The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 1920. SACRIFICE OF A PRESIDENT.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3466, 21 April 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 1920. SACRIFICE OF A PRESIDENT.

With which is incorporated “The Taihape Post and Waimarino News.”

It may be said with a considerable i degree of eorrectnessThat had Ameri'cans honourably completed the under- ! takings of their Presidentiat the Peace Conferences, and had not quitted the war before final defeat of the enemy had been accomplished, there would have been no possibility of any re'e.rndeseence of themain conflict at, this time. It is little wonder that people are accusing America of using the l words honour and humanity merely to J cover their schemes for dollar.-making, 1 which are no. whit less detestable and dehumanising than those employed by I German militarism. Following up the ‘cult of commercialisni to our own‘ ishores ‘and Government we find itl deeply tinged with the tenents of that greatest of all curses that he has‘ ever settled upon a. civilisation evolved upon Christian morals. When it is a question of money-making or enslavU ing human beings, slavery is adopted; ’ opportunity to make money for a few ‘adventurers must not be spoiled by allowing sentiment to prevent human slavery. While New Zealand and the whole British Empire tolerate and encourage any system_ of slavery. Britishers cannot cast a stone at America for leaving European warring nations to get out of their troubles as besti they can. That America is deliberately leaving civilisation to again <_lrit't into the danger zone there is not much doubt; the President, the man Americans sent to speak for their country, is broken in health and spirit, dying from bitter disappointment, becausel

l his people have quitted, have fziiled toy I keep the compact they selected him to make. President Wilson is going to‘ his grave, speeded on by the Ameri-I can Sena.te’s repudiation of the com.paet he made on their behalf. Every-J I where at this time moral laws have t been swzunped by the artifice and eun- ! uing of eommereialisni; the higher in- ’ tellect of mam is being over—l'un by an ‘insane cirltixfritioii of the might is Iriglit doctrine, extending even to our littjle domestic. gatherings. Wen ht’ highest. intellect are bein_9; ruthlessly Es-aerifieecl at. the shrine of the d0*ll:1r , god; only men advocating and pl‘(‘.2l(’,ll- l 3 ing methods and. pmctices such as the! l \vorld has witnessed in the American i Senate, are selected to fill highest posi'tions_, and. lé'§d mankind. Men -of I highest intellect are only Inmle use of {when direct danger huh struck me lconimereiallist. heart with :1 mighty ‘ fear. New, President. Wilson is demoemtic confrercs are busily inventing

flimiest reasons’ for deserting him, and leaving him to die, His great life ofi‘er—ed up on the dol'lar—maki.ng altar of eommereialist trusts and combines. Can any'thing more eontemptible be imagined or suggested than the cabled words of Senator Hitchcock, the Denioeratic leader in the American Senate ‘ln his President’s dying hours he says tlla.t President Wilson made a mistake in negotiating the Peace Treaty without taking a -few ‘leading Senators into his confidence; ratification of the Treaty would have been easy had he have done this, but what man with ordinary sense and knowledge will be deceived by such dissimulation. It cannot be said that members of the Senate were left uninformed of the progress of peace negotiations, forthe earliest and mOSt important informzftion of the Conference's deliberations largely came to New Zealand cabled from Washington or New York. There is no reason to doubt that the Amerieani

‘Senate had any infoi-31iE1'Tioii withheld ifrmn ii. by the American I’resideut; ‘he t'rcqklent.ly consulted with his conifreres in America by cable, occasionaally holding up proceedings while he [did so. It is late in the day for 'Americans to plead ignorance of the ‘nature o£‘pcac.e negotiations as the ' deliberations of the Peace Conference ‘proceeded; the fact seems to be that every decision arrived at and agreed upon was quite in accordance with American opinion at the time, while a greater danger was casting a heavy ishadow ‘upon the future. As that shadow" lifted an unexpected opportunity for explointing their dollar-making proclivities came into view, fenced 011’ by the conditions of the Peace Treaty they had, through their President, comm-ited theniselves to. But no fence constructed of merely national honour could be allowed to stand in the way of -trusts, combines, and syndicates, and Democ.lla;t,s [threw -their weight‘ ‘into the republican scale against. national honour, putting a staiii uponi the Stars and ‘Stripes that will prove] inerasible with centuries of time. Nationa] honour became the” Shuttle-' cock of the ,American Senate, and! after a year’s insincere talk President _.Wilson was jettisoned, the Peace‘ >Treat—y was repudiated, and America.‘

lquitted the work that had been taken in hand with great demonstrations of fugitive honour and humanity. President. Wilson is to-day accused by his henchman in the senate, of lacking tact and foresight; “he unwisely assumed that if he performed his duty the Senate would do its duty.” What a pitiable admission -for a leader of American politics to make; what a gross lack of tact and foresight President Wilson was guilty of in assuming that because he honourably did his duty at the Peace Conference the Senate would do its duty honourably by ratifying what He did. Not even a President can be allowed to stand in the way of Ameriefan commercialism, and Woodrow Wilson is cast ofi as a used-up thing, to die of disappointment. A' President that »is -so lacking in tact and foresight as to assume that paraded honour of Americans wasat all sincere ‘is unfit for the positionu That no other American had the foresight to see that the Peace Treaty niight. stand in the" way of miserable greed for dollars didnot’-mitigate the] I: lack of ph‘opheti'c" vision in a. president. I t, We might reasonably‘ be aecusedofx "exaggerating what has tran.spired’int ‘the American Senate, but. the exact! iwords uttered by Senator Hitchcocki .und cabled to New Zealand from New 'York last Sunday do not permit of,‘

exaggeration. The exact" words are: “President Wilson is in broken health, depressed in spirit,~-.and bitterly disap~§ pointed at the failure of Senate" to} ratify the Peace. Treaty. -He has known nothing but weakness, weari-I ness and" pain. since last September. President Wilson iiiadea mistake when he proposed to negotiate the. Treaty without taking 9. few leaders of the Senate into his confidence,‘ ratification woulfi havefbeen easy had he done| this. He lacl{ed‘,tac.t and foresight! he unwisely assuined that if he per- i formed his duty, the Senate would do} its duty and consent to the ratification of the Treaty.” As the Senate did! not ratify the Treaty it failed in that I duty which every avenue of honour’ bound it down to. The only assunip-I tion possible is that it suits American interests indefinitely better to have a state of war and of human destruction kept up as long as possible, or why has America quitted. What is equally! serious is the example Americans have sef; has not :1 New Zealand Government determined that even a form of‘ human slavery shall not be allowed to prevent property being rendered pro-'1

fitable. They say Samoa. cannot be made payable without indonf«ul'ed }:.lbom', and they have decided upon 3. ('.onl‘inll:mC(? of ’rlm.t form of’ slavery which they took over from Gernmn .pl:l.nfers in Samoa. Can British people :I’rf::c]< .~\nlel'ica with clean hands while they seek to enslave? It is the wave of emmnercialism and 111:1!'e1'ia1ism at its (crisis flmtt has sought :1 refurn to slnV*el'}'. and to reptldiation of contracts honourably entered into; even hulnnn life must be sacrificed that commercialism may g‘l'a.b dollars, even to the life-of am American President.