Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-06
WOODROW WILSON'S
MEMORY HONORED
Distinguished Audience at
Service Paying Tribute
to Late President.

A distinguished audience paid homage
to Woodrow Wilson as the founder OF
the League of Nations and piopeer in
the present world peace movement at
memorial exercises yesterday afternoon
under auspices of the Woodrow Wilson
Foundation committee of Washington.
DR.. Charles Kingsley Webster, holder
of the Woodrow Wilson chair of inter-
national relations at the University OF
Wales and professor of history at Har-
ward University. the principal speaker,
declared that without Wilson'S pioneer
work the League of Nations and the
present world movement for peace
would be confined chiefly to learned
books by professors. 1t was Wilson, he
said, that made the League "a living,
organized moral force"
Joint Anniversary Service.
The occasion was a joint observance
of the Seventy-third anniversary OF Will
sons birth and the tenth anniversary
of the establishment of the League OF
Nations at Geneva. Members OF the
diplomatic corps, Government officials
and former intimate friends of the war
President were in the audience at the
National Theater. where the exercises
were held.
A telegram was read from the presi-
dent of the Woodrow Wilson Founda-
ton, Newton D. Baker of Cleveland,
Ohio, Secretary of War in the Wilson
cabinet. Mrs. Woodrow Wilson was in
Philadelphia attending the memorial
meeting held there. which was con-
Quoted by Gen. SHUTS of South Africa.
The chair reserved for her was occupied
by Lady Louise Montague. the brilliant
woman playwright.
Members of the Wilson. Gait and
Boiling families occupied the box on
the lower left and large section OF the
orchestra was reserved for the Ambas-
sailors and Ministers of nations MEM
bers of the League Charles S. Hamlin,
former governor of the Federal Reserve
Board, presided and delivered brief
eulogy of Wilson in introducing DR..
Webster. Rev. DR.. Robert Johnston,
rector of st. Johns Episcopal Church,
delivered the invocation.
DIR. Webster's Tribute.
DR.. Webster declared that the steadily
growing influence of the League OF Ma
tons is wilson's greatest justification
and reviewed the events at Paris that
resulted in the peace treaty and the eS-
tablishment of the League as an in
Strument to prevent future wars.
Denying that Wilson had bartered
away AIncIlCdl lights W gam
League, DR.. Webster pointed out that
he kept the primary interest of this
country. that of finances, intact. After
all he asserted, peace was to the inter-
est of the whole American people and
in clinging to the principles involved
in the League of Nations Wilson was
adhering to American interests through
out the world.
Woodrow Wilson invented a new
If int
speaker said. Nineteenth century
diplomacy was strictly secret diplomacy"
he said. Now all secret treaties have
been abolished and every diplomatic
negotiation is so open and aboveboard
that suspecting persons have to fabricate
their grounds for suspicious.
Under the policy inaugurated by the
League small nations can now, for the
first time. receive financial assistance
without jeopardizing their political in
dependence. and asserting their rights"
History. he declared. undoubtedly will
say that If the League had not existed
England would not have recognized the
rights of Ireland He cited the estab-
1ishment of the Irish Free State as a
shining example of what the League
has done and Is still doing to help the
people of small countries.
Wilson'S Statesmanship Praised.
In his appraisal of Woodrow Wilson
and his work, Dr. Webster said that
Americas war President stood head and
shoulders above other statesmen of the
world during that period.
Wilson was historian" he contin-
ued. land worried little concerning his
place in history. He was both a great
and a good man. Like all great men
he stood alone. AS a result of the
League covenant, he did more for the
prevention of war than any man in
history
The mass meeting was the first of its
kind sponsored by the local committee
of which Frederic A. Delano is chair
man. Other anniversary meetings have
taken the form of dinners.
Mr. Hamlin referred to Wilson'S
prominence in history as one that grows
brighter with the passing of time. HE
lived for peace on earth, good will to
men" he added
wilson's record in public life, Mr.
Hamlin declared. not only places him
among the greatest of American Presi-
dents. but also among the greatest ben
efactors of the human race