Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1921-03-02

1t was not AIcestis. it was a haggard
Guloveiy woman with features distort
I'd with hatred. greed and seIriahness
and the little Child that the Woman
carried was scarcely noticed Yet it
was for th" saving of the Child tha.
Wilson had IahOred until he was {;
physical wreck. Let otr other great
statesmen and leaders enjoy thei" we'll
I(rncd hon"rs for their uuquevtinned
success at Paris. TO Woodrow Wilson.
the apparent failure belongs the undy-
in= honor. which will grow with the
growing centuries of having saved the
"littI" child that shall lead them yet"
\" other stateman but Wilson could
havc done it. And he did it
The people. tho common people of all
lands. did not understand the Signifi-
cane" of what had happened. They saw
only that hard unlovely PrusSian peace
and the great Hope died in their heart.
tn" Gr"at diSiiIusionmcnt took its
place. The most receptive Eood for q
new start the world had been in for
centuries passed away. Faith in their
governors and leaders was largely de-
stroy"d. and the founda tons of human
government were shaken in "a way
which will he felt for generations. The
Paris p"ac" lost an opportunity
iqH" as the great war itself. In destroy
ing the moral idealism born of the sac
rific"$ of war it did almost much
TIE war itself in shatterinG the struc-
turo of western civilization.
And the ociium for ~ This '"t' %.
p"ciaIly on President Wilson. Round
him the hopes; had centcred: round him
the diSilluSion and despair now gath
'rcG. Popular opinion largely held hir'
"csponsiblc for the bitter diSaDpoint
mrnt and gri"vOuS failure. The cynic'
4coffcd: his friends were siIcnce'l il tn
universal disappointment. Little o."
nothing had been expected from tn"
Dther leaders: the whole failure
out to the account of Woodrow WiiSo:
And finally America for reasons he'
own joined the pack and at the end it
was his own people who tore him to
pieces.
Will this Judgment. born of r'omen-
tary disiIlusion and disappointment
stand in future. will it be reversed
The time has not come to pass fina
Judgment on either W-son or any o.
fhc other great actors in the drama "a
Paris. The personal estimates will de
rend largely on the Interpretation OF
hat drama in the course of time. A.
me who saw and watched things from
thc inside / feel convinced that the
present popular estimates are !argel"
superficial and will not stand the
searching test of time. And ! have n"
ioubt whatever that Wilson has heer
harshly unfairly unjustly dealt with,
md that he has been made a scapegoat
for the sins of others. Wilson made
mistakes, and there We're occasions
when | ventured to sound warning
lotc But it was not his mistakes that
,auscd the failure for which he has
been held mainly responsible.
Let us admit the truth. however bit
Ter it is to do so for those who believe
II human nature. The positions is ia,
more serious. 1t was the human spirit
itself that failed at Paris. 1t is no us"
passing judgments and making scape-
goats of this or that individual states
man or group of statesmen. Idealist#
| make a great mistake in not facing the
real facts sincerely and resolutely
They believe in the power of the spirit
in the goodness which is at the heart
| Of things in the triumph which is in
| store for the great moral ideals of the
| race But this faith only too OTTER
| leads to an optimism which is sadly
| and fatally at variance with actual re
| suits 1t is the realist and not the
| ideaIist who is generally justified by
events We forget that the human
| spirit, the spirit of goodness and truth
| in the world. is still only an infant
/ crying in the night. and that the struG-
| gle with darkness is as yet mostly an
| unequal struggle.
| Paris proved this terrible truth once
more. 1t was not Wilson who failed
| there. but humanity itself. 1t was no
| the statesmen who failed. so much a.
| the spirit of the peoples behind them.
| The hope. the aspiration for new
| world order of peace and right and JUS
| tice-however deeply and universally Y
| feIt-was still only feeble and ineffec-
| tive in comparison with the dominant
| national passions which found their ex-
| preston in the peace treaty. Even If
| Wilson had been one of the great
demi gods of the human race, he could
not have saved the peace. Knowing the
| peace conference as I knew it from
| within, 1 feel convinced in my own
mind that not the greatest man born
| of woman in the history of the race
would have saved the situation. The