Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-04-19
WAR DECLARATION MARKED
TURNING POINT IN CAREER
OF WILSON AS PRESIDENT

porters in the United States began
a campaign to win public opinion.
Mr.. Wilson feared the consequences,
especially as he saw the inevitable
coalition of the anti-British elements
including certain Irish and the Ger
man-Americans.
The existence of these two groups
the Irish-Americans and the Ger
man-Americans-ga Mr. Wilson
more worry than any phase of the
whole war situation. He did not fail
to recognize how holly flowed the
blood of sympathy IN the veins of
the Germans whose kinsmen were
battling on the western front. Nor
did he blind his eyes to the fact
that the Irish who had waited pa
tiently to be delivered from the Brit
ish crown could not resist the op-
pOrtunity offered them of retalia-
ton in a critical hour.
Two courses of action were open
to Nh. Wilson in an effort to pre-.
serve an equilibrium inside the Unit.
ed States. He believed, for instance,
that the failure of the British gov
eminent to uphold traditional prin-
ciples on the high seas in the rules
trail vessels must not be permitted
to pass without protest. The British
people resented Mr.. Wilson'S notes.
arguing that Great Britain was
fighting 1.-The battle of civilizat alton. ;"
not annoy the British navy with
precedents or legal arguments.
Mr.. Pages Letters
Ambassador Walter Hines Page,
at London, shared the British view
and wrote many emphatic letters to
the president, urging that the Brit
ish be let alone. Mr.. Wilson hoped
in his heart, of course, that the al
lies would win, but for a time he
was of the opinion that such d vic
| tory might be obtained without com.
promisin gthe neutrality of the Unit
| ed States Mr.. Pages letters, many
| of which have been published, re-
vealed that he was constantly try
! ing to bring the United States gov
eminent into a view more sympa-
thetic with his own, and the diff
Guilty which readers of the future
will have in appraising the signifi-
canoe of those epistles is that they
may be read in the light of Amer
lean participation in the war, and
not in the background of the neu-
trality days in which they were
written.
Mr.. Page and President Wilson
We're constantly quarreling with one
another over American policy and
if it is true that the Washington
government did not see eye to eye
with Ambassador Page on what was
happening in Europe. so it is also
tfue<that Ambassador Page did not
appreciate what was happening con-
temporaneously in the United
States.
Different conceptions there are,
to be sure, of what the function
of an American ambassador is or
should be. Under the American
form of government the president of
the United States is charged with
the conduct of foreign policy. With
the guidance of the secretary of
state he formulates principles of
action in conformity with what APP
pears to be public opinion inside the
| United States and not outside. There
are ambassadors who consider them
selves to be not agents Of the Unit
ed States government charged with
the responsibility of executing in
the most tactful manner the instruc-
tons and commands given them by
the president or secretary of state,
but who regard themselves as sec
retaries of state residing abroad
Mr.. Page felt that the Washington
government should follow his recon-
mendations. President Wilson felt
that Mr.. Page should follow the in
structions given him by the Wash
ingtOn government. The controversy
did not become public at the time,
but the author and other newspaper
men were we'll aware Of the friction
and it was commonly reported that
Mr.. Wilson had said of Mr.. Page
that 'he was too pro-British."
British Never Feared L. S.
Living in the London environ
ment, Mr.. Page was tempted to alb
sorb the British Viewpoint. He was
man with the courage of his con-
victions. While he did not believe
at the time that his letters We're
having effect. there is no question