Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-10

PRESIDENT. The Peace conference ma
ronc straight on to conclusions, whicl
we're plainly indicated before the famou
gesture" was made. t1f any on
.surrendcrcd" in the final hours 1t wa
ur. Wilson. for the treaty being drafted
,as n slightly more pro French aspcc
han was promised.
That is the summary of the most re
narkable incident Of the Paris confer
nee several weeks after it occurred. A
'cw years from now the incident is moi
.oing to seem important. like DisraeIs
ending for his train for Berlin. which is
ecallcd only by specialists in diplomatic
history, because it changed nothing.
When one of the boys throws down
lis glove, leaves his place i'll the field
ind threatens to stop playing ball and
o home. it is not the boy who is run
ing the game. II is the boy who wants
run the game but cannot. That was
he case with President Wilson. He
lad long ceased to be master of the
'cace Conference.
The list of members of the Peace
Conference is instructive. First ther"
vas Mr.. Wilson up till the time of the
rdoption of the league of nations cove
tant and his return to America. Then
or time Colonel House was the pilot
" the conference. 1t is better to say
,ilot than master in his case. Then
Hr. Wilson came back to Paris, but
lot to control Of the Big Four.
Northcliffe from the south of France.
vhere benignant throat affection has
;ept him, There are things Wilson
ould not tolerate with Northcliffo dom
nation. He remembered Northclitte in
Washington. He sent for his ship.
The sending for the ship brought the
PRESIDENT back into the center OF at
ention, 1t did not restore him to com
napd of the Peace Conference.
The makers of the peace may be com
,ared to men who have contract TO
mild a mill on the banks of the river.
few hundred yards above the mill Is
dam impounding great volume OF
.vster. The mill is completed. except
.or n few shingles on the roof, when
rord comes that the dam has broken
md everything in the valley will be
went away. If the contractor can get
N those last few shingles they will be
bile to collect for their work. They
re rushing to drive the last nails be
ore the food sweeps all away.
One of the men welding a hammer
s the contractor himself, big man in
he industrial world. but in the face of
he tremendous force roaring down the
alley you lose your sense of commercial
The contractor with the
,ammer in hand is just one Of the gang
T. w6rkmen.
Wilson Loses Leadership
Il has been so with Mr.. Wilson. Ever
ince Europe began to be gravely afraid
" bolshevism in Russia and in Ger
many, MFR. Wilson has just been one of
he gang hammering out peace treaty,
in individual like Lloyd George,
Orlando and the japanese
whose name no one remembers. no more.
10 less. These ''leaders" have been
mere human beings in the face of forces
hey did not understand or could not
,ontrol.
The truth is Europe took Wilson too
Ieriously at first perhaps America did,
90. 1t took him at his word. 1t took
lin for the man who was going to end
I'll war and cure all the ills of the
world. And it is correspondingly un-
lust to him now. You hear among the
COMMON people of France such cx
,rcssions as these: II detest Wilson,"
.Your President is a boche. Wilson
q planning to make an alliance with
Germany to fight France in the next
var" "It is Wilson who has kept
France from getting the money from
Germany to pay the costs of the war;"
In every case I am quoting words 7
have heard myself. 1t is uuinformed
French opinion. it is true, but 1t was
equally uniformed French opinion that
nailed him on his arrival as the savior
IF mankind.
Wilson Not Superhuman
What has happened is that Europe
wanted n superman in Wilson. 1t be-
ieved he was superman, and now it
las learned that he is only man. one
Who cannot wipe out by any stroke of
magic the heavy costs of war which lie
ipon the masses of every nation on this
tide the Atlantic and fill the world with
J sense of disquict, one who was Just
~ blind before the volcanic upheaval
II the lower classes of society that we
all bolshevism as was every other man
n Paris, oneNssAo could not. after all,
70 organize the world as to prevent war
n the future and, indeed one who could
rot keep war from springing up under
his very eyes in all parts of eastern
Europe.
IL is disappointed. And American
correspondents here are disappointed.
Their imaginations were superheated by
The idea of an American president
going 10 Europe and running" a
peace conference, They. too. wanted
A superman. And Mr.. Wilson proved
quite ordinary. The conference backed
and filled and did not know its own
mind. The President had only pros
pectus of millennium when he arrived
he had no practical plans. He lost con
troll Of the Peace Conference. The
power the Allies had over Germany was
frittered away. Public i'm
,pe so small as not to have contempt
Icr the Peace Conference.
Wilson was at the lowest ebb of his
sfestige when he summoned the George
The reaching Of sub
'<antial agreement among the Paris
ronferees helped to restore respect for
ne congress and with 1t, for Wilson.
|tuf the first experiment of an American
coming 30 Europe personally
IA ,oarticipate in A Peace Conferences