The Washington times., 1925-04-13
WOODROW
WILSON
HIS Failure at Paris;
Spurning AdUersaTies
By William Allen White

aon. After re0dinR this you
wiH count inapGtientiy the long
moments until next Monday,
Ohen the tenth instalIment I0s"
be presented exclusiVeIy IN The
Washington Times.
Before Wilson went to Eu-
rope, while he was making
up his list of advisers, the
devil, who had sneered at
the Wilsonian righteousness,
.grinned again as ne saw
Wilson's mind at work up
that Peace Commission. The
President was cut to the
quick by the rejection of his
party atthe polls. Being
crossed, as he felt unjustly,
even maliciously, his imperi-
GUS will would have none of
his adversaries.
His friends, Colonel House,
former Attorney General
Gregory, and others, urged
upon him the wisdom of
taking with him to Paris
certain leading Republicans
men who had opposed his
cause, but whose support
was necessary in America if
his cause should win. It
was the fundamental and
fatal weakness of Woodrow
Wilson that, constituted as
he was, he trusted his own
powers, his "first-class
mind. /"
He did not see that he
must convince his adver-
saries. He had dreamed OF
q world too noble for its
inhabitants; so naturally he
set upon a task too high
for his own mental achieve
ment. His Peace Commission
carried no political weight
with it either in America or
Europe. It was not that
Wilson was greedy for
credit. he was never that.
But he was balefnlly dis
trustful of those who bitter
~ opposed him. Lodge,
Taft, Root, Roosevelt, Re
publican leaders who would
have followed him in Paris
and in America, who would
have strengthened him, he
could not work with and re-
fused to consider.
Discredited at Home
He was discredited politically
1t home, by the election, and he
emphasized that discredit by
pueriIely refusing to recognize
those who had defeated him.
An odd galleon was that
which landed at Brest in early
December, 1918, when the
George Washington anchored.
Down the gangplank walked
this Yankee knight Grant, fol-
lowed Iby a desperate crew Of
college professors in horn
trimmed glasses, carrying text
books, encyclopedias, m ps,
charts, graphs, statistics, and
all sorts of literary crowbars
with which to pry up the boun-
daries of Europe and move them
around in the interests of JUS
tice. as seen through the four
teen points.
Of course, these invaders were
trying to implant an ideal. Al
bottom the ideal was an at
tempt to institutionalize the
Golden Rule-a big job. Pre-
cious little khaki and brass but
tons were seen on the horde of
invaders that poured down the
gangplank, and no sa bers
ratified to terrify Europe when
these conquerors came. Yet it
was the "Avenger of the South
Seas" this Wilson ship-a
dream realized.
Army of Experts.
The President sent most of his
army Of experts and advisers to
Paris. He began touring Europe.
his mission. 1t was his reticent
way to let the mission explain it.
self. Yet, II he had said to the
American people, This war was
fought to end war through the
establishment Of a council Of ma
lions, and that I may be sure
that the covenant Of the council
Il wisely drawn. 1 am going to
Europe" American opinion would
have been undivided. But he said
no such thing.
Perhaps to have explained all
that he intended would have
seemed to him like heroizing him
self, and that he would never do.
The tour Of Europe lasted until
nearly mid-January. He spoke in
the larger cities Of France, Eng
and, Belgium, and Italy. His
speeches were brilliant, dynamic,
convincing. He was at his best
form. But he was in Europe and
de did not know the European
idiom. did not know his way
around in European politics.
The thing we commonly know
as Europe is a geographical loca-
ton. Europe is vastly more than
q place on the map. 1t is a
plane Of thought, q spiritual at.