Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-05-27
VOICES VIEW
AT DINNER TO
BRAZIL HEAD
Is Glad He Is Finishing
Instead of Starting
Upon Presidency.

Paris, May 27.-"It is very
delightful, for one thing, if l
may say so, to know that my
presidency Is not ahead Of me
and that his presidency is
ahead of him." said President
Wilson at the dinner given DIR.
EpitaciO Pessoa, president-elect
Of Brasi, by the Pan-Ameri-
>Ncan e delegations last
Hight.
THE honor has been accorded
ME-" President Wilson said, "of
making the first speech tonight,
and l am very glad to avail myself
of that privilege. l want to say
that l feel very much at home in
this company, though after all ]
suppose no one of us feels thor
oughly at home except on the other
side of the water. We all feel in a
very real sense that we have a
common home, because we believe
in the atmosphere of the same con-
ceptions, and 1 think, with the same
political ambitions and principles.
Presidency Weighs Heavily.
II am particularly glad to have
the opportunity of paying my re-
spects to Mr.. Pessoa- 1t is very
delightful, for one thing, if 1 may
say so, to know that my presidency
is not ahead of me and that his
presidency is ahead of him. 1
wish him every happiness and ev-
cry success with the greatest earn
estness, and yet I cannot. il 1 may
Judge by my own experience, ex-
pect for him a very great exhilara-
ton in the performance of the du-
ties of his office, because, after all,
to be the head of an American
state is a task of unrelieved re-
sponsibility.
Must Speak for People.
American constitutions as a
rule, put so many duties of the
highest sort upon the president,
!, sid SO much of the responsibility
of affairs of state is centered upon
him, that his years of office are apt
to be years a little weighted with
anxiety, a little burdened with the
sense of the obligation of speaking
for his people, speaking what they
really think and endeavoring to &C
complish what they really desire.
"I suppose no more delicate task
is given any man than to interpret
the feelings and the purposes of a
great people. I know that if may
sneak for myself, the chief anxiety
l have had has been to be the true
interpreter of a nation spirit. ex-
pressing no private and peculiar
views, but trying to express the
general spirit of a nation.
Would Accept Americas Ideas.
"And a nation looks to its presi-
dent to do that; and the comrade-
ship of an evening like this does
Not consist merely of the sense of
neighborhood. We are neighbors.
We have always been friends. But
that is all old. Something new
has happened am not sure that
I can put it into words, but there
has been added to the common
principles which have united the
Americans. time out of mind. a
feeling that the world at large has
accepted those principles, that
there has gone a thrill of hope and
of expectation throughout the ma
tions of the world which somehow
seems to have it's source and foun-
dation in the things we always be-
lieved in. 1t is as if the pure wa
ters of the fountain we had always
drunk from had now been put to
the lips of all peoples, and they
have drunk and were refreshed
"And it is a delightful thought
TO believe that these are fountains
which sprang up out of the soil of
the Americas. I am not, of course.
suggesting or believing that polit-
icaI liberty had its birth in the
American hemisphere, because of
course. it had not, but the peculiar
expression of it characteristic OF
the modern time, that broad re-
nublicanism. that genuine feeling
and practice Of democracy that is
Incoming characteristic of the
modern world, did have its origin
in America; and the response
of the peoples of the world to this
new expression is, we may per-
hans pride ourselves, a response
10 an American Su6SCSlAOh'
Must Set the Example.
.S>TIf that is true we owe the world
a peculiar service. If we origlnat-
ed great practices we must our
selves be worthy lof them. 1 re-
member not long ago. attending a
very interesting meeting which
was held in the interest of COM
bining Christian missionary effort
throughout the world; | mean
eliminating the rivalry between
churches and agreeing that mis-
sionaries should not represent this,
that or the other church, but rep
resent the general construction
impulse and principle of the world.
l said I was for that thorough
principle, that I hoped that it was
adopted so that inhabitants of the