Evening star., 1924-03-23

to embrace the Wilson --idealism,
chiefly because their own people were
not in the mood to be kind to the enemy
who had given no quarter and had
Waged a relentless and ruthless bat
tie on helpless men, women and
children - non-combatants ON land
and sea. Undoubtedly Mr.. Wilson's
views were those of the far-seeing
statesman-they were the terms of
dtspassionate Judgment, not of anger
or prejudice. But it was a material
1st1c atmosphere which Woodrow
Wilson encountered on his arrival in
Europe at the head of the American
peace mission.
People everywhere cheered him. I
shall never forget the triumphal
drive of President Woodrow Wilson
down the Champ d'Elysee of Paris
or the fanatical welcome given him
in the streets of Rome or the spon-
taneous outburst. of the people of
London and Manchester.
A Manufactured Public Opinion.
Mr.. Wilson thought he had won
public opinion to his side 1t was
true-for a while. What Mr.. Wilson
did not realize was that public opinion
in Europe is not made as it is in
America by the newspapers, but solely
by the officials in power and the pro-
fessional cliques who. control parlia-
as President Wilson began to inter
pose objections to the plans of the al
lied peacemakerS the press was
turned against him with the simple
ease that one lights match to a fire
Liberal opinion in Europe stood by
Woodrow Wilson, but it was helpless.
The French press, guided by the
French government, and particularly
Monsieur Clemenceau and his col
leagues, kept up a constant lombard
ment of the Wilson policies. The
French newspapers were convinced
they were acting for the best interests
of France and that Mr.. Wilson's plans
would mean insecurity. President
Wilson agreed to many of the allied
proposals even though he would have
phraSed them otherwise if they had
been given to him alone to decide.
The defects he accepted, however, be-
nations would be a continuing peace
conference, revising constantly the
mistakes of the treaty and modifying
those provisions which in actual prae-
tice might work hardship.
So President Wilson staked all to
get the league of nations established.
The French were won over to the
league idea only because of a belief
that the International organization
would be supplied with an army and
enforce the treaty. When Mr.. Wilson
refused to accept the idea of an inter-
national police force some of the
allied statesmen. particularly the
Conflicting Views Of League.
To one who was an eyewitness in
Paris during the peace conference and
who later watched at close range the
debates in the United States Senate
over the meaning of the league of
nations, nothing could be more con-
Trajectory than the two situations.
who was fighting almost the entire
allied group in constituting a league
Iof nations which would not be an
interference with the sovereignty of
ANY. Signatory power, but an advisory
body through which all the nations
could act Independently or jointly if
they desired In the Senate, however
the league proposal was hailed as a
supergovernment and a surrender of
American sovereignty.
There was time when the French
press criticized MIR. Wilson's refusal
to go along with the allied plans for
a strong league of nations. backed by
that the republicans in the United
States would certainly support the
French militaristic idea. 1t was in
teresting, indeed, to see the French
press completely out of tune with
what the republican party in the
United States was actually seeking to
accomplish, and it was not until
many months after Mr.. Wilson re-
turned to America that Europe saw
at last that the republican party was
drifting toward policy of isolation,