Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-02-25

tnat MI. wilson is WITHIN, quietly
waiting for him to come out. There
will be fifty, hundred, even some
times a thousand.
They cheer him as he passes, and
there are often chokes in the
cheers, and always tenderness.
Why do they do it? Nothing more
instructive, more implanted, goes
on in Washington. Let it be known
that he is in his seat in theater,
aand the whole house will rise in
homage. Let his face be thrown
on the screen, and it will draw a
greeting that the face of no other
living American receives. And that
is not true in Washington alone.
Why should the vast throng that
packed Pennsylvania avenue from
end to end on Arrnistice Day have
stood reverently, with heads barred
in silence as the bier Of the Un-
known Soldier passed, attended by
all the official greatness Of the
moment-the president, his cabinet,
the supreme court, the house, the
senate, the diplomatic corps, Per-
shing, Foch--why should this great
crowd have watched in silence I'M
til, quite unexpectedly, carriage
far down the line came to view?
Why should this crowd, uncon-
scious of what it was doing, have
broken into a low cry Of sympathy
and grief: There's Wilson,. The
cry flew down the long avenue.
They saw him as the man who
had called into service the boy they
honored,, who had put the wonder
full light in his eye, that light Of
which a great French surgeon said !:
"The American soldier is different
from all others. / don't know what
it is, whether it is God, the Monroe
doctrine, or President Wilson; but
he has something in his eye" Yes,
Wilson's place was by the dead sol
der, and the people knew it, and
told him so by their unconscious
outburst.
Woodrow Wilson means some
thing to the people of the United
States; something profound, some
thing they cannot forget. People
think Of him now as the man who
was behind the inspiration of their
greatest moments; who stirred
them to fresh understanding Of
the meaning of words that had be-
come mere patter on many tongues
democracy" union" He made
them realities, personal, deep
showed them as the reason of all
that is good in our present. all that
is hopeful in our future, the work
ing basis on which men may strive
to liberty of soul and peaceful
achievement He made them liter
ally things to die for, lifting all of
our plain, humble thousands who
never knew applause or wealth or
the honor Of office into the ranks
of those who are willing to die for
an ideal-the highest plane that hui
mans reach. ".........
People are thinking, also, of his
work in that after-war period when
the hate, revenge, and bitterness
that war has loosed have none Of
the restraints that war compels,
and we must, by reason and good
will and patience, restore our con-
trols-that terrible period we
speak of as reconstruction. There
too he kindled enthusiasts. Now"
he said, 'let us do what men have
long dreamed-give to each people
its chance, cut down the foolish
barriers Of trade, limit our arma-
ments, enter into a union of all ma
tons pledged to cooperation and
peace"
The peoples Of the earth rallied
to his plan, pledged themselves.
And then the loosed passions be-
gan their war on him. Those who
wanted peace and believed it easy;
those who hated peace and believed
it impossible; those who envied his
place, differed with his judgments,
failed of his favor-these and many
more joined in an attack such as
few men have ever faced in the his
tory of this earth. He fought to a
finish, that he might secure the
pledge of the nations to the ideal of
world cooperation.
He won-won with the peoples
Of the world, if not with all of
their governments. They look to
him as the man who drove that
ideal SO deep into the soul Of the
nations that no man or men can
ever destroy it. It has become an
asset of tormented humanity, a pos
slble WaV out Of S1a11Ghter and