The sun., 1919-08-05
The Facts, President wilson, Give
Us the Facts!

President WILSON Is an astute poll
tician, fully informed on the charac.
teristics Of the popular mind. He un-
derstands how to turn to his advan-
tage every current Of public sentiment
how to use for his own purposes every
passing phase Of public interest. To
him the nationwide absorption In the
high cost of food and clothes and
shelter offers an easy and conven.
lent means to distract attention from
his performances in Paris and to
cover up the methods he employed,
the sacrifice of American well being
he proposed or assented to, to save
his League Of Nations in the Peace
Conference. President WILSON be.
lieves, and acts on his belief. that
the American public thinks only
Of one thing at time and forgets
easily. He has confessed that his own
mind Is only a single track mind he
pursues his campaign for the League
of Nations on the theory that his fell
low countrymen are equipped with
similar primitive and restricted men,
tai endowments.
We shall not say President WILSON
seeks to draw a herring across the
trail when in the midst of the strug-
gle over the terms of the Peace Treaty
he displays such a sudden, though be-
lated, solicdtude over the high cost of
living for which he is responsible. That
issue is too great for such a COMPARE
son. 1t might better be likened to
some monster OF the deep as large as
the whale. But even n school of fish
as large as the largest whales, drawn
never so artfully across the trail of
President WILSON'S diplomacy, could
not destroy the scent OF his foreign
enterprises.
First and foremost among the cele-
brated Fourteen Points or Principles
to which President WILSON 80 fire.
quently reverts. and which according
to his adherents constitute the back
bone Of his policy, Is that one which
provides as follows:
"open covenants OF peace, openly
arrived at"
How frequently and consistently
President WILSON has ignored this
primary and unequivocal Point or
Principle, not only In his dealings with
the people Of his own country but
In his informal conversations with
and formal official addresses to the
Senate of the United States, which
under our Constitution shares with
him the treaty making power Of the
nation, is notorious. Afioat or ashore,
in Washington as in Paris, conceal
ment, obscurity and secrecy have
marked his conduct of official affairs.
His discussions have been carried on
in whispers inaudible sometimes even
to those ostensibly addressed by him.
His open covenants have been sealed
and triple bound with brass against
impartial scrutiny. And now we have
on the authority Of one OF President
WILSON'S most earnest supporters the
charge that he is striving to keep the
record Of his transactions in Paris
shut against the Senate and the people
Of the United States at the moment
when Senators in fulfilment of their
sworn duty are seeking for their guild
ance all the light they can get on the
genesis and growth Of the treaty Pres
ident WILSON has peremptorily or
dered them to ratify. The charge IL
contained In a message from Paris 70
our neighbor tho Times. which that
able Journal printed on Sunday IN a
conspicuous position:
PARIS, August Among the doc
uments received by the Conference
Commission Is a note from Premier
cLEMENcEAu. transmittit ia a despatch
from President wnsoE asking CLE-
MEScEAU to postpone the publica-
ton OF the notes OF the Peace Con-
ference deliberations"
Obviously Premier CLEMEScEAu
and his confreres are considering the
proprtety and adyisabillty of making
public the notes on the Peace Confer