The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-03-02
Woodrow Wilson's
Place in History
New York Evening POST


Editor Star: The following article
by Gen. J. C. Smuts, premier of the
Union of South Africa, prepared by
him for the New York Evening Post,
is sent to you with the compliments of
the Evening Post. and at the request
of Gen. Smuts for such use as may
suit your needs.
Edwin F. Gay, President,
New York Evening Post, Inc.
Wilson'S Place in History
Pretoria. South Africa, Jan. 8. 1921.
1t has been suggested that / should
write short estimate and appraisal
of the work of President Wilson on
the termination of his presidency of
the United States of America. ] feel
must comply with the suggestion.
feel / may not remain silent when
there is an opportunity to say word
of appreciation for the work of one
with whom / came into close contact
at great period and who rendered
the most signal service to the great
human cause.
There is great saying of Mommsen
G believe) in reference to the close
of Hannibal's career in failure. and
eclipse. "On those whom the gods
love they lavish infinite joys and in
finite sorrows" 1t has come back to
my mind in reference to the close of
Wilson's career. For a few brief mo-
ments he was not only the leader of
the greatest state in the world; he was
raised to far giddier heights and be-
came the center of the worlds hopes.
And then he fell, misunderstood and
rejected by his own people, and his
great career closes apparently in sig
nal and tragic defeat.
What is the explanation of this
tremendous tragedy, which is not sole
| ly American, which closely concerns
the whole world? Of course, there are
purely American elements in the ex-
PLANTATION, which | am not competent
to speak on. But besides the Ameri-
can quarrel with President Wilson
there is something to be said on the
great matters in issue. On these |
may be permitted to say few words.
The position occupied by President
Wilson in the worlds imagination at
the close of the great war and at the
beginning of the peace conference was
terrible in its greatness. 1t was a
terrible position for any mere man to
occupy. Probably to no human being
in all history did the hopes, the pray
ers, the aspirations of so many mill
ions of his followers turn with such
poignant intensity as to him at the
close of the war. At time of the
deepest darkness and despair, he had
raised aloft light to which all eyes
had turned. He had spoken divine
words of healing and consolation to a
broken humanity. His lofty moral
idealism seemed for moment to dom
mate the brutal passions which had
torn the old world asunder. And he
was supposed to possess the secret
which would remake the world on
fairer lines. The peace which Wilson
was bringing to the world was expect
: ed to be Gods peace. Prussianism
. lay crushed; brute force had failed
, utterly. The moral character of the
, universe had been most signally vim
dicated. There was universal vague
; hope of great moral peace, of new
world order arising visibly and i'm.
mediately on the ruins of the old. This
: hope was not mere superficial senti
, ment. 1t was the intense expression
r mt the end of the war of the innel
: moral and spiritual force which haC
E upborne the peoples during the darl
{ night of the war and had nerved then
2 to an effort almost beyond human
a strength. Surely, surely, God haC
e been with them in that long night o.
e agony. His was the victory! Hi
: should be the peace. And Presiden
e Wilson was looked upon as the man t.
: make this great peace. He had voice.
:, the great ideals of the new order; hi
: great utterances had become the con
f tractual basis for the armistice an,
; the peace. The idealism of Wilson
would surely become the reality of tn
new order of things in the peac
t treaty.
?. In this atmosphere of extravagant
It almost frenzied expectation he arriv