New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-07-03

W1hyS summed up the PreetdentS t06OrS
an behalf of peace in the following Ian
guage:
Generations yet unborn will look back
to this era and pay their tribute of
honor to the man who led people
through troublous ways out of the val
leys of selfshness up to the mountain
tops of achievement and honor. and
there showed them the promised land of
freedom and safety and fraternity
Whether history records that they en-
tered in or turned their backs upon the
vision, it is all one with him-he is
immortal
A young British Liberal, John Mou-
nard Keynes, Who attended tho sessions
Of the peace conference at Paris as
representative of the British Treasury,
g0ve the folto,ving description of Presi-
dent Wilson IN the Council of -Four.
These extracts are taken from Mr..
keynes's volume, "The Economic Conse-
quences Of the Peace,' published bu Hor-
court, Brace G. Howe:
The Presidents program for the
world, as set forth in his speeches and
his notes, had displayed a spirit and a
purpose so admirable that the last de-
sire of his sympathizers was to criti-
CHE details-the details, they felt. were
quite rightly not filled in at present,
but would be in due course. It was
commonly believed at the commencement
of the Paris Conference that the Prcsi-
dent had thought out, with the aid of
large body of advisers, a comprehensive
scheme not only for the League of Ma
tons, but for the embodiment of the
fourteen points in an actual treaty of
peace.
But in fact the President had thought
out nothing; when it came to practice
his ideas were nebulous and incomplete.
He had no plan, no scheme, no con-
structive ideas whatever for clothing
with the flesh of life the commandments
which he had Numbered from the White
House. He could have preached a SER
mon on any of them or have addressed
stately prayer to the Almighty for
their fulfilment; but he could not frame
their concrete application to the actual
state Of Europe.
He not only had no proposals in de-
tail, but he was in many respects, per-
haps inevitably, ill-informed as to Eu-
ropean conditions. And not only was he
ill-informed-tha was true of Lloyd
George also-but his mind was slow and
UNACCEPTABLE. The Presidents slowness
among the Europeans was noteworthy
He could not, all in minute, take in
what the rest were saying, size up the
situation with a glance, frame reply,
and meet the case by q slight change of
ground; and he was liable, therefore, to
defeat by the mere swiftness, apprehen-
sion and agility of d Lloyd George
There can seldom have been a statesman
of the first rank more incompetent than
the President in the ABILITIES of the
council chamber.
A moment often arrives when substan-
tial victory is yours if by some slight
appearance of concession you can
save the face Of the opposition or con-
ciliate them by restatement of your
proposal helpful to them and not in
furious to anything essential to your
self. The President was not equipped
with this simple and usual artfuness
His mind was too slow and unresource-
full to be ready with any alternatives
The President was capable Of digging
his toes in and refusing to bulge, as he
mode Of defense. and 1t needed as rule