Evening star., 1924-02-04
18th Head
Wilson, Hailed as Peace Messiah of Peoples,
Led America Through Greatest Turmoil

1He lbSueS OI lndt campaign "cTc
very much muddled. The democratic
slogan was "He kept us out of war.
Mr.. Wilson's election, however. was
by a very narrow margin. The re-
suit trembled in the balance three
days and finally turned in his favor.
when California finally fiopped to the
democratic column by a few votes
Mr. Wilson got PIT votes in the cleo
toral college and Mr.. Hughes got 254.
President Wilson actually assumed
his place as commander lin chief OF
the Army and Navy. He took the
leading part in planning Americas
participation in the war. He insisted
from the first for a unified command
on the western front, for vigorous
measures to curb the submarine
menace. He personally initiate ed
much of the war legislation. such as
the passage OF the selective service
law. the creation of the Shipping
war Labor Board and a multitude of
other arms Of the government for
carrying on the struggle. He de-
voted his whole being to the war,
seeing nobody and thinking of moth
Ing else. Some Of his days probably
were like Lincoln's.
1t was President Wilson who con-
Quoted the correspondence with Chan
cellor Max of Germany when the re-
quest for an armistice came, and once
the Germans laid down their arms he
turned his thought wholly from war
to peace, telling his friends that,
while Germany must be made to pay
to her full ability, Europe must not
have another Alsace-Lorraine.
War Drained Vitality.
1t was quite a different Woodrow
Wilson who sat in the Presidents
chair when the war ended. With
hair whitened and face lined he
showed the effects. He had learned
something about men and human ma
ture. He had learned, he told a
friend, that some men become great
and others swell up" but his pen
chant for doing things himself never
had lessened. He wrote state papers
and read them to the cabinet after
ward; he became impatient with men
who disagreed with him and fire.
quently dismissed them. He quar-
preached him with being ungrateful.
but he always kept on his course
having once decided upon it.
Peace in sight, Mr.. Wilson decided
to go to Europe himself and take a
hand in making it. Congress, no
was during his first administration,
roared it's disapproval. Mr.. Wilson
assured Congress that in the day of
wireless and cable 1t would know all
he did. AS matter of fact, he told
Congress very little of what he was
doing, or anybody else. for that mat
ter, until it was done. That was not
Mr.. Wilson's way. The result was
that he committed the United States
to the league of nations and was re-
pudiated
Many Wrote of Work.
President Wilson's participation in
the memorable peace congress had
been described by many pens, friendly
and unfriendly. and his part was SO
indelibly written in recent history
that it needs little attention in a
brief resume of his life works.
The statesmen Of Europe were
charmed by his oratory, his wit and
his personality until they bumped
into his indomitable will to do things
his way when he was convinced he
was right. Then the sparks flew in
the secret meetings he had with Lloyd
George, Clemenceau and Orlando.
He was determined to have a
league of nations covenant so insep-
arabIy interviewer with a treaty Of
peace that no nation could accept one
without accepting the other. The op-
posing statesmen found that only by
the provisions of peace they wanted.
The result was a treaty in which all
got something, and it was denounced
by it's opponents as breeder of
wars rather than treaty of peace.
1t would require large volume to
tell all the interesting things that
happened to Woodrow Wilson while
treaty of peace in Paris in that his
toric winter of 191s-1919. 1t would
require another volume to tell the
engrossing story of diplomatic ma
neuvers. intrigues and dramatic mo-
ments that attended 1t. Publication
result in the creation of Annanias
clubs on both sides of the Atlantic,
and certainly would not add to good
feeling among peoples who are look
ing forward to an end OF wars and an
era Of peace.
Awarded Nobel Prise.
woodrow Wilson himself would not
wish it. When, in 1920. he accepted
the Nobel peace prize for being "the
person who has promoted most or
hest the fraternity of nations and the
abolishment or diminution of stand
ing armies and the formation and in
crease of peace congresses" he said:
"The cause of peace and the cause
of truth are of one family. Whatever
has.'been accomplished in the past is
petty compared to the glory of the
promise of the future
woodrow Wilson lixed his last
wears and died in <the glory of the
promise of the future" confident that
right. as he saw it, would ultimately
prevail. He never lost faith in the
league of nations, but he lost faith
in some of the human beings who
were its inevitable elements.
He closed his eyes confident that as
a man of letters and a President he
had done his best for humanity, but
that his best was not all that he
might have; wished.
Time alone can write his epitaph.