The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1921-03-17
MIR. WILSON.

waited to the pedestal on which he
stood during those first weeks OF
the armistice, but he will bulk
big again in the eyes of world
that views him in proper perspec-
tive. For though he failed great
ly he succeeded greatly.
The failure of Mr.. Wilson,
though its consequences have
been disastrous, is only Temporal
ny; his success will be perma-
nent. He wrote the scriptures of
peace-no mean achievement.
and in its hour of fear and an
guish the world accepted them,
only to backslide when the dan
ger seemed over. But the time of
repentance will come again.
The world expected more of
Mr.. Wilson than mortal man
could accomplish 1t is easy to
stand on the side lines and criti-
cize after the event, to say he
should have done this or should
have done that; but granting this
there Is small doubt that the
President could have secured
much more of what he wanted
and what the world needed.
For many of his failures Mr..
Wilson has only President VIII
son to blame. Probably he should |
not have gone to Europe; certain. |
" he should not have stayed
there when he saw how events
were shaping up. A master of sol
itaire, he sat in at poker andl
Clipped his stack away while 9th.
ers at the table played their
hands On his return. having
compromised at almost every
point with Europeans, he refused
to compromise at any point with
Americans.
A better peace and sounderI
terms could probably have beenl
formulated ON the battlefield in
forty-eight hours by a half dozen
Of the men who were the organic
ing and business brains of the
war, men who had no political !
promises to make good and no 5
nap-making theories to try out.
certainly they could have done
10 worse than the conference, ana /.
he world would have been saved !;
'ome years of uncertainty and !
ome billions Of dollars.
To the minds Of professional ?
statesmen the bigness of the war !
meant that there must be a bic !.
'eace, with big commissions. big :
xperts, big expenses, big talk, !
zig scenery and finally al big I !,
ness. But the very bigness Of !,
he things called for simplicity I !;
nd brevity and brevity in the =
taking Of the peace, with later I
nd separate consideration Tor =
he league. Even half a dozen =
BILE men will make mistakes. bur =
o human affair can possibly = =
land the mistakes of such a =
orde Of experts, doctrainaries !;
nd diplomats as worked over the - -
eace Treaty. The present map .
Europe is not only an affront y,
} every one who has learned his - y
geography, but it is a standing y y
enace to the peace of the cont y
mt. Different racial oroups ~ ~
ay live peaceably enough to- ~
'ther, not because there is some ~
agical quality in the air that -
axes for harmony, but because z~'
ey are prospecting economical
A chance to earn a good liy-H
g will more surely make a hap-H
and contented nation than the
ct that every one within its
riders is a direct, though hun
Y, descendent of the original
~ There are more lines than
oial ones to be drawn in map
king.
The failures of the peace are
my and real, but the gospel
It President Wilson preached |
the world still lives and will 4
prove to be its salvation. The
portance of that service should l
be minimized Until in Eu- !
'e, cooperation between the
ltinents, and peace for the
rid is still a theory, but com-
generations will make it a.
t.
Nhe first steamboat, the first
omobile, the first aeroplane
re but weak and ineffective I
ngs failures to be discredit-s
TO be torn apart, to excite rid-
lie and blind opposition. Pres-
Mt Wilson tried his wings and
/, partly through his ownl
1t, through his lack of engi-n
ring knowledge, and partlylE
ough the fault of others; but
had the big idea, and we shall
realize it, not fully in our
e, bgt sufficiently to make the -.