The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1921-03-13
GEN. JAN CHPlSTIAN SHUTS ON
WILSON'S PLACE IN HISTORY"

ing Wfnch tne world situation rapid
ly deteriorated. And then he emery
ed with the Peace Treaty II was not
Il Wilson Peace. and he made a fatal
mistake in somehow giving the i'm
preston that the peace was in ac-
cord 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 van
quished for thousands of years. II
was not Alcestis, 1t was a haggaId
unlovely woman with features dis
torted with hatred, green, and sci.
fIshness, and the little Child that the
Woman carried was scarcely noticed.
Yet il was for the saving of the Child
that Wilson had labored until he was
n physical wreck. Let our other
great statesmen and leaders enjoy
their well-earned honors for their un-
questioned success at Paris To Wood
row Wilson, the apparent failure, be-
longs 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 have done
it. And he did it.
The People, the common people Of
all lands, did not understand the sig
nificance of what had happened
They saw only that hard unlovely
Prussian Peace, and the great Hope
died in their hearts. The great dis,
illusionment took its place. The most
receptive mood for new start the
world had been in for centuries pass
cd away. Faith in their governors
and leaders was largely destroyed, and
the foundations Of human government
were shaken in way which will be
felt for generations. The Paris Peace
lost an opportunity as unique as the
Great War itself. In destroying the
moral idealiSm born of the sacrifices
of the war it did almost as much as
the war itself in shattering the struc.
ture of Western civilization.
And the odium for all this fell
especially on President Wilson. Round
him the hopes had centred; round
him the dtsillusion and despair now
gathered Popular opinion largely
held him responsible for the bltter
disappointment and grievous failure
The Synics scoffed; his friends were
silenced in the universal disappoint.
ment. Little or nothing had been ex.
pected from the other leaders; the
whole failure was put to the accoun,
OF Woodrow Wilson. And finally
America for reasons of her own joined
the pack and at the end il was his
own people who tore him to pieces,
VIII this judgment, born of mo
mentary disillusion and disappoint-
ment, stand in future, or will it 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 eS-
Inmates will depend largely on the in
depreciation of that drama in the
course Of time. AS one who saw and
watched things from the inside 1 ftel
convinced that the present popular
estimates are largely superficial and
will not stand the searching test Of
time. And ! have no doubt whatever
that Wilson has been harshly, un.
fairly, unju,tly dealt with, and that
he has been made a scapegoat for the
sins of others. Wilson made mistakes,
and there were occasions when | ven
tured TO sound u warning note. But
it was not his mistakes that caWed
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 position is
far more serious. II was the human
spirit itself that failed at Paris. II
is no use passing judgment and maxi
ing scapegoats of this or that indi-
Vidual statesman or group OF states.
men. ldealists make q 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 variance with actual results. II
is the realist and not the idealist 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 II was not
the statesmen that failed. 50 much az
the spirit Of the peoples behind them.
The hope. the aspiration for a new
world order of peace and right and
justice--howcve deeply and UNIVERSAL
ly felt-was still only feeble and in
effective in comparison with the domi-
nant national passions which found
their expression 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 |
knew it from within, | feel convinced
In my own mind that not the greatest