Evening star., 1933-12-29
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.

Diplomatic quarters were agog this
morning following the plain speaking
OF President Roosevelt at the Woodrow
Wilson Foundation dinner last night
Long code dispatches went out to all
corners of the world. The Presidents
speech hit the bull's-eye
1t is for the first time in many a
year that the President of the United
States. instead of making the usual
international goodwill speech. with as
many non-conlmittal sentences as his
secretaries could find in order not to
offend the ears of the outside world
has spoken right from the shoulders
and has told the world what many re-
gard as the plain truth.
For almost 20 years America has
been accused in Europe of shirking its
duties and for being responsible for the
present chaotic state of affairs.
American statesmen, as a rule, hid be-
hind the traditional American policy
of no entanglementS" and never ex-
planned as plainly as Mr.. Roosevelt
did last night, the reasons why the
American people got fed up with the
rest of the world and decided after the
war to retire into their own shell
again.
Paints Wilson Plight.
President Roosevelt did not hesitate
last night to imply a thing that every
body familiar with the Versailles Con-
ference knew. that Wilson was cheated
of his ideals by the politicians gathered
at Paris.
Wilson's appeal" stated the Presi-
dent, meant little to the Imagination
or the hearts Of large number Of the
so-called statesmen who gathered in
Paris to assemble a treaty of so-called
peace in 1919. I saw that with my own
eyes and heard that with my own
ears" And all the ills of the world
began at that time. when Wilson's
ideals were discarded for political
profit. personal prestige and national
aggrandizement," which all attended
the birth of the League of Nations and
handicapped it from its infancy by all
those who we're seeking their own profit
and their own safety first"
Having in mind clear picture of
the present political tension through
out the world, the President does not
blame the people for what is going on
now; the blame for the danger to the
world peace lies not in the world pop
ulation but in the political leaders Of
tnat population" he said.
Sees League as Helpful.
The President does not find any
thing baSically wrong with the League
of Nations itself: The League has
provided a common meeting place; 1t
has provided machinery which serves
for international discussion and IN
very many practical instances it has
helped labor and health and COM
merce and the actual settlement Of
many disputes"
While accomplishing that I'VE do
not contemplate membership" in that
body, Mr.. Roosevelt pointed out the ex-
tent to which this country has made
use of the machinery of the League,
especially during the last few yeal5.
ing more openly in the fuller utiliza-
ton of the League of Nations ma
chinery than ever before" he said. And
as q reproach to those who have left
the League and a warning to those
who may contemplate leaving that
body to seek promotion of their ends
by old-fashioned regrouping of the bal
ance of power, the President stated:
Il believe that 1 express the views
of my countrymen when L state that
the old policies, alliances, combina-
tions and balances of power have
proved themselves inadequate for the
preservation of world peace.
The League Of Nations, encouraging
as 1t does the extension of non-aggres-
sion pacts, is a prop in the world peace
structure. We are giving cooperation
to the League in every matter which is
not primarily political and in every mat
ter which represents the good of the
peoples Of the world as distinguished
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