Milford chronicle., 1924-02-08
PRESIDENT WILSON WAS HUMAN
PHENOMENON OF GREATEST WAR
At 81 No More Than University Professor and Political WRITER
at IS in Place Of Power and Fame and Honor Unsur-
passed in HiStOry-Defended His Unsuccessful
Peace Policies to the Last

History, in determining the place O
Woodrow Wilson, 2Sth president of tn,
United States Of America, will pas.
Judgment upon the most prominen
wOrld-fgure Of the events growing out
Of the most mOmentOus war of all time
From the viewpoint of hundreds OF
millions Of lovers Of liberty Woodrow
Wilson stood at the zenith, as the ex.
kalser stands at the nadlr.
The great war brought to the front
many men whose names will live in
honor. In the last analysis three men
stand out: Wilson, Lloyd George,
Clemenceau. OF these three it was
Wilson who held the worlds eye-Wil-
son, the human phenomenon of the
times, until flfty-four no more than a
college president and political writer
and at sixty-three on a pinnacle of
fame and honor and power unsur-
passed If ever attained by any man
In history.
1t is impossible now to differentiate
between Woodrow Wilson the man and
Woodrow Wilson the head of the most
powerful nation of earth in wealth,
material and fighting men. Certainly
he could not have reached the place
he held without great ability and ex-
traordinary capacity for leadership.
By virtue Of his place he became a
focus Of world attention as soon as
the great war began. Before the armi- |
stice was signed he had become a
great moral leader with the ear Of the |
peoples Of the world. Only as such |
could he have forced upon the allied |
world the unofficial acceptance Of his
project Of a league Of nations, with its
fourteen points as set forth to con-
gress January 1s, 1918.
Abroad and at Home.
The enthusiasm evoked by President
Wilson's visits to Paris, London and
Rome was proof of his unique place in
the regard of the people. It was evil
dent that he was to Europeans not so
much a man as a voice-a voice put
ting into words what they wanted and
had not been able to express mis- ideas
and Ideals were a sort of religion to
them.
But he showed himself a statesman
as we'll as a voice. He played the game
masterfully. He established sympathy |
between himself and his man or his
crowd. He made few If any mistakes /
in taste or judgment. He matched {
his mind" to use his own expression, {
with the best of Europe and he got his S
league Of nations before the peace v
and got 1t adopted. t
President Wilson's two months in S
Europe may be divided into phases. Il
When he landed the attitude toward
the league Of nations was this: The s.
government Of France was antagOnis- r
ic; Great Britain's was suspicious; N
taly's was skeptical. The first phase, Il
lis triumphant progress through ri
france, England and Italy opened the F
yes of these governments to his hold CT
n the people. The second phase, the E
preliminary work of the peace con- re
erence, convinced these governments Jo
hat President Wilson had an idea pl
ulAC4 IMAM a SEl pldu WAllCu lie puE-
osed to force upon them. This sim pc
lifted the situation and the rush to tn
limb on the bandwagon began. ar
Contemporary estimates Of President III
wilson at home were as wide apart as 10
ne poles. Senator J. Thomas Heflin Ju
DEM; Ala.), when representative ex
poke on the floor of "WOodrOw Will
IN, the greatest apostle Of world llber- de
and democracy since Jesus Christ" a
Senator Thomas w. Hardwick (Dem.) he
Georgia, said January 81 in the SEN thu
e: 81 believe in a written constitu- the
IN. believe in a strict Interpretation hol
II and believe that unless for
= leave and abandon this mad satur- bri
liza of Imperialism here at home and tar
turn to the ancient principles of our sin
theirs there will be no safety nor ces