Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1924-02-08
WOODROW WILSON.

great CiblZen anu ieduef- NOOu-
row Wilson, former President Of
the United States.
The following excerpts from the |
Baltimore News portrays as well |
as anything that has been writ
ten, the true man
Only the passions engendered
by war could have Embossed the
animosities that beat about ,
Woodrow Wilson during the last |
years Of his second term in Office. |
Given supreme power to guide |
the nation during war, backed BY
Congress on the unwritten rule
that party ties must be forgotten
at the waters edge, he ruled as
a dictator. He helped inspire
that marvellous energy with
which the country threw itself
into the war. He raised his
hands and millions rushed to
arms. He asked for ships and
ships were launched as if by mag.
ic. He asked for wheat, and pillow
shares turned the soil of every
farm. He called for temperance,
and there was wartime prohibi-
ton. He advised economy in food
and a nation tasted. it was this
response to his appeals that made
victory over Germany possible,
and saved the allies from crush
ing defeat. That fact being az.
coniplished. the war being over,
there was a desire and pur-
pose to take stock to see width
er Mr.. Wilson's leadership was
tending. But he demanded the
same unwavering support in
time of peace that he had de-
manded and had been accorded
in time of war. 1t was here that
his leadership failed.
Mr.. Wilson had had a meteor
ic career and one not wholly
adapted to fit him for what was
to come. A self-contained, and
Unconditional man, IMMERSED in
the art of making or keeping po-
litical friends, presenting to the
world cold and austere exter-
Tor, he was certain to come into
conflict with virile, active, az.
gressiye opposition whenever
contact was established. 1t was
so at Princeton when he was
President of the University. To
many it always seemed that he
was apt to regard men as a
teacher regards schoolboys, and
something of his autocratic atti-
tude was assigned to his long ex.
perience in the classroom. A
one trak mind, as he expressed
it, he had no gift for Cancellation.
There never was a man in the
White House between whom and
the Congress there was so little
intimacy, so little understand.
ing. Mr.. Wilson lacked the CO.
operative faculty. Itwas shown
throughout his dealing with Con.
gress, whose cooperation he SO
badly needed. 1t was shown
less openly, but with no less GER
tainty, in his dealings with the
members of his Cabinet; they
were regarded as being merely
the Presidents mouthpieces. 1t
was shown most tragically of all
in his dealings with the Senate.
without whose cooperation and
friendship the result of his la
bors could but be as Dead Sea
fruit.
His part was played on a great
stage. His visit to Europe was a
triumphal procession. Backed
by the one great nation lett prac-
tically unscathed by war, he
was there as the represen-
tative of a people whose prowess,
whose wealth, whose humanity,
whose disinterestedness, whose
leadership had come to be viewed
as the one great hope of civiliza-
ton. AS America has saved Eu-
rope in war, Europe now seemed
to believe America must save it
in peace. Mr.. Wilson believed
SO too. What might have hap
pened if the President on his
first eventful journey had sur
rounded himself with men of diff
ferent parties and of different
factions in whom the people of
this country placed absolute
trust or had he not gone at all
on voyage the wisdom of which
many of his friends viewed with
grave misgiyings- it is not pos
sible now to say, and speculation
on what might have been is idle.
He did something else. There
were few in his encourage whose
Judgment was held, in high es-
TEEN by the American people,
and supposition that Mr.. Wilson
alone would undertake to dictate
terms of peace and determine
what this country should ana
should not do soon became con
viction.
Even so, the President could
not find the way to enlist concil-
iation when attempts at mastery
failed. His inability to cooper
ate once more presaged disaster.
Those who differed with him
were enemies. His work must
be accepted as outlined. In the
fash of his reception in Europe,
where he was hailed as the saw
ior Of mankind, overweight by
a burden of work no man could |
carry, out of touch with the sem
timent and feeling of his own
countrymen, but which. never
theless, he believed he could read
as accurately as his own physi-
clan could register the beats oil