The Washington times., 1925-04-06

fourteen points, which were the
charter of a new order, were pro-
claimed. In them in embryo was
the soul of the best aspiration of
the League of Nations They pro-
vided for justice to small nations,
self-determination to peoples held
In bondage, the freedom of the
seas, arbitration before war and
epen covenants. They. smote the
spirit OF Germany like cleaving
sword. These fourteen points.
by the way, were wilson's, largely
by absorption and adoption, as
sembled from a dozen sources.
Colonel House, the generaliSsino
of the spirit, like a sleepless Ariel,
was gathering from the hearts of
men, through his messengers,
scores of pregnant suggestions
that were born in the details Of
the fight.
Nineteen eighteen came. The
Bolshevists took Russia cut of the
war. Wilson probably fulnblel
there: He could have stopped
that debacle, but Russia was a
friend who questioned his i'm
perious will, and so became an
enemy. The harsh words which
Wilson sent to Russia in her fail
We're costly to the allies. 1t was
his first minor blunder; the first
time he left his spirit, his happy
Irish spirit, be guided Dy the
dour Scot within him. But he
went on living in his world OF
high visions, sayingN noble things
where they were needed, with
telling emphasis, every hour ham
mering upon the souls Of men in
the states Of the central powers.
Planes Scattered Speeches.
Airplanes scattered his speeches
which were more destructive TO
Hindenberg's line than Foch's
famous seventy -fives. And in the
summer Of 1918, the world sud
denly realized what a battle line
he had formed there above the
trenches in the hearts and lspira-
tions of the world. Below came
Saint Mihiel and Chateau Thierrv
and the Allied push. With moth
ing behind it, with all the morale
and courage as sapped by VIII.
sons attack, and-let us not for
get this--with famine planted in
the German populace by the Brit
ish Navy, the German line began
to slow up. to stop, to fall back,
and finally incontinently 70 re-
treat. And humanity applauded,
not FOch so much for his guns
and his drums and his clattering
sabers, as Wilson, who, men said,
had won the battle of the upper
air.
Then at the zenith OF Wilson's
power, the devil grinned. Wilson
wrote letter asking America for
a partisan Democratic CONGRESS.
He was treading the upper spirit
ual zones OF idealism when he
wrote it, probably self-hypnotized
by his own bright vision. Ger
tainly he was tired and absent
minded. His National Democratic
Committee asked for the lette-.
His imagination was dull in the
lower levels Of partisan policies.
He slipped. America turned saw
agely upon it's hero who had
shown human weakness, and re-
turned a Congress against him.
The armistice followed the next
week. Wilson's shafts crumbled
the line behind the line, and the
Kaiser fled. Tt was the greatest
victory that had ever come out
OF any war; not the victory Of
one who had overcome his foe
by persuading the civilian populas'
tion to surrender. II the material
world has added new terrors to
burn and break and crush the
human body, the same world has
shown as a new engine of con-
quest; the words Of righteous
man spoken in the passion of a.
great exhortation.
Copyright. 1925. by The Bell
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