemin
de Vert warehouse. We furnished the ma
terial and he did the work. We are going
to take great in shipping these cam
vases to Washington They will be con-
signed to Henry P. Dawson, who will place
them on the walls of Red Cross Headouar-
ters. They are real American history and
experts have pronounced them high in real
art
Meanwhile, Cameron Burnside. after
seven months of work, which, after all,
gains him nothing more than the high
honor of putting history on canvas for
the American people, is going back to his
little studio at Sc Rue Notre Dame des
Champs. IN the old Latin quarter, to paint
something for Cameron Burnside and Mrs.
Cameron Burnside, formerly Miss Hit. of
Augusta, Ga, also a painter of the Paris
school. That is, he is going to paint for a
more lucrative market, as he has done in
the same studio for the past ten wears.
except during Americas part in the war.
But above everything, credit goes to this
American artist for possibly more patriot
ism with the brush and pastel than arv
other artist in the great war. But for \
ra'ner dehcate constitution he might stsu
be piling boxes is the big warehouse sn
this Sue do Chemin Vert.
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23

Nk Wilson on February 13 one
Wv phase of the peace conference
is clearly determined. The
publication of the constitution of the
hague of nations at the moment of the
Presidents departure was an obvious en-
dssvor to make report of progress so far
achieved, and it is fair to say to the out
side world that while commissions have
been appointed the league of nations cove
nant represents the actual achievement of
,wo months Of the Paris conference
We have now to examine the success or
failure of Mr.. Wilson in the two months of
European negotiations which followed his
break with every precedent and every ira
diton of American history in coming to
Europe. How far has the President sue
ceeded and justified his journey? How far
has he failed? These are questions that
will be asked most insistently on all sides.
At the outset it must be clear that Mr..
Wilson's success was beyond the expecta-
tions of most, but it is hardly less true
that his stay in Europe since the first two
or three weeks has proved an anti-ciimax,
and that he has left the conference weaker
In influence than at any moment since his
arrival.
The reasons for this slow but sure de-
cline of the Presidents prestige if not
power in Paris are not far to seek. Mr..
Wilson came to France exhausted with
four and a half years of her struggle
against Germany, hardly yet able to believe
herself victorious, and bearing wounds still
unhealed, still capable of becoming fatal
New-York tribune., 1919-02-23
Enr0pe's
Expectancy

Coming to France, Mr.. Wilson was well
coined as he was in England, as he was in
Italy, as symbol, as an assurance, alike in
the reconstruction of the world and of re-
organization of international affairs, which
would make new wars impossible; and he
was gladly hailed in France as the spokes-
man of the ally which had come to the
battlefield at critical moment, with de-
cisive aid, to insure to France repayment
for her loss and protection as to the
future.
have tried very often in these dis
patches Of mine to indicate how deeply into
the French soul had sunk alike the German
menace of half century and German bar
No nation in the world looks more eagerly
to league of nations as promise of
new world than France, but no great nation
had suffered on its own soil millionth
part as much as France, and no nation was
therefore necessarily so completely COM
mitted to take material guarantees against
the future guarantees which would prevent
repetition of 1914, if the league of nations
should become another scrap of paper.
Mr.. Wilson's failure in France, so far as
1t was failure, lay in his concentrating
his attention and energy upon the league
ei nations to the utter exclusion Of that
other equally great problem before the
french, the problem of security against the
future. To a nation whose factories had
been systematically destroyed, whose fields
had been swept of fruit trees, whose viii
lagos had been ruined, Mr.. Wilson spoke
only Of abstract principles. He talked-or
he seemed TO talk-thus in the presence of
some of the most solid and solemn facts in
all human history.