The sun., 1919-09-14
WILSON FEARFUL OF
NEW WAR DANGERS



of tho nation indulging in such fearful
predictions, as It would be difncuit to be-
lieve (were the evidence not daily pres
ent) that he takes with him into every
community a definite announcement to
agitators and a markedly one sided dis
cussion of the problem of capital and
labor For he brings to bear in support
of this special cause every effort short
of subtle appeal that could probably
penetrate the sympathles Of discontented
men and women.
His talk is all of peoples ready to tear
down governments, or labor dissatisfied
with employers. Of agitation that should
be encouraged, of the worthlessness Of
political democracy without industrial
democracy, of statesmen to be hanged
higher than Haman by the annals of his
tory" and of the tolerable causes of un-
rest 1t is a style of address which
positively alarms men in this part OF the
country who realize the dangerous un-
| dercurrents of thought in their COM
| munities, for whether Mr. Wilson means
what he so deliberately says or no, the
dissatisfied and unruly elements are
finding encouragement In his speeches.
Hearers Exhibit AIarm.
Time and again men have come to
this reporter In cities where Mr.. Wilson
has spoken with the question for which
there is no apparent answer: why can
not the President say something calm
ing, reassuring, steadying. to these peo-
pie instead of dropping oil on -fire?"
The size and disposition, on the whole,
of his crowds appear to have exalted his
mood. Possibly none of his immediate
| companions have suggested to him that
the numbers of people and their cheers
where cheers have arisen-spring from
keen interest in Presidential visit and
| the local pride that leaps to respond to
the coming of a President. No, Mr..
Wilson very obviously marks up crowds
and no cheers to enthusiasm for his spe-
clsl cause. He apparently does not hear
what the newspaper correspondents alb
serb in every community-for there is
| nobody courageous enough to tell him the
uth-that these people are greeting
: him because he is their President and
not because they believe in his theory
or believe that the world is going to
smash IL he does not get his way.
Persistent inquiries in Tacoma and
Seattle, questions put 10 many men
casually met, both Democrats and Re
publicans, day laborers and bankers.
| make II reasonably evident that the SEN
timent of the State of Washington is to
have trial of the league, provided (and
here is the but" that the President rails
against) there are amendments or reser-
vations that surely will protect the
United States and save 1t from foreign
| arrangements.
That isn't the view of politicians II
| is the instructive judgment of the people.
| They are willing enough TO concede that
| Mr.. Wilson is sincere. but they feel that
| his head is In the clouds; that he has
! come to feel-a greater interest in world
! affairs than in his own country. for
nothing he has said anywhere upon his
trip has made a profounder impression
than his assertion that the case of the
League of Nations '1s greater than the
Senate, greater than the nation.''
Speaks to $4,000 in Tacoma.
Tacoma. standing so proudly upon the
heights above Puget Sound, welcomed
Mr.. Wilson most handsomely Republi-
| cans and Democrats turned out to greet
| him at the railroad station and to escort
| him through communities of charming
mansions and bungalows in whose de-
| lightful yards pine and palm grow side
| by side and roses bloom luxuriantly. C.
NJ. Riddell; Mayor OF the city, and a Re-
publican, guided the President in his
motor car Journey through trees and
parks, and led him finally to the great
|
engineers out Of solid rock Jutting above
! the sound
Within this semi-natural amphitheatre
| $4,000 persons. the large majority Of
| whom were school children and women,
hailed him with eager delight The
very air sparkled with American flags
blooming In the hands of these chill
dren and women. Speaking most
briefly from the stand in the field
Of the stadium. the President left a
word or two of polished acknowledg-
ment and bowed his farewell.
Half an hour later he was speaking
in customary vein the Armory OF
Tacoma and before an audience OF
1000. And 1t was the horrors OF
war that commanded his thought at
the outset, a dire picture of woes to
come. unless
What / came on this trip for was
to find out II the country has forgotten,
and / have found out" he said.
Would Keep us From War.
| And then flowed from the stream of
his argument: Il would keep you out
of war; the Senate would drive you in.
Which will you have?'' He spoke for
half an hour in emotional exhortatioA,
! dropping. one of those seeds of thought
regarding "the antagonism between
those who labor with their hands and
those who direct labor" and came to his
appeal for "non-partisan" support for
his cause. Seeking to dissociate himself
personally from the covenant he denied
that he had anything to do with the
writing of the covenant except to in
sert some American suggestions, which
~ had TO fight for" and he begged his
hearers "to forget that | had anything
, to do with the League of Nations"
One OF the things he fought for,' he
told them, was the Monroe Doctrine,
and he asserted that he had influenced
! the statesmen OF the world, for the
| first time in the history of the Monroe
| Doctrine. to recognize the doctrine s
validity.
For another quarter of an hour he
| aimed at the sorrows and misgivings OF
| human hearts. He spoke Of the aching
hearts and Of the forlorn homes. Ha
read statistics OF the human life cost of
the war, 7,450200 dead men. He ad
dressed himself to every woman who
ought TO weep" anf he visloned the
little children at the stations, flags In
hand, and pray God they may never
have to carry those flags to the battle
| field"
Increasing the insurance protection
percentage OF the League of Nations
| from 10 per cent to 9s per cent, he Of
fered It as a guarantee against war and