Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-05-04
Woodrow Wilson
AS KNOW HIM
BY JOSEPH P. TUMULTY.

friends only confirmed the opinion
that the opposition to the treaty was
growing and could not be overcome
by personal contact of any kind be-
tween the president and members Of
he foreign relations committee.
1t is plain now, and will be palmer
as the years elapse, that the Repub:
!ican opposition to the league was
primarily partisan politics and
rooted personal dislike Of the chief
}roponent of the league. Mr.. Wilson.
His reelection in 1916, the first re-
lection of an incumbent Democratic
PRESIDENT since Andrew Jackson, had
,reatly disturbed the Republican
.aaders. The prestige of the Repub'
can party was threatened by this
Democratic leader. His reception In
europe added to their distress. For
he sake of the sacred cause OF he
publicanism this menace OF DeIlo-
cratic leadership must be destroyed 4
even though in destroying it the
leaders should swallow their own
words and reverse their own former
positions on world adjustment.
An attempt was made by enemies
of the president to give the impress
sion to the country that an assocla-
ton of nations was one Of the TOOL
ideas" of Woodrow Wilson: that in
making it part Of lis fourteen
points, he was giving free rein to
his idealism. AS a matter of fact,
the idea did not originate with Wood
row Wilson. If it's American origin
were traced it would be found that
the earliest supporters of the idea
were Republicans.
I remember with what reluctance
the president accepted the invitation
of the League to Enforce Peace, ten
dered by Mr.. Taft, to deliver an ad-
dress on May 27, 1916, at the New
Willard hotel, Washington, meet
ing at which one of the principal
speakers was no less a parsonage
than Senator Henry Cabot Lodge,
with Mr.. Taft presiding. For many
months the president had been re-
volving this idea in his mind and
for long time he was reluctant to
accept any invitation that would
seem to give approval to the idea.
He patiently waited to make COM
,plete survey of the whole world stu
alton to be convinced that the per-
manent participation of the United
States in world affairs was a neces-
sity if peace was to be secured.
Conserving to Discuss Peace
1t was not an easy thing to draw
the president away from the tradi-
tional policy of aloofness and isola-
ton which -',~-'~ IT orized the at
titude of the United States in all
international affairs. But the invita-
ton to discuss universal peace,
urged upon the president by EXPIRES
ident William H. Taft, was finally &C
cepted.
In that speech he said: 1--WE are
participants, whether we would or
not, in the life of the world, and the
interests of all nations are our own;
henceforth there must be a common
agreement for a common object, and
that at the heart of that common
object must lie the inviolable rights
of peoples and Of mankind. We be-
lieve these fundamental things:
First, that every people has right
to choose the sovereignty under
which they shall live. Second, that
the small states Of the world have
right to enjoy the same respect
for their sovereignty and for their
territorial integrity that great and
powerful nations expect and insist
upon. (This idea was substantially
embodied in Article Ky And, third,
that the world has a right to be free
from every disturbance of it's peace
that has it's origin in aggression and
disregard of the rights of people and
nations"
These statements were uttered in
the presence Of Senator Lodge and
applauded by Mr.. Taft and his Re
publican associates gathered at the
banquet.
The president, continuing his ad-
dress, then gave expression to his
views regarding the means to at
tain these ends. He was convinced
that there should be an universal
association of the nations to main.
tain the inviolate security of the
highway of the seas for the common
use Of all nations of the world, and
to prevent nay war begun either
contrary to treaty agreements or
without warning and full submits
sion of the causes to the opinion Of
the world-a virtual guarantee of
territorial integrity and political in.
And he ventured to
assert, in the presence Of Senator
Lodge, who afterward became the
leader Of the opposition to these
very ideas, that the United States
is willing to become a partner in
any feasible association Of nations
formed in order to realize these OBJ
jects and made them secure against
violation"
Belief in League of Nations
Woodrow Wilson believed that
the League of Nations was the first
attempt to prevent war by
in the open and not be-
hind closed doors or within the
clustered retreats of European di-
plomacy. To him the League Of Ma
tons was the essence Of Christianity.
Yet when he took up the advocacy
Of the League Of Nations, Senator
Lodge, the spokesman Of the Re
publican party at the dinner Of the
League to Enforce Peace, became
the leader in bitter opposition to it.
Senator Lodge, at this very din
ner, on May 81, 1916, delivered the
following address:
81 know, and no one, think, can
know better than one who has served
long in the senate, which is charged
with an important share Of the rat
ification and confirmation Of all
IL Il