The Washington herald., 1921-03-03
WILSONIAN FALL
WORLD TRAGEDY,
VIEW OF SHUTS
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treaty. 1t was not a Wilson peace,
and he made a fatal mistake in
somehow giving the impression that
the peace was in accord with his
Fourteen Points and his various
declarations. Not so the world had
understood him. This was a punic
peace the same sort OF peace as the
victor had dictated to the vanquished
LOT thousands of years 1t was not
Alcestis; 1t was a haggard, unlovely
woman with features distorted with
natred, greed and selfishness, and
the little child that the woman car
ried was scarcely noticed. Yet It
was Tor the saving of the child that
wilson had labored until he was a
PHYSICAL wreck. Let our other greae
statesmen and leaders enjoy their
weli-earned honors for their un-
questioned success at Paris. To
woodrow Wilson, the apparent fail
ure, belongs the undying honor,
which will grow with the growing
centuries, Of having saved the little
child that shall lead them yet" No
other statesman but Wilson could
nave done it. And he did 1t.
People Did Not Understand.
The people, the common people Of
all lands, did not understand the
significance of what had happened.
They saw only that hard. unlovely
RUSSIAN peace, and the great hope
died in their hearts. The great dis
iilusionment took its place. The
most receptive mood for a new start
the world had been In for centuries
passed away. Faith in their gov
ernors and leaders was largely de-
stToyed and the foundations of the
human government were shaken in
way which will be felt for gen.
erations. The Paris peace lost an
opportunity rs unique as the great
war itself. In stroying the moral
idealism born OF the sacrifices of
the war 1t did almost as much as
the war Itself in shattering the
structure of Western civilization.
And the odium for all this fell
especially on President Wilson.
Round him the hopes had centered;
round him the disillusion and de-
spair now gathered. Popular opin-
ion largely held him responsible for
the bitter disappointment and griev-
Gus failure. The cynics scoffed: his
friends were silenced in the univer-
sal disappointment. Little or moth
ing had been expected from the
other leaders: the whole failure was
put to the account of Woodrow Will
son. And finally America for rea-
sons of her own Joined the pack
and at the end it was his own peo-
pie who tore him to pieces.
Must Wait for Judgment.
will this Judgment. born of mo-
mentary disillusion and disappoint-
ment, stand in future. or will 1t be
reversed? The time has not come
to pass final judgment on either
Wilson or any of the other great
actors in the drama at Paris. The
personal estimates will depend
largely on the Interpretation of that
drama in the course of time. AS
one who saw and watched things
from the inside. 1 feel convinced
that the present popular estimated
are largely superficial and will not
stand the searching test of time.
And / have no doubt whatever that
Wilson has been harshly. unfairly.
unjustly dealt with. and that he has
been made a scapegoat for the sins
OF others. Wilson made mistakes,
and there were occasions when l
ventured to sound a warning note.
But 1t was not his mistakes that
caused the failure for which he has
been held mainly responsible.
Let us admit the truth, however
bitter it is to do so, for those who
believe in human nature. 1t was
not Wilson who failed. The posi-
tion Is far more serious. 1t was the
human spirit itself that failed at
Paris. 1t is no use passing judg-
ments and making scapegoats of
this or that individual statesman or
group of statesmen. Idealists 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 often leads to an optimism
which is sadly and fatally at vari-
ance with actual results.
Says Humanity Failed.
1t is the realist and not the ideal
ist 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 struggle 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 not the statesmen that failed
so much as the spirit of the peoples
behind them. The hope, the aspira-
tion for a new world order OF peace
and right and Justice - however
deeply and universally felt was
still only feeble and ineffective in
comparison with the dominant ma
tional passions which found their
expression in the peace treaty. Even
il 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
l knew it from within. feel con-
vinced in my own mind that not