The Daily News. SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1919. PRESIDENT WILSON'S DEFENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 March 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 1919. PRESIDENT WILSON'S DEFENCE.

There has been considerable expectancy as t.j the line President Wilson would take in converting the American people to his views on the League of Nations, and his Boston speech has leen looked forward to with remarkable interest. U is generally conceded that at the Peace Conference he secured a complete triumph for the general principles of his fourteen points, but he knows perfectly well that the people over whom he rules have strong prejudices, especially against entanglements in international affairs, and just how he would reconcile them to abandoning those prejudices has created lively interest. Judging by the cabled report of the speech, President Wilson appears as a statesman of many strong parts. He litis been seen as a philosopher, idealist and determined peace! maker at the Conference, but in the role of justifier of his actions I

he is a diplomatic fighter of high rank. That his task of forcing the people of the United States to record a verdict in his favor bristles with difficulties is obvious to the most casual observer, but the skilful way in which he lias put the onus on the American people of either allowing militarism to again become a menace, or that sacrifices must be made to secure a permanent peace, shows that he is a master hand at the game of politics, and can "crack the whip" effectively. It was a brilliant piece of strategy on his part to expand on the universal faith in America on the part of the nations and he used this lever for all it was worth. One of his first acts on reaching America after leaving the Cnoference was to fl row a challenge to those who were opposed to the League of Nations. "Everyone in Europe," he said, "pins his faith to America as the friend of mankind," and in his Boston speech he elaborated that statement with the effectiveness of a consummate artist, leading up to his point with dramatic ri't. "I think," said the President, "I am stating the most wonderful fact in history—there is no nation iii Europe that suspects the motive of the United States. It is not that representatives of other nations are disesteemed, but the nations of Europe have again and again clashed with one another in v "/npetitive interests, and it is impossible for men to forget those sharp issues which were drawn between them in times past. So tiiey resort to that nation which has won the enviable distinction of being regarded as the friend of mankind." He then passed on 10 pay a cleverly conceived tribute to the American soldiers by way of stirring up the patriotic spirit of his hearers. It was a remarkable flight of idealistic oratory, linking up ideals with action as a kind of prelude to the clinching of his mam argument that the ideals he submitted to the Peace Conference must be followed by the'action of the United States, and just as the American soldiers "turned the whole tide of battle, nnd it never came back," so must American citizens give their whole heprted support to the League of Nations which has turned the whole tide of militarism so that 11 will never come back. These were not his words, but they exi.ress the sentiments in the context wherein he said: "America was now the hope of the. "/irld, and if she does not justify that tope the results will be unthinkalle, for men will be thrown ba-'.k in despair, and all the nations will set up as hostile camps again." ft was when President Wilson came to his reference to the Monroe doctrine that he knew he was treading on thin ice, but his resourcefulness was still equal to the occasion, though whether his arguments will convince the opponents of the League remains to l e seen. The two points he made were (a) That, instead of being abandoned, the Monroe doctrine will be extended to the whole wrrld; (b) That, although some of the country's attributes of sovereignty would have to be surren dered, the other nations would have to take part in the surrender. "We venture to think that this was the weakest part of the President's otherwise solid arguments. It is quite possible he had in his mind the fact that at the November elections the Republicans administered a severe blow to his popularity. Wt may fairly assume that he did not, in his League proposals, jettison the deeply rooted antipathies of his people towards European entanglements without counting the cost, though it is just possible that his subline faith in his ideals was equalled by his perfect confidence in himself to overcome any opposition in the ratification of the League. A New York cable states that country-wide opinion has crystalised into a general approval of President "Wilson's speech, and of the League of Nations. It Is rather early for a statement of that nature to be convincing, but it is also unthinkable that the people of the United States will go back on their president, especially when there is so much at stake in connection with a permanent peace. No nation has so much to gain from peace as America and this may, more thaa anything else, reconcile the people to accepting the League of Nations and the responsibilities and duties that it involves.