The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-09-06
SPEECHES HAVE PUNCH;
PRESIDENT BELLICERENT
CONTINUED from First Pass.)

| foregoing that President Wilson IL
appealing to the peaceful instincts OF
the American people and the deeply
imbedded passion for peace which
elected him fl 1915 on platform OF
keep us out of the war" and then
supported him whole heartedly on a
platform of freeing the world from
military and OF safeguarding democ-
racy.
Mr.. Wilson cyniealIy recalls the en-
thusiasn Of certain Of the leagues
opponents when America entered tho
war, and he says when no led Amer
ioa into war to put an end to the
war business, no meant II. Dramst-
ically he oxolaims that he would not
be able to look into the face Of a
widowed wife or a bereavsd parent
II no came back from Paris without
a program to end future ware.
Mr.. Wilson applies the epithet con
temptible cutters" and 1t 10 mild Ian
guage compared to that which he will
probably use before he gets through in
denouncing those In America whom he
thinks are selfishly refusing to see the
job through. Slowly. but surely, the
president is drawing a line between the
peace at any price elements" who
wanted to warn Americans Off the high
seas and wanted to amend the con-
scription act so our troops might not
help the allies and those who supported
the war with Germany In the hope that
out Of 1t would come some kind of a
concert OF moral and physical power to
preserve peace. Mr.. Wilson admits
flaws in the covenant, but says they
hn lad L. tIa1
less the league Is set up now. the whole
International combination which was
set up to beat Germany will fall apart
and will not easily be brought together
again.
Business men who heard the presI.
dent at ST. Louis-and his appeal TO
eschew party politics drew loud ap-
plause from the many republicans pres
ent, who said afterward that Mr.. VIII
son made headway. Some said they
had not understood before how deeply
American business was Involved In the
controversy over the league. The ST.
Louis Chamber Of Commerce Is hardly
Wlsonian. Men sat at the guest table
who had attacked him bitterly hereto
fore, but whom he said that he was
touring the country not as a party man,
but as an American, they Jumped TO
their feet and Joined In the applause
and cheers.
Unquestionably. Mr.. Wilson will make
better impression as he removes from
the public mind the notion of party
politics which he unfortunately built
up when he took only men of his own
personal prediction to Paris with him
and ignored the republican party. The |
present republican leadership on the
treaty Is not popular. Leading repub- |
licans here and there as we travel
whisper to us that they think the
course of Senator Lodge and Senator
Knox Is mistaken, hut they also say
the presidents tactics hitherto have
made many partisans. Woodrow Will |
son might be the last to admit 1t. but |
his professions of political dsinterest-
edness and his clear expeditions of ar
ticles in the treaty on which he has |
heretofore been vague and ambiguous |
have done him more good in this sec |
ton of the middle west than all the |
studied statements, letters and aca-
-demic addresses to congress he has
made since sgetting back from Europe. |
He is at last lifting the treaty dis
cussion out Of the mire OF party poll
tics and personal ambition to the broad |
road of international cooperation
which helps civilization triumph over
}