Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-04-30

paresisl In other words, the fashion and
hysteria of the period which covered
Roosevelt's second term led wise and
| patriotic men to believe sincerely and
declare openly that Roosevelt's radical
and, as it turned out, his successful efforts
to arrest the grossness OF legislative and
corporate corruption-the corporate con-
troll of legislative bodies, the corporate
subscription to corruptly used election
funds, the exploitation by privileged IN
| terests of public franchises, the grant to
great corporations of railway rebates, DC.
were marks of approaching insanity,
of which his intense egotlsm and arbitrary
reliance on his personal Judgment were
we'll recognized symptoms.
So close at hand is this event that men
need not read history or biography to re-
fresh their memories or regret their mis-
takes; but most of lis have to turn to his
tory and biography both to learn similar
lesson from Lincoln and the Civil War,
and all of us have TO do so before we can
be induced to believe that the Great
Father of his Country was during his sec
ond administration almost, If not quite
so much, the victim of the hatred and
contempt of his fellow-men as Wilson
himself.
Indeed, so far as the printed page is
concerned it is hard to match even IN
the unrestrained public press of today
in it's treatment of Wilson the brutality,
insult and viciousness OF the newspaper
attacks upon Washington, who, 1T might
be supposed, had so far won the graft
tude and admiration of his countrymen
as to enshrirae him forever in their af- |
fection and veneration. As for Lincoln,
who preserved the nation which Wash
ington had created can we match IN
Washington's day or in Roosevelts day
or in Wilson's day the sneers and con-
tempt which dogged his footsteps until
the dav of his assassination? To most
readers OF the Education of Henry
Adams" the thrilling chapters are those
which record the experiences OF the
Young private secretary OF the American
Minister TO the Court of st. James dur
ing the terrible years of the Civil War IN
this country, and nowhere can one find
better described the sincerity with which |
the English gentlemen and statesmen
really despised Lincoln.
From many standpoints the antl-NIl- |
son bitterness of today is restrained by |
the fact that Wilson has the record OF |
welI-bred man of the world and by |
his admitted learning as student and |
fame as historian. Lincoln, IN his un-
couthness and his ignorance OF the ways |
and manners of the world, could inter |
pose no such barrier to the avalanche OF |
malice and hatred Which was unremlttlng- |
lv bis portion. But history shows no rec |
election of or concern with the criticisms |
of Washington or Lincoln. Ask MIR. As |
quith. Lord Grey, Lord Bryce or any other |
great English statesman of today for the |
name of the greatest American and he |
will give YOU Lincoln's, and today Iudg- !
ment Of the American people will couple |
Washington's name with Iincoln's and /
stand in hearty agreement. 1T history Is |
not yet prepared to write Roosevelts |
name on the same tablet with Washing i
ton and Lincoln, who doubts that IT will |
some day be written there2
But il Whshington's one track led 20 I
the creation of the nation, and Lin I
coins one track led to its preservation /
from disunion, and Roosevelt's one track /
led TO its second preservation by stop |
ping the corruption OF its governmental /
what terminal point will his
tory say that Wilson's one track has |,
ed? Is it not reasonably probable that
when history is written 1t will concern
Itself little with but one conclusion,
namely, that Wilson was ehosen-by
iod, or, If YOU please, by fate, or by !
evolution-to see to it that
he war did not end without the creation
4 some form of international legal or
.anization around which should revolve,
lnder the leadership of the United States,
bona fde effort to make wars of aggres-
ion difficult and unpopular TO combat the
ool notion that war is a legitimate, If
lot a desirable, "out-of-door sport for
civilization, and to make it as unfashion-
lble SIS public opinion has finally made
he duel. the slave trade, the lottery and
he drunkard--and that he delivered the
FOODS"