Evening star., 1919-01-23
BENEFITS OF PRESIDENTS
VISIT TO ENGLAND OUTLINED
Frank H. Simonds Says Mr.. Wilson Has
Captured Masses and Created New
Anglo-American Understanding.

patton in the war to complete the
thing. Exactly this Mr.. Wilson's visit
contributed. 1t is easy to overesti-
mate the permanent value of any sin
gle incident or of the emotions OF
any one moment, but I have found no
one in London who did not feel that
there had been an enduring gain for
understanding as
result Of the Presidents visit.
1t would be difficult to exaggerate
the gravity of the present European
situation as viewed by thoughtful
Eng1ishmen. We are hardly done
with the greatest war in human
history: and few hours travel from
London brings one to human shores
on which the waves Of bolsheyisnn
and anarchy are breaking with ever
increasing force. The war has endeo
al sHutn an Rssfotcsayv,s4sf1d the momen-
tary exuftatIon at the end OF the
strain has already given way to the
bitter realization that the strain has
been transformed, not removed. ! do
not purpose at this time to make any
reference to British politics. save to
warn my American readers against
too sweeping generalizations in any
direction. In the same way I refrain
from estim ating at this distance and
with too slight evidence the extent
or the reality of the bolshevik menace
in Germany and out of it. But foreign
politics and !. domestic politics are
situation. ruzzling, battling, in seDse
discouraging.
New Perils Followed War.
Europe has discovered how different
is the cessation from fighting from
an actual restoration of peace. Peace.
for four and half desperate years.
has been Il golden promise, a sufti-
ri
has turned out that even when the
fight is over and the victory won,
the goal remains remote. There are
still pain, priyation, apprehension.
One immediate peril has gone, but
half dozen which seemed remote
yesterday have today become inn
mediate.
Into this situation President Wilson
has come 10 give vitality to the old
hopes. aspirations and expectations.
No one can exagger>te the danger in
herent in such a position and in such
has ever lived. could satisfy the ex-
pectations President Wilson has
aroused. Yet this much is clear: He
has 50 far done nothing to lessen
hopes and much to strengthen them.
When he went away from England, he
left behind him new hopes. but he
shattered none of those which existed
before he came.
Let it be understood at once that this
British visit was not in any sense an
other of the old-fashioned hands
across the sea" and "blood is thicker
than water" affairs. 1t was not past
relationship, but future cooperation
which was and is in the minds of Brit
ish and Americans. The old efforts,
earnest and sincere as they were, fail
ed immeasurably because they were
backward looking and rested upon an
old association which could not be re-
stored.
Viewed close to the event and with
all proper qualifications necessary in
the premises. the great thing, the very
greatest thing, about President Will
sons visit was that it created the be-
lief that there could be present and
future cooperation between the United
States and Great Britain, because
there was a solid basis for such CO.
operation. Millions of men and women
found in th. presence and in the words
of Mr.. Wilson evidence of a cotempor-
ary community of thought, of aspira-
tions and Of ideals. / came to Lon
don wholly skeptical of the Wilson
visit. 1 found unanimous testimony
to it's success. including that of the
Americans N London. who would nat
uraily be least reserved in criticiSing
an American to an American.
Certainly the visit settled nothing
so far as the congress OF versailles
is concerned The great problems still
await solution. But / do not think I
exaggerate when / say that it lifted
Anglo American relations to new
level of common understanding and
sympathy. The President did not
champion an Anglo-American alliance
as the solution of the present world
crisis, but he did promote a better
understanding; and
he did 1t not by emphasizing the fact
that certain percentage of American
people are of British stock or by
stressing the fact of common institu-
tions. but by demonstrating that in the
present year Of grace Americans and
British are facing the same perils with
the same essential hopes, with pur-
poses which, If not identical. are
mutually inteIligible and capable of
ultimate fusion. This inevitably
means cooperation between the
United States and Great Britain at
instead Of slowly maturing
conflicts of ideas and purposes. And
I do not believe that this much OF
solid gain-and 1t is a very great deal
could have been even approximately
IL the President had re-
mained at home, as many Americans.
of whom was one. were convinced he
should have done.
Copy right, 1919. hy the Mcclure Newspaper
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