The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-21
WILSON MEETS
MUCH HOSTILITY
In LOS ANGELES
President Cordially Dis
liked in Metropolis of
Southern California.
DELAYS HIS APPEARANCE
IntimatiOn That Roosevelt
Held Similar League View
Adds to Animosity.
DELAYS HIS APPEARANCE

By Stdd Correspondent Of THE Sun.
Los ANGELES, Sept. 20.-Here Is a
city which so earnestly dislikes Presi-
dent Wilson that any cause he favors
is injured before discussion is possible.
Any stock that Mr. Wilson under
writes instantly is deprecated in the
public estimation. This statement is
not founded upon surmise, for the peo-
pie rush to crowd their estimate of Mr..
Wilson upon the first conner. This sin
gularly keen dislike is so palpable that
it detracts from the respect due to the
President Of the United States.
The reception in Los Angeles has
been Of poor quality. The effort to be
amiable is painfully patent. The crowds
that gather in the streets to watch the
President pass by applaud scarcely at
all. Murmurs savoring Of derision are
perfectly audible. 1t is dislike, peo-
pie tell you, that is based upon dis
trust and disappointment. There is a
definite feeling in this part Of the State
Of California that Mr.. Wilson made
too many promises that he did not
keep.
There is an angry feeling that he
has lost sight OF the interests of the
United States in efforts to doctor sick
world, There is a feeling that he has
surrendered to Japan. Many persons
that would favor League of Nations
otherwise oppose a league because Mr..
Wilson is its most prominent cham
pion. Persons that dislike Hiram John
son are supporting Hiram Johnson's
| views solely because Hiram johnson
Woodrow Wilson.
Why People Are Opposed.
Reasoned discussion of the merits Of
! the peace treaty and the covenant Of the
League of Nations is virtually i'm
possible in a community of this state
of mind. 1t is a disagreeable phenom-
enon. Nowhere has partisan bias en-
tered so sharply into the controversy,
although 1t is scarcely accurate to state
that partisan bias is the controlling in
fiuence in the hostility to what Mr.. VIII
son advocates. for very many Democrats
are as downright in their expressions Of
disgust as are the rabidest Republicans
When these people are urged to put
aside partisan feeling and are implored,
as Mr.. Wilson SO often implores them,
to considef the question of the League
of Nations without reference to the elec-
ton of 1920, they reply impatiently,
| asserting that IL Mr.. Wilson's cause is
| now suffering because of partisan feel
| ing it is because he himself never has
| lost a chance to be a partisan - and
| they instance the one-sided composition
of the American peace commission, the
| ignoring by Mr.. Wilson of the Repub-
lican majority OF the Senate and. most
of all, the partisan appeal he made just
| before the Congress election of 1918.
| One says that a city earnestly dislikes
/ Mr.. Wilson because that is the most
concrete way of stating the fact.
There are elements here which fanati-
cally support him and his special plea,
but these elements are deeply in the
! minority. They are made up, as Is true
| in so many communities, of the 'in-
L
| dabbling in dilletantish sort of way In
socialism who believe that the time has
| come to get away from the silly fetish
| of devotion to one country and to assert
loyalty to all mankind.
Labor Element Included.
They are partly composed of the rae
tag and bobtail of labor unrest Of the
worthless so-oalled labor elements thai
are at the bottom OF the revolutionary
agitation in the West; they are sup
ported by Western replicas OF Scott Near
ing. They like the kind OF talk tha
Mr. Wilson hands out--definite encour
agement of agitation, persistent empha
sis of the theory that wrongs exist, thai
industrial democracy must be brought
about, that the world is seething viii
dissatisfaction and that some persons
certain gentlemen" would better hav'
care.
The body of the people are sick o.
this sort of thing; they have lost faitl
In Woodrow Wilson's sincerity. The!
have got an idea fixed In their head
that he is going to run again in 192t
and that he is making appeals to thu
elements he relies upon for his strong
est support. When they combine thi
notion with the feeling that Mr.. VIII
son In Paris traded the future tran
quillity OF the United States for {
league of nations the result is positiv,
dislike The commonest remark on
can hear in Los Angeles is: "I votet
for him in 1916, but never again" Al
Il CHANGED a very trivial episode thi
morning sharpened public resentment.
The city officials and the various
committees had planned to greet Mr.
Wilson at 1880 p. NJ. on his arrlva
from San Diego, where he was to hav
J passed the night. or at Coronado rather
! but there was a sudden change of plai
by the President. who decided last nigh
that he would get his rest on the trail
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