Evening star., 1942-04-05

Then at the Peace Conference the
spiral pattern of his career went into
its last down-curve. The leaders of the
Allied nations had made secret treaties
granting one another special territories
and privileges, and now that the enemy
was PROSTATE and vengeance had hard
ened them, only Wilson stood between
them and their designs. They jockeyed
him into small conferences, made the
utmost use of his weakness-his old in
ability to deal with men in twos and
threes-to win at the kind Of horse trade
for which his background and training
had untitled him.
The treaty of Versailles was not as bad
document as many have made out;
compared with what the Nazis would
impose, it was generous to a fault, but
it was not as Wilson would have had it.
Losing again and again in the diplo-
matte poker game, he consoled himself
with the thought that the great League
Of Nations which was to be set up would
rectify all wrongs.
Then he came home to present both
treaty and League to the Senate-and
was repudiatsd. Disillusioned by the war
and tired Of international responsibilities,
the Senators refused to accept American
membership in the League or to ratify
the treaty. Trying to stave of this
last defeat, Wilson gave his last ounce
of strength touring the country, exhort-
ing, pleading He broke down, and ended
his presidency and his life a cripple,
tragically beaten.
He had fallen far, men said. He had
failed.
But had hep The cause for which he
gave his life was essentially the cause
for which-through no fault of his
America must again fight today: The
right Of men and women to live unen-
slaved by tyranny and aggression. The
precise methods for protecting this right
will always be disputed, but the aim to
protect it is one of the cornerstones Of a
free civilization, and this aim was never
more single -mindedly sought nor more
splendidly stated than by Woodrow VIII
son. Whoever else among the victors
had proved false to that cause, whoever
else had been led by greed or trresponsi-
bility or short-sightedness to turn the
postwar order into a travesty of mems
hopes, Wilson had not lowered his
sights. Thanks largely to his leadership,
we Americans can now look back to 1918
unashamed Of the objects for which we
then fought. Thanks largely to the
memory Of his honorable purposes, we
Americans have been trusted during the
intervening years as no other people
have been trusted. And II we are still
trusted today; If, when the present
President Of the United States speaks to
the world, men believe that he Is speak
ing from the heart and not from the
book of guileful propaganda, one reason
is that in peoples minds still echo the
phrases Of Woodrow Wilson, and that
they remember that he meant what he
said:
"The right is more precious than
peace, and we shall fight for the things
which we have always carried nearest
our hearts-for democracy, for the right
of those who submit to authority to have
voice in their own governments, for the
rights and liberties of small nations, for
a universal dominion of right of such a
concert Of free peoples as shall bring
peace and safety to all nations and make
the world itself at last free"
oas,stsed - Ia, Ben syndieste, lne1