The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1925-04-13


pliers took them down. Almost
with studied casua1ness he
took the dramatics out Of the
day and scene. He was getting
oratorical pace of the occasion,
and setting 1t deadly low. When
he finished, not even q flutter Of
applause greeted him.
Then one speaker followed an
other, with nothing particular to
say and no voice for saying it,
all in dull, heavy manner
without climax or dramatic form,
without blare Of bugle or fanfare
Of trumpet. So the League Of
Nations was born.
1t was a typical Wilsonian per-
Torrance; a great thing done in
Significantly. All the notables
crowded about him stiffly, shak-
ing manil1in hands with him; ap-
parently congratulting him.
And so, when it was over, with
out tears or cheers and without
applause, the President slipped
through the crowd in the room,
Joined Mrs. Wilson in a corridor,
they two hurried in their car
riages to the railway station and
sped away for Brest. It was the
end OF an epoch In Woodrow Will
sons life. It was his last public
appearance as the ruler of the
world. Ahead of him lay his
trip to America and the disillu-
stoned nation which he found
there. Behind him lay all his
glory.
Met First Angry Crowd.
Returning to America in Feb
ruary, 1919, Wilson met his first
angry crowd. During his cam
paigns in America for governor
and for President. his partisans
largely surrounded him. Later,
the respect due to the President
had guarded him. But when he
came back with the covenant of
the League Of Nations, t. present
1t and to explain it to his coun-
trymen, he found a considerable
minority of the American people
opposed to it. The Irish IN his
crowds were boisterous ard some
times insulting. The Germans
were studiously, and sometimes
vocally, impolite. Republican
leaders were after votes. So
woodrow Wilson, who had faced
met his enemy en- masse; a dis
agreeable encounter. Yet upon
the whole, his first return from
Paris was a satisfactory adven-
ture. He had presented his case
for the first league and had pre-
scented it well.
He had accepted certain amend
ments drafted by Republican
leaders. guided chiefly by former
Senator Root, Judge Taft, and
Justice Hughes. For years these
three men had been interested in
an organization known as the
League to Enforce Peace: a propa-
gandaL organization concerned with
promoting some sort OF League.
such as that which Wilson had
sponsored in Paris.
No Definite Covenant.
The officers Of the League to
Enforce Peace had no definite
covenant or constitution to pro-
pose, but were anxious to promote
any kind of international council
under specific rules which would
provide for arbitration and dis
cussion Of international difference.
In 1918, before the arnistice,
when the League to Enforce
Peace was about to have ma
tionaI meeting, Wilson told one
of its leaders that he feared the
meeting would be malapropos.
Probably he really feared that it
would set forth some plan for
peace and for the settlement which
should follow the peace, and he
f1Ia ~
discussion Of settlements to pre-
cede the plans which he might
hold in his own mind. For at
that time, in 1918, he had not
formulated his ideas into q plan.
The leaders of the America
peace We're glad enough to CO.
operate with the President when
he returned from Paris the first
time. They knew the Republican
Senate; for, generally speaking,
they were Republicans them
selves. And after some private
discussion with these leaders and
public discussion in Eastern cities
Of his covenant, the President
made one Of the major blum
ders of his life by going back to
Europe for the second time.
The pocketful of amendments
to the covenant, which came as
the result OF Republican confer
ences, Colonel House easily could
have put through. Wilson's pres
ence did not particularly facilitate
the passage Of the amendments.
II he had stayed in America to
meet the American opposition to
the League, House in Europe
would have had to surrender less
on the treaty than Wilson sur
rendered. The European states
men at the council table were in
fluenced by the opposition to the
League of Nations which the
President had stirred up on his
hurried trip to America in Feb
ruary.
Round Robin Sent Him.
A round robin Of Republican
Senators, just sufficiently large to
defeat the covenant, had been
sent to the President and pub
lished to the world in which the
Signers declared they would not
accept the covenant OF the League
Of Nations Gin it's present form"
That round robin always was in
the minds of the statesmen of
Europe, and it made the Presi-
dents situation more and more
difficult at the conference table.
When the President sat down
at the peace table, after coming
from, home in March, the others
about the board had their cards
on the table. They knew his
hand then; Understood his game,
valued bis stakes. In his absence
they had been trading among