The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1922-06-09
WILSON'S LAST APPEAL
FOR WORLD PEACE

WOTlu war treaty as 1fd'HCd III lhiIs
but rejected in the wisdom of The
United States senate, President Will
son made perhaps the most rem ark
able speech Of his life almost immed-
lately after which he was stricken.
That was at Pueblo, Colorado. He
secretary, Mr.. Tumuity, Laas thi"
peech in his book, Woodl1" Wilson
as Knew Him, recently published,
making the following references 10
the occasion and the Ecn:
Many thin9s in connection with the
Pueblo meeting impre ssed themsolTts
upon me. In the perOration Of the
speech he drew picture Of his visit
on Decoration day, 1919, to what he
called beautiful hillside near Paris,
of Suresnes, q cemetery given over 70
the burial Of American dead. As ne
spoke of the purposes for which those
departed American sollers had given
their lives, great wave of emotion,
such as | have never witnessed at a
public meeting, swept through the
whole ampitheater. As he continued
his speech, | looked at Mrs. Wilson
and saw tears in her eyes. | then
turned to see the effect upon some of
the "hard-boiled" newspaper men, to
whom great speeches were ordinary
things, and they were alike deeply
moved. Down in the ampitheatre /
saw men sneak their handkerchiefs
out of their pockets and wipe the
tears from their eyes. The president
was like a great organist, playing
upon the heart emotions of the thous-
nN1u rF xxnnrIn x.,hD HALL crnl1
bound by what he said.
1t is possible, pray God it may
rot be so, that the speech at Pueblo
was the last public speech that Wood
row Wilson will ever make, and l.,
therefore, take the liberty of intro
ducing into this story the concluding
words of it:
What of the pledges to the men
that lie dead in France? We said
that they went over there not to prove
the prowess of America or her readi-
ness for another war, but TO see to it
that there never was such war
again. 1t always seems to make it
difficult for me to say anything, my
fellow-ceitizcns, when | think of my
clients in this case. My clients are
the children; my clients are the next
generation. They do not know what
promises and bonds l undertook when
ordered the armies of the United
States to the soil of France, but |
know, and | intend to redeem by
| lodges to the children; they shall not
be sent upon similar errand.
Again and again, my fellow-citi-
zens, mothers who lost their sons in
France have come to me and, taking
my hand, have shed tears upon it not
emily, but they have added, "God bless
you, Mr.. Presi1entw Why, my fell
low-citizens, should they pray God to
bless me? | advised the congress of
the United States to create the situa-
ton that led to the death of their
sons. | ordered their sons overseas,
consented to their sons being put In
the most difficult parts of the battle
line, where death was certain, as in
the impenetrable difficulties If the
Forest of Argonne. Why should they
weep upon my hand and call down
the blessings of God upon me? Be-
cause they believe that their bows died
for something that vastly transcends
any of the immediate and palpable
objects of the war They believe, and
they rightly believe, that their sons
saved the liberty of the world. They
believe that wrapped w with the lib
erty of the world is the continuous
protection of that liberty by the con-
certed powers of all the civilized
world, They believe thGt this sacri-
flee was made in order that other
sons should not be called upon for
Il similar gift--the gift of life, the
gifts of all that lied--and if we did
rot see this through, if we fulfilled
the dearest present wish of Germany
and now ASSOCIATED ourselves from
those alongside whom we fought in
the war, would not something Of the
halo so away from the gun over the
nantlepiece, or the sword? Would not
the old uniform lose something of its
Significance These men were crusad-
ers. They were going forth to prove
the might of justice and right. and all
the world accepted them as crusaders,
and their transcen1ent achievement
has made al 1.-The world believe in
America rs ii believes in no other ma
ton organized in the modern world.
There seems to me to stand between
las AMI the rejection or qualification
of this treaty the serried ranks of
those boys in khaki. not only those
boys who came home, but those dear
ghosts that still deploy upon the fields
of France.
My friends, on last Decoration dav
went TO a beautiful hillside near
Earis, where was located the cemetery
gwen over to the burial of the Amer
lean deal Behind me on the slope
was rank upon rank Of living soldiers.