Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-10-04
WILSON GR|EVED
BY D|S|LLUS|ON
Descent From Exaltation to De-
preston Reacts Un-
favorably
HURT BY SENSELESS HATE
BY CLINTON w. GILBERT
stan Correspondent Of the Evening Public
Ledger

stan Correspondent Of the Evening Public
Ledger
Washington, Oct. 4.--President Will
son is described MS slightly better to-
day. There will be n further consulta =.
! ton of physicians during the day, prob
lnblv as set forth in this correspondence
! with reference to his organic soundness.
! Slight changes in his health from day
! to day, whether for better or worse,
| are not of especial significance. The
| most hopeful sign will be the resump-
ton Of exercise by the patient. 1t win
Indicate confidence in tho fundamental
soundnesS of Wilson'S organs.
The difficulty with Mr.. Wilson is
probably that he has suffered pro
found disappointment. He has said
nothing about his disillusionmcnt unless
the extreme speeches he made upon his
recent western trip indicated an effort
to derive support from the crowds that
welcomed him and bolster up his conf
dence by overstatement
Only once the world caught glimpse
of Mr.. Wilson's suffering when his
plans went wrong. and that was during
tue war, WItll .NNSlliu SuuutH EtNt-
lation that she was entirely under the
control of Berlin and that his attempt
to drive wedge between the Hapsbnrgs
and Hohenzolerns was so much wasted
breath, wrung from him cry that he
was utterly disillusioned.
From Exahation to Depression
Those who arc IN contact with him
now say that his present disappoint-
mcnt is profound, and that he has
come to feel that the whole world Is
against him This is not any imagina-
tion Of conspiracics. but the depression
of man who is worn out by long
strain and heartsick over the results.
Nervous exhaustion following tremcn-
dous efforts that have been triumphant
is easily cured But nervous exhaust
ion following similar efforts that have
ended in disappointment is harder to
treat. The encouragement makes re-
building slow.
President Wilson has gone in the
course of few months from a state
of great exatation TO a state of de-
preston. William Allen White, in the
Saturday Evening Post, describes the
mental attitude of the Americans who
twent to Paris as that of men who had
set out ION the high emprise of a
short hike to the millennium"
No one realized it was that, stated
in those words. For every American
took seriously the great change in the
hearts of men that would ensue from
the publication of the war and from
I af tto
tions. There is little doubt that the
President was filled with this great
hope, that he was carried away by the
| excitement of his own great crusade.
While he was fighting for his League.
Mr.. Wilson was sustained at Paris
His great reception by the people and
his own fnith in his league kept up his
courage and confidence until his return
to Paris after his visit to this country
in February.
Disillusionment Comes
! From that time on what happened M
Paris was steady disillusionmcnt. The
French and British played old fash
ioned balance of power politics and
wrung from him concession after con-
cession which was obviously consistent
with better world
| The secret treaties backed him at eyery
turn. And the small powers set I'M in
eastern Europe began playing the old
sort of Balkan politics. encouraged by
Frances efforts to knit them into an
anti German and an anti Russian COM
blnatlon, and then to a general anti
German, anti Russian combination, of
which she and England were the active
and we We're silent acquiescent
portion.
The millennium had not come ana
when Mr.. Wilson returned to this
country he was changed man. His
old confidence was gone. This was ap-
parent in his relations to individual
senators more than in his relation to
the Senate as whole. After his return
a sensitive nature like his could not
fail to perceive the great drop in the
mental temperature of the people. When
he went away men were bent upon the
high emprise" of, which Mr.. White
talks. When they came back they were
colo, appraising in sharp Yankee fash
ion, the value of what the emprise had
brought them. Not the slightest illu-
sion remained in the body polite. And
a temperament like Mr.. Wilson'S takes
fire from the minds of the masses and is
chilled by their coldness.
Sensed Personal Hatred
Then came the struggle with the Sen
ate which he had formerly dominated,
hard thing for proud man. And
in that struggle he encountered some
thing more than Coldness, an actual
personal hatred, not confined TO the pol
iticians, but more or less diffused among
the people, minority of the people but
still very active minority.
This hatred was not new thing, but
it came to have an Importance in the
life of a man overstrained and suffer
ing from considerable disillusionment.
1t probably contributed to the feeling
that the whole world was against him.
1t was perhaps only straw, but it was
an added one in the burden the Presi
dent was supporting, the great strain
of reaction from a long period of mental
exaltation, q
This hatred of Mr.. Wilson is plainly
in evidence at the Capitol. You can
a not talk to senator without discover
d ing the anti Wilson complex. 1t is so