The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1922-01-20
4 oHRIsrMAs,CARD TO WOODROW
WILSON, $780,, -

Green" appearing on the editorial
page of the New York Evening Post
has commenced a series of Christmas
cards He began with one addressed
to Woodrow Wilson. 1t is remarkable
tribute. Mr.. Morley says:
AS the Christmas season approaches,
it sits heavily upon our mind that
there are some to whom we should
like to say a word of respectful admi-
ration First Of these is Woodrow Will
son. This. you may think. is a gesture
both irrelevant and impertinent on
our part. We cannot help it. We feel,
as the Friends say, concern. The
conjunction of The Christmas month
the conference on limitation of arm
amcnts, the hopes and memories If all
honest men, Mr.. Wilson's coming
birthday lakes the occasion irresis-
.tibEe There al" some things tina; must
be said.
Woodrow Wilson has found the
peace he sought. Never before, per-
haps. did a public man enjoy such
posthmuous privilege in his own life
time He has joined lin MelvilPs noble
phrase) THE choice hidden handful Of
the divine inert" This phrase requires
to Mr.. Wilson, but to inertia. Silence,
thought withdrawal from the madden
ing struggles of mankind-these are
divine; :chese are godlike. If there ever
were anv doubt as to his having quail
ties of true greatness. consider the
patience and decency OF his present
silence. 1t is a silence, one feels. not OF
bitterness but of honorable dignity.
Sometimes. tucked away in the pa
reIs. one finds a single line or Sc nat
gives us more to ponder than all the
rest OF the days news. Such an item
was the following, quoted laEtIV ny
Mr.. Tumulty as having been SAID by
Mr.. Wilson to one of his advisers @t
the Paris conference: IN. Clemenceau
called me d Dro-German and abruptly
left the room" They said this man was
impatient and stubborn. Yet he endrr-
ed insult calmly in the pursuit IF his
strangely hored-for peace.
The poSt-Armistice career OF Mr..
Wilson has been called a tragedy. We
do not see it So The Paris conference
it is easy to see it nOw-WaS fore
doomed 30 a certain measure OF fail
ure. Cn sand one puts up tent, not
house Moreover. in so far as the
conference is concerned Mr.. Wilson
has suffered double fatality. He has
lever snoken candidly for himself;
he has been unfortunate in those who
have spoken for him. 1t has been tie
habit of those naif and Loyalty aftec-
tionate souls who have been closest
to him to assume us of his SubUlety
ard quicksilver craft. We cannot see
it. He has seemed to us, always, man
of genuine simplicity-what would
have been called, at one time. a right
eous man.
1t is an odd thing that when you say
character is rooted in simplicity and
Ipietx some will conclude that you are
sneering. His character is 4 great
character. Those Influences which
shake and unsettle mems fibre more
than ANYTHING else it has endured i'll
full Observation-Disclosures and hatred.
The anger and mockerv which were
layished upon Wilson are Interesting
to contemplate. But so far as one can
see. they did not trouble that stubborn
zeal. There was CrOmWellian GRIM
ness and singleness of heart in his
battle with Europe. You rememer what
Cromwell said Of Carlyle can be
trusted as q l6DOIteIJ.
Would we have peace with worm,
lay we Foundations of Justice and
Righteousness.
For that he struggled, burdening
himself beyond human strength. For
.nat he compromised. as all men do.
For that he incurred the malice of all
2Spirants-bOth the pure and the i'm
pure
1t is amazing to remember the pow
er and depth of than malice. In a per-
verse WaY, it is almost encouraging TO
remember it, it proves so eXcellently
that this earth is still the fallen star.
the cindered Eden, in which merely
human failings incur more than hui
man Anglers. What a gruesome life that
of politics must be. And yet when in our
recent history, We're more positive vir-
tues and high-minded hopes brought
into the muddled ferment OF national
politics? Do you remember how this
man lay at deaths door for many sill
ent months, and how i'll suppressed
were the satisfaction and the sheer?
What was his crime? We used to Won
der. Only that he had believed the
world was ripe for some strokes of
simplicity and unselfishness.
Little by little the minds of fair
hearted men are returning to realiza-
ton and gratitude There is nothing
now accomplished, in matters of in
ternational dealing, that Woodrow
Wilson was not fighting for three
years ago. The .granolithic minds of
the old stand-patters and the luxuri-
Gus shifts of young hot dOctrinaries
formed for a while a quaint partner
ship of scorn. Nor would we ourselves
deny chat there were many things to
lament. But the world still waits for
competent, understanding and judi
cial expression of Woodrow Wilson's
service to men. 1t was not a perfect
service. tor it was married by neces-
sary mortal blunders and qualms. For
that perhaps we reverence ii the more
And when the Just tribute comes. per-
haDS it Will come from the hand of
some great writer to whom the pueril-
tiles of partisan squabble fade into
their reserved shadow: to whom the
humor and the pathos will be evident:
and most evident of all, the dignity
and auSterity of a great human hope,
frustrated and postponed. but an addi-
tinn RI thn hnnnr gft